Giving your external accountant access to your bookkeeping

Your accountant needs to get into Exact or Moneybird. How do you set that up securely, permanently, and in a way that doesn't leave everyone clueless after two accountant changes?

Giving your accountant access to your bookkeeping software is a recurring challenge. The temptation to just hand over the admin login is huge — and that's behind 99% of the cases where things go wrong.

The right approach, broadly the same for every package

\n
1. A dedicated account for the accountant. Don't share your admin login. Use the built-in accountant role if one exists — both Exact and Moneybird have one.
\n
2. Limit scope by financial year. Most packages let you restrict access to just the previous and current financial year.
\n
3. Enable MFA on the accountant's account. Their firm should be requiring this internally anyway, but a belt-and-braces approach never hurts.
\n
4. Document the relationship. Who at the accountancy firm has which permissions? You need to be able to update this when staff changes happen.
\n
5. Annual review. The year-end close is the natural moment to check: is X still at the firm? Does that person still need access?
\n

Password management on their end

The accountancy firm has its own password policy. What you can control: make sure the password-reset email goes to a managed mailbox, not a personal account belonging to one individual accountant. That way you'll survive an accountant change.

Data exports: yes or no?

Accountants often want exports in Excel or CSV format. That's fine — but document it: who created which export, and when? Modern bookkeeping packages log this; it's also a GDPR requirement whenever personal data is involved.

See also giving access to external parties and the offboarding checklist — the latter applies just as much when you switch accountants.