How to Share QuickBooks Online/Desktop with Accountant?

QuickBooks contains a lot more essential information related to your company data. To perform some critical or technical method, you may require an accountant to review your accounting books. Even when you encounter technical errors related to the QuickBooks file, your accountant may have to check the error. In such scenarios, you want to share QuickBooks Online with accountant so that your accountant can access the company file and look out for the solution.

An accountant plays a special role in QuickBooks. If you are willing to add them to your account, you should have complete knowledge of doing so. Here, we will guide you on how to share QuickBooks with accountant for Desktop and Online versions.

How Do I Share QuickBooks Online with My Accountant?

To share your QuickBooks Online company with your accountant, you are required to invite them first. QuickBooks lets you invite different users via the Manage User page. Hence, you can invite the accountant through an invitation. As your accountant receives and accepts the invitation they can access your company file. Here is the detailed procedure for QuickBooks Online share with accountant:

• First of all, log in to the “QuickBooks Online” account.
• Once logged in, go to the “Gear” icon placed on the top right side.
• After this, choose the “Manage Users” option.
• Click on the “Accounting Firms” screen.
• Here, you need to add the “first/last name” and “email address” of your accountant. Though this is an optional step.
• After that, you can press the “Invite” button to share QuickBooks Online with accountant.
• As you send the invitation to your accountant, they will get an email containing a link. By clicking on this link, your accountant will be able to sign into the company data or file.
• Your accountant may be prompted to create a username before logging into the company (if the accountant does not have an account with Intuit).
• Until the accountant signs in to accept the invitation, the status of the invitation will show as “Invited” in the “Manage Users” screen. Once the accountant accepts the invitation, the status turns to “Active”.
• Now, follow the on-screen instructions and click the “Finish” button.
• Here, press the “Continue” button.

What If an Accountant is Unable to Access Some Information?

When you invite your accountant to share QuickBooks Online with accountant, they can access the data after accepting the invitation. However, in some cases, an accountant fails to access certain information even when the invitation is accepted. This may happen due to insufficient privileges. As a solution, you can make your accountant a master admin. To do so, you can walk through the following steps:

• To turn your accountant into a “Master Admin”, you can click on the “Action” drop-down menu.
• Then, choose the “Make Master admin” option.
• After this, your accountant will get an email to accept the invitation to the “Master Admin” role. If the accountant is ready, they have to click on the “Yes” button and log in to the account.
• Now, move to the “Manage Users” tab and refresh the tab. Here, you will see both the users; your company’s accountant and the QuickBooks user. Remember that your accountant will appear under the “Accounting firms” also.

By making the accountant a Master Admin, your accountant can have full access to QBO company data. This should also be noted that QuickBooks allows only one user to be a Master Admin. So, if you make your accountant a master admin then you will lose your rights from it.

Note: If you want to reverse the procedure and you want to be the Master Admin your accountant (who you turned as master admin) will have to send you the invitation. After that, you can accept it and refresh the Manage User tab.

Few Important Details for QuickBooks Share with Accountant Procedure

Sharing your QuickBooks Online account with your accountant is easy. However, there are a few things you should note. For instance,

• If your accountant is already having a subscription to QuickBooks Online for Accountants then they will simply receive the link to access the QuickBooks Online company after you invite them.
• On the other hand, if your accountant does not have any QuickBooks Online for Accountants subscription for Accountant, they still will have the option to sign up for the account once you send them an invitation. Please note, signing up for the account is free. Moreover, it allows accountants to access the QuickBooks Online company file without any cost.
• When the accountant successfully gets into the QuickBooks Online access, they can use all the features available on your current version of QuickBooks Online.
• To share your QBO account, you can invite more than two accountants.
• Also, the accountant users will have additional privileges. With this, accountants can undo the reconciliation, write off the invoices, and reclassify the transactions in QuickBooks.

Now you have learned how to share QuickBooks Online with accountants. It is an easy way to let your accountant work on your QuickBooks Online company file. Also, if you no longer want to share QuickBooks Online with accountant, delete them from the record.

How Do I Share My QuickBooks Desktop with an Accountant?

In QuickBooks Desktop, users can share the company file with accountants in different ways. You can either set the user as an external accountant or create an accountant’s copy so that your accountant can make changes to the file. The procedure of both methods is quite different. In the following detail, you will know how to share QuickBooks with accountant depending on the version you are using currently.

Method 1: Set Up the External Accountant User

If you want to share your QuickBooks Desktop with an accountant, you can make it possible by setting up an external accountant user. By doing so, your accountant can access the company file without having the need to sign in as an administrator.

Note: The External Accountant User can have access to all the areas of your QuickBooks except the credit card number of the customer.

To know how to share QuickBooks Desktop with accountant by setting up the External Accountant user, you can go through the following steps based on the QuickBooks Desktop version you are using:

Set Up the External Accountant User in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

• Click on the “Company” menu.
• Select the “Users” option.
• Then, click on the “Users and Roles” option.
• Here, you can enter the “Admin Password”.
• Select the “OK” button.
• Go to the “New” button from the “User List” option.
• Here, you can enter the information for “User ID” and “Password”.
• Now, choose the “External Accountant Role” from the “Available Roles” section.
• After this, hit the “Add” button.
• At this point, you need to add the email address of the user.
• Press the “OK” option.
• When you see the confirmation screen, click the “OK” button again.

Set Up the External Accountant User in QuickBooks Desktop Premier or Pro

• Click the “Company” menu.
• Then, select the “Set Up Users and Password” option.
• Here, you can click on the “Set up Users” option.
• Now, press the “Add User” button.
• After this, you can enter the “User Name” and “Password”.
• When you confirm the password, press the “Next” button.
• At this point, you can choose the “External Accountant” option.
• Hit the “Next” button.
• Make sure you click the “Yes” button to allow access to the user.
• Once done, click the “Finish” button.

What to Do to Connect a User with an Intuit Account?

For the External Accountant role, you have to link it to the Intuit account of the user. As you set up the new user, you can send them an invitation via email. Once the user recovers the email invitation, he/she has to click on the Accept Invite button and sign in to the Intuit account using the correct user ID. This will allow the user to access the QuickBooks Desktop with a new user role that has been assigned.

Note: If the users do not receive an invitation via email, tell them to check their spam or junk folders.

This is how you can set up the External Accountant. In this process of QuickBooks Desktop share with accountant, your accountants don’t need to log in and yet access the QuickBooks Desktop. In addition, the Audit Trail feature helps in tracking the changes made by External Accountant users in QuickBooks Desktop.

Method 2: Create the Accountant’s Copy of the Company File

Another way of sharing your QuickBooks Desktop is by creating a copy of your company data and sharing it with your accountant. This process does not require email invitations. Rather it creates a separate copy of your company file on which your accountant can make changes while you will still be having the original data. Once your accountant makes changes to the copy, you can import the changes into QuickBooks Desktop to update your accounting books.

Let’s see how to share QuickBooks file with accountant by creating the accountant’s copy for the company file:

Step 1: Prepare the QuickBooks Desktop

If you are using QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise, it is important to disable the Advanced Inventory features before you create the accountant’s copy. Once you are done sending the Accountant’s Copy, you can turn on the Advanced inventory feature again.

However, if you have other versions of QuickBooks Desktop such as Premier and Pro or you do not use the Advanced Inventory then you can switch to the next step. Let’s find out how to share QuickBooks Desktop with accountant.

Step 2: Set Up the Accountant’s Copy

To create the Accountant’s Copy for the company data, you can choose two different ways. For instance, create a file you can put on the online hosting service/USB or use the Accountant’s Copy File Transfer Service. This way you can send the file to your accountant through the internet. Let’s have a look at both the ways to create and send the accountant’s copy:

Create the File to Put on USB or Hosting Service

• Click on the “File” menu.
• Then, hover your mouse over the “Send Company File” option.
• After that, hover your mouse over the “Accountant’s Copy” and then over the “Client Activities” option.
• Now, hit the “Save File” option.
• Press the “Next” button.
• Click on the “Accountant’s Copy” option.
• Hit the “Next” button.
• Here, you can add the dividing date.
• Click the “Next” option.
• When you are done creating the “Accountant’s Copy”, you will see the file name with the “.qbx” extension.
• Now, you can put your file on the USB and send it to your accountant. You can email them or share the file via cloud service as well.

Share the File via Accountant’s Copy File Transfer Service

• Navigate to the “File” menu.
• Now, hover the mouse over the “Send Company File” option.
• Then, choose the “Accountant’s Copy”.
• Select the “Client Activities” option.
• Now, hit the “Send to Accountant” option.
• Press the “Next” button.
• Click on the “Accountant’s Copy” and press the “Next” button.
• Here, you can add the dividing date and click “Next”.
• Add the email address of your accountant.
• Now, create the password for your file so that your accountant can use this password to open the file.
• When everything is ready, hit the “Send” button.

As you execute the aforementioned steps, QuickBooks will close all the windows and share the file with the accountant. Please note your accountant will have only two weeks to save the Accountant’s Copy you shared with them.

What to Do Next?

When your accountant receives the email with a link, they will have to download the company file through the file link. After that, accountants can use the password provided to them to access the file. Later, they can continue making changes to the file. Once all the changes are done, you can import these changes to your account.

Endnote

On certain occasions, you may need to share the company file with your accountant. To let them access your QuickBooks Online account, you can invite them by sending an invitation via email. Besides that, you can add your accountant as an external user or create the accountant’s copy of the company data in QuickBooks Desktop. We hope you have got the right details to share QuickBooks Online with accountant including the desktop version.

If you want to export QuickBooks Online to Desktop version or vice versa, you can read our guide with detailed information.