How to have an agency manage your Microsoft Advertising account

Find out how to have an agency manage your accounts, including creating ads, managing keyword bids, and setting budgets.

When an agency manages your account, you give them permission to perform all campaign management tasks, including creating ads, managing keyword bids, and setting budgets.

The process for having an agency manage your account looks like this:

You and your agency develop a working relationship outside of Microsoft Advertising, which can include signing a contract that specifies the details of the relationship.
You give the agency your Microsoft Advertising account number.
Through Microsoft Advertising, your agency sends you a request to manage your account.
You accept the request, and the agency begins managing your account. You can still sign in at any time and view or edit your account and campaigns.

We strongly recommend that you or the agency create a separate account for you through the Microsoft Advertising sign up process and then have the agency send you a request to link to your account. If the agency creates an account for you under their manager account name, 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.

Managing your account's relationship with agencies

Accept or decline an agency request expando image

When an agency requests permission to manage your Microsoft Advertising account, you will receive an email from Microsoft Advertising. You have 30 days to accept or decline the request in Microsoft Advertising. After 30 days, the request will be declined automatically. Here's how to accept or decline the request:

From the top menu, select Tools > Accounts.

If you're using the new Microsoft Advertising navigation, from the navigation menu on the left, select Tools > Accounts.
Select Accounts Summary.
Select the Requests tab, and then select Received.
Under Actions, choose Accept request or Decline request.

For more information about managing linked accounts, see Linking to an existing account.

Choose who pays for your account charges expando image

Often, the agency takes over as the "bill-to customer" on your account. This means that the agency will pay for all advertising costs in Microsoft Advertising, and then bill you later. If you prefer, you can continue to pay all advertising costs directly to Microsoft Advertising, even if your agency is doing the day-to-day campaign management. Just let the agency know which you prefer before they send you the request.

Keep in mind that if you have a monthly invoiced account that is managed by an agency, they can create, edit, approve, and cancel insertion orders even if you are the bill-to customer.

You will receive a refund for prepaid amounts when an agency takes over your bills expando image

If the agency pays the account charges and you have a prepay account with a balance, we will refund your balance to your original payment method. If for some reason that refund fails, we will send you a check or wire transfer, depending on the country/region of your account. Please keep in mind that the mailing time for checks can take up to 5 weeks. For more information, see About credits, refunds, and adjustments.

Get help finding an agency expando image

If you want to find an agency to manage your Microsoft Advertising account, you can check out our directory of accredited Microsoft Advertising partners who are experts in online advertising and campaign management..

Stop an agency from managing your account expando image

As the account owner, you can remove a direct manager at any time. Direct managers can also remove other direct managers—except for the account owner. In addition, account owners can remove access from any direct managers on their account.

From the top menu, select Tools > Account access > User management.

If you're using the new Microsoft Advertising navigation, from the navigation menu on the left, hover over Settings and select User management.
Select Direct managers.
Under Actions, select Unlink next to the direct manager whose account access you want to remove.
Enter the Date. This is the date you want to stop managing the account. You can also select Immediately.
Select Unlink accounts.

Find your account number expando image

The account number is different than the manager account ID or account ID. Account numbers are an eight-digit mix of numbers and letters. There are a few locations where you can find the account number.

In the upper left-hand corner, select the Manager account to view all account names and corresponding account numbers in the drop-down menu.

From the top menu, select Tools > Accounts.

If you're using the new Microsoft Advertising navigation, from the navigation menu on the left, select Tools > Accounts.
Under Accounts summary> Performance, account numbers are located next to their corresponding account names in the Account name column.