Should your bookkeeper have access to your bank account?

Bookkeeping is a vital part of any business, and a good bookkeeper needs to see your transactions to do the job. Like any other professional or employee in your organisation, your bookkeeper deserves respect and trust.

But what should be the limit for that trust, especially when it touches your business finances? Should your bookkeeper have access to your bank account? The short answer: they should have access to your bank data, through their own login and with only the permissions their work needs. They should never have your banking password.

Here are the factors to weigh before giving a bookkeeper access, the safer ways to set it up, and why the right kind of access makes your books better.

Should your bookkeeper have access to your bank account?

Yes, in the right form. Before you decide what that form is, think about these questions:

What is your bookkeeper’s experience level?

Check their credentials and references before granting any access. If they will prepare BAS or give BAS advice for a fee, they need to be a registered BAS agent or tax agent (or work under one), which you can check on the Tax Practitioners Board’s public register.

How much do you trust them?

Trust matters, but good controls mean you don’t have to rely on trust alone. Agree in writing what your bookkeeper can see and do, who approves payments, and how access is removed if the engagement ends. An open line of communication helps, and so does a setup where every action is recorded against the person who took it.

Are they responsible for managing your accounts?

Decide whether your bookkeeper only records and reconciles transactions, or also prepares payments such as supplier bills and pay runs. Recording and reconciling needs view access to your transactions. Preparing payments needs more, and that is where separating the person who prepares a payment from the person who approves it matters most.

Will they be able to provide you with financial reports?

For regular reporting of your business finances, your bookkeeper needs a reliable flow of bank data into your accounting software. A bank feed does that without anyone logging into your online banking, and you can still meet regularly to review your financial statements together.

Can they manage your payroll, taxes, and wages?

Finally, ask whether your bookkeeper will also run payroll. Payroll means preparing pay runs, superannuation payments and Single Touch Payroll reports, so it calls for payment-preparation access with your own approval before money leaves the account. Tax returns are a separate matter for a registered tax agent.

What options are there if you don’t want to give the bookkeeper your bank account login credentials?

You should never need to share your own banking login. Business banking terms generally require every user to keep their password and security token to themselves, and sharing them can leave you carrying the loss if something goes wrong. Commonwealth Bank, for example, began progressively removing “over the shoulder” payment authorisations in CommBiz from 28 September 2026 (international payments excepted), so each authoriser must log on with their own profile. These are the safer options:

Give your bookkeeper read-only access to your accounts

Most business banking platforms let an administrator add a separate user with their own login and limited permissions. NAB, for example, offers View Only Access through an additional NAB ID, which lets someone see the account but not complete payments, transfers or changes alone. Ask your bank which options apply to your business accounts. A read-only user can view transaction history and statements but can’t move money or pay bills.

Use barriers

If your bookkeeper prepares payments, set the platform up so they can create a payment but only you (or another authorised person) can approve it. NAB Connect calls this segregation of duties: the user who creates a payment can’t authorise that same payment. Your accounting software works the same way, with user roles that range from read-only to full access. Give each person only the role their work needs, review the user list regularly, and remove access the day an engagement ends.

Use a bank feed (or share statements)

The simplest option is a bank feed: an approved connection that imports your transactions into your accounting software automatically. Xero, for instance, notes that it can’t make payments or move money through the connection. Where a feed isn’t available for an account, you can send your bookkeeper regular PDF or CSV statements to import, which keeps your banking login entirely to yourself.

Why give account access to your bookkeeper?

Giving your bookkeeper the right access, through their own login or a bank feed, gives them a complete and timely picture of your transactions. Here are the main benefits:

Better financial reporting

When your bookkeeper can see all of your accounts, they can prepare better reports for you, including the balance sheet, profit and loss statement and cash flow statement. Those reports give you a clearer view of how your business is performing.

More effective budgeting

Your bookkeeper can help you create a budget and track spending. They can also implement strategies to manage your expenses better, helping you know exactly where your money goes.

Faster payroll processing

With payment-preparation access and your approval step in place, your bookkeeper can prepare pay runs and super payments ready for you to authorise, so staff are paid on time without you keying in every payment yourself.

Efficient cash flow management

With a live view of your transactions, your bookkeeper can spot cash flow problems early, such as an account heading towards an overdraft or a large payment due before expected receipts arrive.

Easier tax preparation

Complete, reconciled bank data saves time at tax time. You no longer need to go back over each transaction one by one, because the bank feed has already brought every transaction into your books and your bookkeeper has reconciled it.

Conclusion: how Visory can help

Visory runs bookkeeping, payroll, and accounts payable and receivable for growing businesses. A dedicated team does the work, with our AI, Delphi, overseen by that team, and Visory Insights and a Business Performance Partner turn the numbers into decisions.

If you’d like your bookkeeping set up with the right controls from the start, book a discovery call.