Why this matters more than you think
Meta's access system isn't just an organizational preference — it directly affects your account's security, ad performance, and what happens if something goes wrong. When the wrong person has Admin access, they can remove you, change payment methods, disable your ad account, or lock you out entirely. When agencies are added incorrectly, it creates ownership disputes that are difficult to resolve.
The most common support requests I receive are from business owners who can't access their own accounts because a former employee or contractor still holds Admin access — or because an agency was set up as an Admin instead of a Partner and then went dark.
The three roles explained
Employee
An Employee can work inside your Business Portfolio, but only on the specific assets they've been explicitly assigned. They can't see anything they haven't been given access to, they can't add or remove other people, and they can't change any account-level settings.
This is the correct role for most people on your team. A social media manager running ads should be an Employee assigned to the specific ad account and page they need — nothing more.
Admin
An Admin has full, unrestricted control over your entire Business Portfolio. They can add and remove people (including other Admins), change payment methods, access every asset in the portfolio, and modify any setting. There is no action an Admin cannot take.
This is the role that gets misused most. Many businesses make multiple people Admins when they only need access to one page or one ad account. That's a security problem — if any of those accounts is compromised, the attacker has full portfolio control.
Partner
A Partner is an external business — an agency, a contractor, or a freelancer — that accesses your portfolio through their own Business Portfolio, not through a personal login. You add them by entering their Business Portfolio ID, not by inviting an email address.
This is the correct way to give an agency access to your account. When an agency is added as a Partner, they work inside their own Meta environment. If you stop working with them, you can remove the Partner connection cleanly without affecting your own account structure.
When an agency is added as an Admin via personal email instead, removing them becomes complicated — and if the relationship ends badly, you may be in a situation where they still technically control your portfolio.
Role comparison at a glance
| Role | Can do | Cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Employee | Work on assigned assets (pages, ad accounts, catalogs) | Add/remove people, change settings, access unassigned assets |
| Admin | Everything — full portfolio control, people management, billing | Nothing is restricted |
| Partner | Access assigned assets through their own Business Portfolio | Add/remove people, change portfolio-level settings, access unassigned assets |
The most common mistakes
Making everyone an Admin "just in case"
This is the most common mistake by far. A business owner sets up the account, then adds their VA, their social media manager, and their designer as Admins so they "don't have to deal with permissions issues." Now four people have full portfolio control. If any one of those accounts gets hacked, your entire Meta presence is at risk.
Adding agencies as Admins instead of Partners
Agencies should never be Admins. When you add an agency to your Business Portfolio, ask them for their Business Portfolio ID and add them as a Partner. If an agency asks you to add them as an Admin via their personal email, that's a red flag — a professional agency has its own Business Portfolio and knows how the Partner system works.
Giving full portfolio access when only page access is needed
If someone needs to post on your Facebook Page, they don't need access to your ad account. If someone manages your Instagram, they don't need access to your Facebook Page. Meta lets you assign Employees to specific assets — use that instead of granting broad portfolio access by default.
Quick rule: who gets which role
How to check who currently has access
If you're not sure who has what access to your portfolio right now, here's how to check:
Go to business.facebook.com and make sure you're logged in to the correct account.
In the left sidebar, click Settings. Then click People under the Users section. This shows everyone who has access to your Business Portfolio and their role.
Back in Settings, click Partners. This shows any external businesses connected to your portfolio. Former agencies you've stopped working with may still appear here.
Remove anyone who shouldn't have access. For Admins who should be Employees, click their name, edit their role, and reassign them to specific assets only.
If your access setup is already a mess
Some access situations are straightforward to clean up. Others — like when a former agency is still listed as Admin and won't respond, or when your account got restructured by someone else and you don't have the right role anymore — require a full review of your portfolio structure before you start changing things.
Moving the wrong person without understanding the full picture can make things worse. This is the kind of thing I look at in a Meta Access Review — I go through your entire portfolio structure, identify who has what and whether it's correct, and give you a prioritized written plan to clean it up safely.