Business Portfolio and Ad Account Permissions
Before any campaign can run, you need the right account structure in place. This guide covers the Business Portfolio, ad accounts, the people and partners who can access them and how billing works.
- Container
- Business Portfolio (formerly Business Manager)
- Holds
- Ad accounts, Pages, Instagram accounts, pixels, catalogs, apps
- Access model
- People with roles, plus partner businesses
- Billing
- Per ad account, with payment methods and thresholds
- Verification
- Business verification for some features and higher limits
On This Page
Business Portfolio
A Business Portfolio is the container for everything your business uses on Meta. It holds Pages, Instagram accounts, ad accounts, pixels, catalogs and apps. Meta introduced the Business Portfolio name for what used to be called Business Manager, and older documentation uses both names for the same thing.
You should own your own portfolio. Agencies get added as partners with specific permissions, which keeps ownership with you.
Ad Accounts
An ad account is where campaigns live and where spend gets billed. One portfolio can hold several ad accounts, which is handy if you run separate brands, markets or currencies. Each ad account has its own currency, time zone and payment settings, and they can't be changed once set, so choose them carefully.
People and Partner Roles
You add people to the portfolio and then assign them to assets with task-based permissions, such as managing campaigns or viewing performance. Partners are other businesses, such as an agency, that you grant access to specific assets. You can remove a partner's access at any time without touching the asset itself.
Billing and Payment Settings
Each ad account needs a payment method. Meta charges you either when you hit a billing threshold or on a monthly billing date, depending on how the account's payments are set up. An account spending limit caps total spend across all campaigns. Payment problems are one of the most common reasons ads stop delivering, so it's worth adding a backup payment method.
Business Verification
Some features and higher limits require business verification, which means submitting documents that confirm your legal business. You manage verification in Business Settings inside the portfolio.
Putting This to Work
Insist that the ad account sits inside a Business Portfolio you own, with your agency added as a partner. If you ever change agencies, you keep the account, the history and the data that makes future campaigns cheaper.
In Practice
A fitness studio changed agencies and discovered its ad account belonged to the old agency. It had to start from zero, with no history, audiences or pixel data. A portfolio in the studio's name would have prevented this.
Giving an agency admin access to your entire portfolio is more than most engagements need. Grant access to the specific assets involved instead.
Key Terms
- Business Portfolio
- The top-level container for a business's Meta assets, formerly Business Manager.
- Partner
- Another business granted access to specific assets.
- Billing threshold
- The spend level that triggers a charge to the payment method.
- Account spending limit
- A cap on lifetime spend for an ad account.
Key Facts
- Currency and time zone are fixed for an ad account after creation.
- When an agency works inside your own ad account, the account, data and history stay with you.
Sources
- Meta Business Help Center www.facebook.com
- Meta Blueprint courses www.facebook.com
- Advertising and marketing guidance, Federal Trade Commission www.ftc.gov
Have Our Team Handle This
Our team runs this every day. Request a free proposal and we will plan it for your business, or see the Meta Ads service.