How can I give my newly hired, contract, bookkeeper the bookkeeper role in QBO Essentials? Or what QBO version do I need?

Where is your company located? If the new bookkeeper is not your employee, you can ask him or her to sign up for a free QBO Accountant account to access your QBO Essentials account as an external accountant.

While the Bookkeeper role isn't available in QBO Essentials, Dale, however, it is included in QBO Advanced, along with many other enhanced features.

QBO Essentials includes the following user roles:

• Standard all access
• Standard no access
• Accounts receivable manager
• Accounts payable manager
• Standard limited customers and vendors
• In house accountant
• Company admin
• Track time only

You can add your bookkeeper as In house accountant role in your QBO Essentials. This role provides access to all bookkeeping, accounting tools, and financial reports. However, it doesn't include access to payroll or administrative tasks like managing users. It also covers all areas related to customers, sales, vendors, and purchases.

If you want to add your bookkeeper to a Bookkeeper Role in QuickBooks, consider upgrading to QuickBooks Advanced since it's the only version that offers this user role.

Here's how you can upgrade your subscription:

1. Go to the Gear icon and select Subscriptions and billing.
2. Click the Upgrade your plan.
   

If your bookkeeper wants an accounting tool in QBO, they should sign up for a QBO Accountant account as @Chrea suggested and you can invite them as your accountant in your Accounting Firms.

Additionally, in QBO Advanced, you can create your own roles and customize permissions for your users. For more information, please refer to this resource: Add and manage custom roles in QuickBooks Online Advanced.

If you have any more questions about adding your bookkeeper or need help with navigating QBO, feel free to hit the Reply button and drop your queries below. Have a great day!

Thanks for the replies. My biggest concern is security, and apparently, Intuit feels that additional security is a premium feature. I don't want my bookkeeper, who is a contractor, to have so much access to our accounts.  It's pretty disappointing.