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Employee Access Resource

What Office Managers Should Know About Account Permissions

Account permissions decide what employees can see, change, delete, share, or approve. For small businesses, permissions often become messy because access is added quickly but rarely reviewed later.

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Why this matters

When no one owns the access process, employees can keep access they no longer need. Former employees, vendors, and shared accounts can also create risk.

Use this resource when

  • You are not sure who can access important files.
  • Employees have changed roles.
  • Vendors or former employees had access to business systems.
  • Your team uses shared folders, shared mailboxes, or shared drives.

What to review

  • Who owns each business system.
  • Which employees need access for their role.
  • Which users have administrator or manager permissions.
  • Which folders or files are shared externally.
  • Which accounts belong to former employees or old vendors.
Step by step

Practical checklist

  1. List your key systems, including email, cloud files, accounting, scheduling, and customer tools.
  2. Assign a business owner for each system.
  3. Document who currently has access.
  4. Compare access to current job duties.
  5. Remove access that no longer has a business reason.
  6. Schedule a recurring access review.
Avoid these issues

Common mistakes

  • Giving administrator access because it is faster.
  • Not removing access after role changes.
  • Letting vendors keep permanent access.
  • Using shared accounts instead of named users.
  • Not documenting who approved access.

Need help turning this into a working process?

J3 Systems Group can help review account permissions, shared files, administrator access, and employee access processes.

Schedule a consultation

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