How to Add a User or Accountant in QuickBooks Online — Step-by-Step
QUICK SUMMARY — This guide shows business owners how to add a regular user or invite an accountant in QuickBooks Online, set the right permission level, and avoid the access mistakes we see most often. Accountant users are invited from a separate tab and do NOT count against your paid user limit. We cover user limits by plan, what accountant users can and can't do, and how to remove access when someone leaves. Want it set up right the first time? Book a free consultation with our QuickBooks Solution Provider team: https://www.certumsolutions.com/book-consultation
Last Updated June 25, 2026
Your bookkeeper needs to get into your books. Or your CPA asked you to add them before tax season. Or a new hire has to enter bills — but should never see payroll. QuickBooks Online handles all of this, but the screen where you set it up quietly decides two things that matter: whether you pay for an extra user seat, and how much of your financial data that person can touch.
Our Founder and CEO, Katherine "Katie" Bunschoten, walks through the exact steps in the video above. Certum Solutions is a QuickBooks Solution Provider — top 2% of ProAdvisors nationally and a 13-time Intuit award winner, including 2022 Trailblazer of the Year — so we set up user access for businesses across the country every year and see the same avoidable mistakes again and again.
This guide is written for U.S.-based small business owners and admins managing QuickBooks Online in 2026. You'll learn the difference between a regular user and an accountant user, the step-by-step invite process for each, how many of each your plan allows, and how to pull access back when someone leaves. Where the setup affects your security, we say so plainly — including who should not get full access.
Want your QuickBooks users set up right the first time?
Users vs. Accountants in QuickBooks Online: What's the Difference?
QuickBooks Online sorts the people in your file into two groups, and the difference affects both your bill and your security. Regular users count toward your plan's paid user limit and get permissions you control. Accountant users are invited through a separate tab, do not count toward that limit, and receive a fixed set of professional permissions built for reviewing and correcting your books.
Regular Users
Regular users are the people inside your company who need day-to-day access — an office manager, an AP clerk, a salesperson. When you add one, your subscription level decides how many you're allowed. QuickBooks Online offers access levels including:
• Full access — accounting and most company settings
• Limited access — restricted to an area such as sales (customers and invoices) or expenses (vendors and bills)
• View-only access — can see but not change
• Reports-only and time-tracking-only — narrow roles that, on most plans, do not count toward your paid user limit
Accountant Users
Accountant users get the tools a financial professional needs — undoing reconciliations, reclassifying transactions, writing off invoices, and running any report — that aren't available to standard permission sets. As Katie explains in the video, this is exactly why you invite your accountant through the Accountants tab rather than adding them as a regular user. Two points worth remembering: an accounting firm must connect using QuickBooks Online Accountant, and inviting an accountant does not use up one of your paid user seats.
Why You Should Never Add Your Accountant as a Regular User
Adding your accountant under the Users tab does two things you don't want. First, it burns one of your paid user seats — on Simple Start, that's your only seat. Second, it gives them a permission set that wasn't built for accountant work, so they may lack the tools to fix your books while still costing you money. The Accountants tab solves both problems at once. Avoid issues later, Set up QuickBooks Online correctly.
How to Add an Accountant to QuickBooks Online (Step-by-Step)
You must be the primary admin or a company admin to invite an accountant. You can invite by the firm's ID or by email — and the Firm ID method is the one we recommend.
The Recommended Method — Invite by Firm ID
Entering your accounting firm's ID connects the whole firm through QuickBooks Online Accountant, so the firm assigns its own team members on their side. It's the cleanest option because it isn't tied to one person's inbox — and Intuit itself points to the Firm ID as the fastest way to avoid email-invite errors.
Sign in to QuickBooks Online as the primary admin.
Select the gear icon (Settings) in the top-right corner, then choose Manage users. (You can also start from My accountant in the left-hand menu.)
Open the Accountants or Accounting firms tab — the label depends on your version — and select Invite firm.
Choose the option to enter your accountant's firm ID, then enter it (ask your firm for it).
Select Send the invitation. Verify your identity if QuickBooks prompts you (a texted code or authenticator app).
Working with Certum Solutions? Invite us as your firm using Firm ID 9130350692280696.
The Alternative — Invite by Email
You can enter an accountant's email address instead of a Firm ID, but only if that email is tied to an active QuickBooks Online Accountant login. Don't use a shared or generic inbox that nobody signs into QuickBooks with — the invitation will land in an account that can't accept it. When in doubt, use the Firm ID.
What Happens After You Send the Invitation
Your firm receives an email with a link to your company file. If they already use QuickBooks Online Accountant, they can sign in and accept right away; if not, the email prompts them to create a free login first. On your Manage users page, their status reads Invited until they accept, then switches to Active. One firm, one invite: you invite the firm once, and the firm assigns its own team members on their side — you don't add each person individually.
Does Adding an Accountant Count Toward Your User Limit?
No. Inviting an accountant through the Accountants tab does not count toward your plan's paid (billable) user limit — that's the entire point of the separate tab. You can give your CPA or bookkeeper access without upgrading your subscription. Add that same person under the Users tab, though, and they will consume a paid seat.
| Plan | Billable Users | Accounting Firm Users |
|---|---|---|
| Simple Start | 1 | 2 |
| Essentials | 3 | 2 |
| Plus | 5 | 2 |
| Advanced | 25 | 3 |
How Many Users and Accountants Can Each QuickBooks Online Plan Allow?
Your plan sets two separate limits: how many billable users you can add, and how many accounting firms you can connect. Here's how the four main QuickBooks Online plans compare in 2026:
Reports-only and time-tracking-only users are unlimited on Plus and Advanced and generally don't count toward the billable limit. If you keep bumping into the billable-user ceiling, that's often a signal it's time to compare tiers — our QuickBooks Online plans comparison breaks down where each one makes sense. Limits can change, so confirm yours under Settings > Account and settings > Usage.
What About Intuit Enterprise Suite (IES)?
Intuit Enterprise Suite is a separate, multi-entity product, and it doesn't offer the same client-initiated firm-add that QuickBooks Online plans do. In IES, accountant and firm access is set up through QuickBooks Online Accountant rather than the client-side Invite firm flow described here, so if you've moved up to IES, confirm the current process in-product or with your firm. If you're weighing a move from QuickBooks Online to IES, our team handles that Intuit Enterprise Suite migration end to end.
Outgrowing your plan or your permissions?
How to Add a Regular User in QuickBooks Online
Regular users are added from the same Manage users screen, under the Users tab.
1. Select the gear icon (Settings), then Manage users.
2. On the Users tab, select Add user.
3. Enter the person's name and email. (Only a period is allowed as a special character in the name; only a period and @ are allowed in the email.)
4. Choose their access level, then save. They'll get an email invitation to set up their login.
Choosing the Right Access Level
Match the access level to the job, not to the person. An AP clerk usually needs expense access, not full access. A salesperson needs customers and invoices, not your bank feeds. Start narrower than you think — Katie's rule of thumb applies here: too little access is a quick fix, while too much access is hard to unwind, because you can't always see what someone changed before you pull it back.
Setting Up Roles in QuickBooks Online Advanced
QuickBooks Online Advanced adds custom, role-based permissions — the kind of control that used to require an ERP system. Instead of setting permissions person by person, you build a role once (say, Accounts Payable) and assign it to everyone in that job. It's the cleanest way to keep permissions consistent as your team grows. If you've outgrown user-by-user permissions, that's frequently a sign you're ready for Advanced or beyond.
What an Accountant User Can (and Can't) Do
Accountant permissions are fixed — you can't customize them the way you can a regular user's. An accountant user can:
View, add, edit, and delete transactions
Run any report, including profit and loss and balance sheet
Reconcile accounts and undo prior reconciliations
Reclassify transactions and write off invoices
They cannot:
Manage other users or change your subscription
Remove themselves or anyone else from the account
Because the permission set is broad, only invite an accountant or firm you trust with full visibility into your finances.
A Quick Permission Security Checklist
Before you hand out access, run through this:
Use the Accountants tab for accountants — not the Users tab.
Grant the lowest access level that still lets the person do their job.
Add one person per accounting firm and let the firm assign the rest.
Never share a single login between multiple people — it breaks your audit trail.
Review your user list quarterly and remove anyone who has left.
Separating duties this way is one of the simplest internal controls a small business can put in place: your accountant gets in, and no single person holds the keys to everything.
Not sure who should have access to what?
How to Remove or Resend an Invitation to an Accountant or User
Resend an Invitation
If the invite never arrives, return to Manage users, find the person showing as Invited, and resend it. If you added them by mistake before they accepted, you can delete the pending invitation from the same screen.
Remove an Accountant or User
As the primary admin and owner of your books, you can remove access at any time. Go to Settings > Manage users, open the Accountants tab (or the Users tab for a regular user), find the name, and select Delete. Deleting a regular user is permanent, but their activity stays visible in the audit log.
Troubleshooting: My Accountant Didn't Get the Invitation
If your accountant says the email never showed up, work through these in order:
Have them check spam and junk folders first.
Confirm you typed the email address correctly — a single typo stops delivery.
Clear your browser cache and cookies, or try the invite in a private/incognito window.
Resend the invitation from Manage users.
If it still won't go through, the email address may already be tied to another Intuit login, and Intuit support can sort that out.
When to Get Help Setting Up QuickBooks Online Users
Most owners can add a user or accountant in a couple of minutes. The setup gets trickier when you're managing role-based permissions in Advanced, untangling who changed what, or cleaning up a file where everyone has had full access for years. That's the kind of work our team handles daily — from QuickBooks Online setup and support to a full books cleanup when loose permissions have let errors pile up. If your file needs more than a quick invite, our QuickBooks Solution Provider team can step in.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I add an accountant to QuickBooks Online in 2026?
Sign in as the primary admin, go to Settings (the gear icon) and select Manage users, open the Accountants or Accounting firms tab, and select Invite firm. Enter your accounting firm's ID (the recommended method) or the accountant's email, then send the invitation. They'll receive an email link to accept. You can also start from the My accountant menu in the left navigation.
Should I invite my accountant by email or by Firm ID?
Firm ID is the recommended method. It connects the whole firm through QuickBooks Online Accountant and isn't tied to one person's inbox. Email works too, but only if that address is an active QuickBooks Online Accountant login — avoid a shared or generic inbox, because the invitation will go to an account that can't accept it.
Can I add an accounting firm in Intuit Enterprise Suite (IES)?
Not through the same client-initiated firm-add used in QuickBooks Online plans. Intuit Enterprise Suite handles accountant access differently, typically through QuickBooks Online Accountant, so confirm the current process in-product or with your firm. The Invite firm method described here applies to QuickBooks Online Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, and Advanced.
Does adding an accountant use one of my QuickBooks Online user seats?
No. Accountant users invited through the Accountants tab don't count toward your plan's paid user limit. Only users added under the Users tab count.
How many users can I have in QuickBooks Online?
Billable users by plan in 2026: Simple Start allows 1, Essentials 3, Plus 5, and Advanced 25. Accounting firm users are separate — 2 firms on Simple Start, Essentials, and Plus, and 3 on Advanced.
Can two people from the same accounting firm access my books?
Yes. You invite one person from the firm, and that firm assigns additional team members on their side through QuickBooks Online Accountant. You don't add each person individually.
What's the difference between a user and an accountant in QuickBooks Online?
Regular users count toward your paid user limit and get permissions you set. Accountant users are invited from a separate tab, don't count toward that limit, and receive a fixed professional permission set built for reviewing and correcting books.
Can I limit what a user sees in QuickBooks Online?
Yes. You can assign full access, limited access (such as sales-only or expenses-only), or view-only access. QuickBooks Online Advanced adds custom role-based permissions for finer control.
Can an accountant remove me from my own QuickBooks Online account?
No. Accountant users can't manage users, change your subscription, or remove anyone — including themselves. Only the primary admin controls user access.
How do I remove an accountant from QuickBooks Online?
Go to Settings, select Manage users, open the Accountants tab, find the accountant, and select Delete. As the primary admin, you can do this at any time.
My accountant didn't receive the invitation — what now?
Have them check spam, confirm the email address is correct, clear your browser cache or use a private window, and resend from Manage users. If it still fails, the address may already be linked to an Intuit account.
Do I need to be the admin to add users in QuickBooks Online?
Yes. Only the primary admin or a company admin can invite, edit, or remove users and accountants.
Should I add my bookkeeper as a user or an accountant?
If your bookkeeper uses QuickBooks Online Accountant, invite them through the Accountants tab so they get the right tools without using a paid seat. Not sure how to structure access across your team? Book a free consultation and we'll map it out with you: https://www.certumsolutions.com/book-consultation
Set up your team in QuickBooks the right way.
Related Resources
QuickBooks Online Plans Compared (2026) -> https://www.certumsolutions.com/library/quickbooks-online-plans-compared
QuickBooks Online Setup & Support -> https://www.certumsolutions.com/quickbooks-online-setup-support
QuickBooks Cleanup -> https://www.certumsolutions.com/quickbooks-cleanup
QuickBooks Managed Support -> https://www.certumsolutions.com/quickbooks-managed-support
Comparing Security Permissions: QBO vs. QuickBooks Enterprise -> https://www.certumsolutions.com/library/comparing-security-permissions-qbo-qbes
QuickBooks Online Usage Limits -> https://www.certumsolutions.com/library/quickbooks-online-usage-restrictions
DISCLAIMER
This article is for informational purposes and reflects QuickBooks Online as of 2026; Intuit interface labels and plan limits can change. QuickBooks and QuickBooks Online are trademarks of Intuit Inc. Certum Solutions is an independent QuickBooks Solution Provider.
