Handing Ad Accounts to an Agency: Meta, GTM and GA4 at Once
Imagefactory · Published 2026-09-23
What goes wrong in an agency handover is rarely too little access — it is too much access, or ownership handed over with it. Send this page to the advertiser and the three grants take about ten minutes.
Collect this from the agency first
| Channel | What you need | Where the agency finds it |
|---|---|---|
| Meta | Business portfolio ID (15–16 digits) | Meta Business Suite settings → business info |
| GTM | The Google account email of the person doing the work | — |
| GA4 | The Google account email (may be the same one as for GTM) | — |
Meta works off an ID, the two Google products work off an email. Nothing else is required.
Three rules
- Ownership stays with the advertiser. Grant access only. Ad accounts, pixels and GA4 properties created inside an agency portfolio usually cannot be pulled back at the end of the contract — the pixel history and the ad account learning go with them. Meta states it plainly on the partner screen: the assets stay in your portfolio and the partner can only perform the tasks you assign.
- The narrowest level that lets them work. Admin and full control let someone add other users or delete the asset. An agency needs neither.
- Revoke on the end date. The three grants are independent — one left open keeps the data flowing.
Recommended access per channel
| Asset | Grant this | Never grant |
|---|---|---|
| Meta ad account | Partial access — Manage campaigns | Full control |
| Meta dataset (pixel) | Use events dataset | Manage events dataset |
| Meta Page | Partial access — Ads (plus Content if they post) | Full control |
| GTM | Account User + container Publish | Account Administrator |
| GA4 | Property-level Editor | Account-level Administrator |
GTM account Administrator and account-level GA4 access are routinely recommended elsewhere. Both are unnecessary for the work and expensive if misused: Administrator can change who has access, and account-level GA4 cascades to every property under that account.
Procedures by channel
- Meta ad account access — Partner for an agency, Person for an individual
- Google Tag Manager access — two layers: account and container
- GA4 access — property level, not account level
- Google Ads agency access
- Naver Search Ads agency access
- Cafe24 operator account for an agency
Handover checklist
- Meta — the agency appears under settings → Users → Partners, with the ad account, Page and dataset assigned.
- GTM — the email appears under Admin → User Management with container permission Publish.
- GA4 — the email appears under Admin → Property → Access Management with the role Editor.
- The GTM invitation has been accepted. Until then the row exists but the access does not. GA4 access applies as soon as the user is added — there is no acceptance step.
- At least two people on the advertiser side still hold full control of the Meta portfolio. With one, a locked account locks the whole portfolio.
When the contract ends
Remove the partner from the Meta portfolio, remove the user under GTM User Management, and remove the user from GA4 property access (and account access, if granted there) — on the same day. Creatives, tags and audiences stay behind as long as the advertiser owns the assets.