How do I give an agency access to our Microsoft Ads account without losing ownership if we part ways?

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Sign up for your own Microsoft Advertising account, then have the agency send a link request to it. Microsoft warns that if an agency creates your account under its own manager account, it "will not be able to be unlinked" from that agency, and you'll "have to re-create your account." When you own it, a Super Admin accepts the request within 30 days, the agency becomes a direct manager, and you can unlink it at any time under Settings, then Direct managers. If an agency already owns yours, ask Microsoft Support about an account transfer.

As of November 2026.

Before you start

  • A login your company controls. The person who signs up gets the Super Admin role, which has full permissions over billing, account details and other users. Use a company email, not an agency employee's.
  • A Super Admin on your side. Microsoft's agency article says only a Super Admin can accept or decline a link request (its user roles table also lists Standard Users), so have a Super Admin do it. Add a second Super Admin from your team so access doesn't rest on one person.
  • An agreement on paper. Microsoft expects you and the agency to set up the relationship outside Microsoft Advertising first, and says this "can include signing a contract." Write down that the account is yours, who pays (Step 3), and where tracking tags and audiences live.

Step 1: Sign up for your own account

Microsoft "strongly" recommends that "you or the agency create a separate account for you through the Microsoft Advertising sign up process," then link it. What matters is that the account sits in your own manager account, not under the agency's, with your people as Super Admins.

Sign-up creates a manager account, which holds users, payment methods, UET tags and remarketing lists, and an ad account for campaigns, keywords and budgets. Microsoft's agency guide says that although an agency can create an account for a client, linking instead "gives them more flexibility and control if they choose to end the relationship later on."

Step 2: Give the agency your account number

The agency needs your account number (8 characters, letters and numbers). To find it, select Tools, then All accounts. Under Accounts summary, then Performance, the number sits next to each name in the Account name column. You can also open the manager account selector in the upper left.

Step 3: Agree who pays

Whoever pays is the "bill-to customer," and only one person or company can hold that role:

  • The agency pays Microsoft and bills you. If you had a prepay balance, Microsoft refunds it to your original payment method, or by check or wire if that fails (checks can take up to 5 weeks by mail). While the agency pays, only you as owner and that agency see the billing documents.
  • You keep paying Microsoft while the agency runs campaigns. On a monthly invoice account, the agency can still "create, edit, approve, and cancel insertion orders" even though you're the bill-to customer.

Keeping billing in your name means less to change when the agency leaves (Step 6). For invoices and credit lines, see how Microsoft Ads monthly invoicing works.

Step 4: Accept the agency's link request

The agency sends the request from its own account. Microsoft emails you, and you have 30 days to accept or decline. After that, the request is declined automatically. A Super Admin accepts it:

  1. From the navigation menu on the left, select Tools, then All accounts.
  2. Select Accounts Summary.
  3. Select the Requests tab, then Received.
  4. Under Actions, choose Accept request.

The agency is now a direct manager. Microsoft says a direct manager "has full control to manage your account and your advertising," including taking over billing. It can add or remove other direct managers, but it can't remove you as owner or remove the users you manage (Super Admins, Standard Users, Advertiser Campaign Managers and Viewers). An account can have up to five direct managers. You can still sign in and edit your campaigns at any time.

Microsoft recommends this formal link over adding agency staff as users. It notes that unlinking a linked manager account removes access for its whole group of users at once, while invited users are removed one by one. Working with an agency on Meta too? See how to give an agency access to a Meta ad account.

Step 5: Keep tracking and audiences in your account

A UET tag or remarketing list belongs to the manager account where it was created. That owner can share it with other manager accounts in a hierarchy. Ask the agency to create your UET tag, conversion goals and audiences inside your own account, rather than share its own down to you. We found nothing in Microsoft's help on what a client keeps after it unlinks from an agency that shared a tag with it, so this is the safer setup.

Step 6: Check access, and unlink when you part ways

To see who has access, hover over Settings and select Direct managers. Under Access, you see the account owner and every direct manager.

To remove an agency:

  1. Hover over Settings and select Direct managers.
  2. Under Actions, select Unlink next to the agency.
  3. Enter the date access should end, or select Immediately.
  4. Select Unlink accounts.

You can cancel a scheduled unlink with Cancel request. An immediate one can't be canceled.

If the agency was paying, you become the bill-to customer when you unlink it, so add a payment method first to keep the account from going on hold. If the agency unlinks itself from a postpay threshold or monthly invoice account it pays for, Microsoft pauses the account for up to 3 hours while it settles charges. Agree on a date with the agency so the handover doesn't stop your ads.

What if the agency already created our account?

Then it sits under the agency's manager account, and Microsoft's own articles point two ways.

  • Re-create it. The client-side agency article says your account "will not be able to be unlinked from that agency if you choose to manage the account yourself or have another agency manage it. In that case, you'll have to re-create your account." The agency-side article says the same.
  • Transfer it. Microsoft's article on transferring accounts to a new owner lists "fixing sub-optimal set-ups where the client account was created within the agency account" as a use case, along with a client leaving its agency. It says transfers are "geared toward ad agencies and large businesses." A transfer moves the account to another manager account "with no data loss and no down time." It keeps the account number, campaigns, performance history, past billing documents, scheduled tasks and user access. You request it through your Microsoft account manager or Support.

So before you rebuild, ask Support for a transfer into a manager account you own. Have ready the account number, its current manager account number, the number of the manager account that will receive it, who will pay and how, whether to keep linked accounts and direct managers, and whether to move UET tags, audiences and conversion goals with it.

Once approved, a simple transfer may be done within 20 minutes; some take up to 24 hours. Accounts with Shopping campaigns, Search campaigns with shopping settings, lodging campaigns, or flyer extensions with a store can't be transferred. The transfer article doesn't say whether the agency has to agree, so ask Support.

Common problems

ProblemWhy it happensFix
The link request disappearedIt wasn't accepted within 30 days, so Microsoft declined itAsk the agency to send a new one
You can't accept the requestMicrosoft's agency article says only a Super Admin can accept or declineAsk a Super Admin to accept it, or to change your role under Settings, then User management
The agency can't link to your accountMicrosoft lists three causes: the account was created under another manager account, the sender isn't a Super Admin, or the account is inactive or restricted. It has also "temporarily placed a limit on the number of accounts you can link"Fix the cause or contact Support. If the account is suspended, see why Microsoft Advertising suspends accounts
A new agency can't be addedAn account can have only five direct managersUnlink one you no longer use
Ads stopped after the agency leftThe agency paid. A paying manager's unlink pauses the account for up to 3 hours, and after you unlink it you need your own payment methodAdd a payment method before the unlink date
A direct manager you don't recognizeAny direct manager can add othersUnlink it under Settings, then Direct managers
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