Transferring the Primary Admin role for an Intuit account associated with a specific QuickBooks Desktop company file

Improved user experience and security protocols are being introduced for the QuickBooks® Desktop user by requiring the company owner to log in to an Intuit® account when opening the company file. Having an Intuit account provides a secure, single source login for access to all of Intuit’s powerful offerings, including owned QuickBooks Desktop software and connected services.

In this article, I will share with you the process for transferring the Primary Admin role for an Intuit account associated with a specific QuickBooks Desktop company file. I am using QuickBooks Premier Accountant for the images in this article, but the process will work for any supported version of QuickBooks Desktop. Be sure to scroll to the end of this article for links to three videos with other details on working with your Intuit account management

Click to watch a video of the instructions in this article or click on the video below.

What are some reasons you would need to transfer the email ID for the Primary Admin of an Intuit account?

• When the accountant is returning the file to a client; this is the example I demonstrate in the accompanying video for this article.
• When there has been a change in the ownership structure of the company.
• When the current Primary Admin of the Intuit account is leaving the company and a new employee needs to act as the Primary Admin.

You can choose from two access points to start this transfer process.

One access point is available after logging into the file with the Admin user credentials. Select from the menu bar, Company > Set Up Users and Passwords > Intuit Account User Management. The menu location is similar in the QuickBooks Enterprise software.

Improved user experience and security protocols are being introduced for the QuickBooks® Desktop user by requiring the company owner to log in to an Intuit® account when opening the company file. Having an Intuit account provides a secure, single source login for access to all of Intuit’s powerful offerings, including owned QuickBooks Desktop software and connected services.

In this article, I will share with you the process for transferring the Primary Admin role for an Intuit account associated with a specific QuickBooks Desktop company file. I am using QuickBooks Premier Accountant for the images in this article, but the process will work for any supported version of QuickBooks Desktop. Be sure to scroll to the end of this article for links to three videos with other details on working with your Intuit account management

Click to watch a video of the instructions in this article or click on the video below.

Add client as a user to the Intuit account associated with your client’s company file

Your first step is to select Add User. When prompted, enter your client’s email address to which you wish to transfer ownership. By default, every user added to this Intuit account will be assigned the Basic user role. Optionally, choose to assign any other specific roles. Then select the Add User button.

A message displays that an invite was sent to the email you typed for the user. Click OK. The newly-added user is listed with a Pending status in your accountant Intuit account.

Instruct your client to accept the invitation they received in their email. As part of the acceptance, they will be required to log into their own Intuit account or create a new one if they have not done so already. Encourage your client to use an email they have access to, and optionally their mobile phone number, for ease when prompted for authentication. A message will display for your client that the invite was accepted.

To continue with the transfer process, log into your accountant Intuit account. The client’s status will now be listed as Active.

Select change primary admin

Next, you can now transfer the Primary Admin role by clicking the Change Primary Admin in the Action column. Then, select from the drop-down the specific user to whom you wish to transfer this role.

Click the “I understand …” print at the bottom left. A message displays that you are transferring the Primary Admin role, and for security purposes, you will need to sign into your (i.e., your accountant) Intuit account. On the lower right, click the Verify button.

As prompted, you will need to sign into your accountant Intuit account. A message displays that the invite was sent to the client, and that the transfer process is not yet completed. Once I click the OK on that message, the Intuit account user management window shows the client status of Active, but pending for the transfer of the Primary admin role.

Client accepts invite to be primary admin

Once again, instruct your client to accept the automated email invitation to become the Primary Admin of the Intuit account associated with this company file. As part of the acceptance, your client will be required to log into their previously-created Intuit account. Your client will see an “Invite accepted” message. After clicking OK, the client is now listed as the Primary admin for this Intuit account associated with their QuickBooks Desktop company file. Both the previous Primary admin and the new Primary admin will also receive an email notification for added security and for tracking purposes.

By default, the prior Primary admin is now assigned the Secondary admin role. The new Primary admin can change the roles assigned or delete users from this specific Intuit account.

Instruct your client to log into their company file with the QuickBooks Desktop Admin user credentials.

Next, when prompted for the Intuit account login, instruct the client to use the same email User ID they used to accept the Primary Admin invite. After clicking the Continue button on the Intuit account window, your client will be prompted to log into their own Intuit account (the same email user ID they used when they accepted the invitations).

Your client can confirm their email is properly assigned to their company file by pressing the F2 key on a Windows keyboard. The Product Information window displays, and in the top right they’ll see details about the current Intuit account information for this file.

You have now finished the transfer process and have successfully transferred the Primary Admin role for the Intuit account associated with their QuickBooks Desktop company file.

Your client can now manage the users and roles for the Intuit account by selecting Company > Set Up Users and Passwords > Intuit Account User Management. By default, users added to the Intuit account do not have access to the QuickBooks Desktop file; for this your client will need to select the Set Up Users menu item. The menus named here are similar in the QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise software.

Interested in other useful details when working with your Intuit account management?

Scenario 1: The accountant is not using QuickBooks Desktop Accountant software. How to instruct clients to create an external accountant and/or all access/full access user before sending the file to the accountant.

Scenario 2: The accountant is not using QuickBooks Desktop Accountant software. Accountant instructions when logging into the client’s QuickBooks Desktop company file with the Admin credentials.

Scenario 3: The accountant is using QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise Accountant or Premier Accountant software and Intuit account management.

Intuit Account mandate: Why now for QuickBooks Desktop?

Click here to see the article on this topic.

Do you have any questions? Do you need additional support? I encourage you to like the video and leave any comments, or  visit my YouTube channel  for more videos.