Collaborate and work together with others on your business by inviting them into your account as a Team Member. Adding Team Members is a paid add-on that can be added or removed from your subscription anytime with the steps here.
You can invite your Team Members as an Admin, Employee, Contractor or Accountant, depending on what kind of role you want to give them. You can also customize these roles further with Client Access and Project Manager settings.
Overview of Permissions
Different levels of access and permissions are determined by the role you assign your Team Member. Use the symbols to see what sections in the FreshBooks account they have access to, and jump to any role to learn the specific details of what they're able to do.
All roles except Contractors use your business’ account; Contractors get their own separate account where some shared Time Tracking and Project information will be visible in their account.
When you’re ready, use these steps to invite a Team Member. If you delete a Team Member, you'll also need to downgrade your account to remove any empty Team Member seats.
Legend
- Checkmark symbol (✓) - They can see the section and have full access to it, including the ability to create, edit and delete in that section
- X symbol (X) - They cannot see that section, therefore they do not have any access to actions inside that section
- Exclamation point symbol (!) - They can see the section but have limited access inside it - go to the specific team member role for details
Business Owner | Admin | Manager | Employee | Accountant | Contractor | Unassigned | |
Settings | ✓ | ! | ! | X | ! | X | X |
Dashboard | ✓ | ✓ | X | X | ✓ | X | X |
Clients | ✓ | ✓ | ! | X | X | X | X |
Invoices | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | X | ! | X | X |
Payments | ✓ | ! | ! | X | ! | X | X |
Expenses | ✓ | ✓ | ! | ! | ! | X | X |
Estimates | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | X | X | X | X |
Time Tracking | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ! | X | ! | X |
Projects | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ! | X | ! | X |
Reports | ✓ | ✓ | ! | X | ! | X | X |
Accounting | ! | ! | X | X | ✓ | X | X |
Role Details
Business Owner
A Business Owner is the one who has created the FreshBooks account. The Owner has full access to everything in their account, and can enable Advanced Accounting for Accountant-specific access like managing the Chart of Accounts and creating Journal Entries.
Admin
When an Admin logs into the business’ account, they can see the below sections. Some limitations apply in specific sections:
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Manager
When a Manager logs into the business’ account, they can see the below sections. Some limitations apply in specific sections:
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Employee
When an Employee logs into the business’ account, they can see the below sections. Some limitations apply in specific sections:
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Can see all Clients when tracking time by default, access to Clients can be managed if Client Access is available.
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Accountant
Invite up to 10 Accountants per business at no extra cost, on Plus, Premium and Select plans. If your Accountant wants to learn more and familiarize themselves with FreshBooks’ accounting features, they can sign up for the Accounting Partner Program to become a FreshBooks certified partner along with other benefits. If you don’t have an Accountant yet, reach out to us and we can help you get matched with one of our partners based on your geographical location, industry and your accounting needs.
When an Accountant logs into the business’ account, they can see the below sections. Some limitations apply in specific sections:
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Contractor
A Contractor has their own separate FreshBooks account, and you can share specific access with them:
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The navigation is the same as any other FreshBooks Business Owner. They also see specific shared information from your account:
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Unassigned
An Unassigned Team Member has no access to your FreshBooks account and can be added at no extra cost. The Team Member Profile is only stored in your account to help you keep track of all your Team Members in one place. When you’re ready to work with them in FreshBooks, assign them a role with the steps here to get started.
Extra Settings
Client Access
Client Access allows you to choose which Clients you want your Manager and Employees to have access to. This will restrict how much information they can see based on what Client(s) they have access to.
Settings for My Team
To change the default Client access for any new Team Member, use the below steps:
- In the My Team section, click on the gear icon next to My Team
- Click on Client Access
- For when a new team member is invited, choose whether you want them to see all clients or won’t see any clients in their account
- Click Save to finish.
Settings for a Team Member
Once a Team Member has accepted their invitation, you can click on their name to view the Team Member’s profile and adjust their Client Access, including access to specific Clients with these steps:
- In the My Team section, click on the team member that you want to view details for
- Under Team Member Settings, click on Client Access
- Whatever you’ve chosen as the default setting for My Team will apply here, otherwise you can choose between All Clients Visible or Only Specific Clients Visible
- Click Done to save the Client Access
- If All Clients Visible is chosen, click on the plus + button next to All Clients Visible, Except…
- Choose a Client or type in the Client
- Click on the checkmark button to save and this Client will be hidden from the Team Member
- Choose a Client or type in the Client
- If Only Specific Clients Visible is chosen, click on the plus + button next to Only Specific Clients Visible
- Choose a Client or type in the Client
- Click on the checkmark button to save and this Client will be visible to the Team Member
- Choose a Client or type in the Client
- Then click on Save to confirm the Team Member profile changes.
Note: You can add up to 2500 specific Clients to be hidden or visible to the Team Member. If no specific Clients are added, the Team Member will either see all or none of the Clients in your account.
Project Manager
Project Managers are an extra level of access that can be assigned to any existing Team Member (except Contractors) on any project. Anyone except the creator of the Project can be assigned as Project Manager, and once assigned, will be able to:
- Manage the Project by editing it as needed
- View Invoices and your Expenses associated to the Project
- Generate Invoices for the Project including rebilling all associated Expenses created by the team
- View all time entries for the Project - both theirs and the team’s
A Project can only have one Project Manager at a time. To assign a Project Manager on your Project, use these steps:
- Go to the Projects section
- Click on a Project you want to add a Project Manager to
- Then click on the Edit button
- In the Project Team Members section, click on the + plus button
- Hover over the Team Member you want to designate and click on the PM button
- The PM button will display a checkmark next to it to confirm your selection
- Click on Update Team Members to finish.
FAQs
Can I switch my team member’s role after they’ve been assigned one?
Changing your Team Member's role is possible between the Admin, Manager and Employee roles only. If you have a team member in one of those three roles, switching can be done with these steps:
- Click on My Team
- In the All Team Members section, click on the member you want to change roles for
- Then in the Edit Team Member view, click on the Admin, Manager or Employee role
- Choose the new role to switch them to
- Click Save to finish, and the Team Member will receive an email about the role changes.