How to Delete Facebook Ad Account in Business Manager

Closing a Facebook ad account can be a confusing but necessary step for cleaning up a cluttered Business Manager or officially ending a project. This article will walk you through the entire process, step-by-step. We'll cover the prerequisites for shutting down an account, how to handle common roadblocks, and what to do when permanent deletion isn't the right option for you.

Before You Hit Delete: A Quick Checklist

Once you deactivate an ad account, the action is permanent and cannot be undone. All associated campaigns, ad sets, ads, and historical performance data will be lost forever. Before you proceed, it's essential to complete a few preparatory steps to avoid any future headaches.

1. Settle Your Outstanding Balance

Facebook will not allow you to close an ad account that has a pending balance. Your first and most important step is to ensure your bill is fully paid.

• Navigate to your Business Settings.
• In the left-hand menu, find the "Billing & payments" section.
• Check your current balance. If you see an amount due, you must clear it before you can close the account. Click the "Pay Now" button and follow the prompts to settle the invoice. If your primary payment method fails, you may need to add a new one such as a credit card or PayPal to cover the final charge.

You can't skip this step. If the "close account" button is grayed out later, an unresolved balance is almost always the reason.

2. Download Your Historical Data

Remember, deleting an ad account is an irreversible action. You will lose access to all your campaign history, which can be invaluable for future strategy planning, client reporting, or internal analysis. We strongly recommend exporting your data before you cut ties for good.

To do this:

1. Go to your Ads Manager.
2. Select the specific ad account you plan to delete from the accounts dropdown menu.
3. Set the date range in the top right to "Maximum" to capture all your historical data.
4. Click on the "Reports" icon and then select "Export Table Data".
5. You'll be given the option to export as a .CSV or .XLSX file. For most users, an Excel file (.xlsx) is easier to work with.
6. Save the file in a secure location where you can find it later.

This backup gives you a permanent record of what you ran, how much you spent, and how it performed.

3. Check Your Permissions

Not just anyone can delete a Facebook ad account. You must have admin access for the specific ad account you want to close down. If you're a team member with a lower-level role (like Analyst or Advertiser), you won't see the option to close the account.

To check your permission level:

• Go to Business Settings > Accounts > Ad Accounts.
• Select the relevant ad account from the list.
• On the right side, you'll see a list of "People" with access. Find your name and look at the role assigned to you. You need to see "Manage ad account" or have your access toggle set to full control.

If you don't have the required access, you'll need to ask an existing admin on the Business Manager to either grant you admin permissions or to close the account themselves.

How to Deactivate Your Facebook Ad Account: A Step-by-Step Guide

Once you’ve paid your balance and saved your data, you’re ready to proceed with closing the account. Facebook uses the term "deactivate," but it effectively means the account is permanently shut down.

Step 1: Navigate to Ad Account Settings Go to your Facebook Ads Manager. Using the hamburger menu (all tools) on the left sidebar, find and click on "Ad Account Settings".

Step 2: Access the Deactivation Section Under "Ad Account Settings", you’ll see several sections on the left, such as "Payment Settings" and "Notifications". Above these options, you should see the Ad Account Name and "Deactivate ad account" as the heading. Just under this heading, click the blue "Deactivate ad account" link.

Step 3: Provide a Reason and Confirm Facebook will open a pop-up window asking why you are deactivating the account. The options include things like "The costs are too high," "I'm not getting enough value," or "This was a temporary account".

• Select the most relevant reason. If no option fits, choose "Other" and provide a brief explanation.
• You will have two other options below, for opting out of future advertising. Check them as you please before moving forward.

Step 4: The Final Confirmation After providing a reason, Facebook will ask you one last time if you are sure you want to continue. The warning, which you should take seriously, will read - "Once your ad account is deactivated, all of your ads will be turned off and this can't be undone." Since that’s what you want to do and you've already followed all of the steps outlined above, there is nothing standing in your way of confirming by clicking the "Deactivate Ad Account". Your account will be scheduled for permanent deletion. Any active campaigns will be immediately stopped.

"Can't Deactivate My Account" - A List of Roadblocks & the Solution

Sometimes you’ll follow the aforementioned steps precisely, and an ad account cannot be deactivated. This might happen because Facebook says so and the "deactivate" button is grayed out, or a dreaded error message is displayed. Here are the most common issues and how to resolve them:

Problem: The "Deactivate Account" Button is Not Clickable

Solution 1: Check Your Balance

An outstanding balance will always prevent you from closing an ad account. The link to deactivation may be greyed out. So, return to our first step and visit your "Billing & payments" tab to make sure all outstanding bills have been paid.

Solution 2: Double-Check Admin Permissions

As covered in our checklist, only full admins can manage deactivation for an account. Confirm you've got the correct permissions or contact someone who does if you don't.

Problem: My Account Isn't Displayed In Ads Manager

It can occasionally become difficult, if not impossible, to reactivate a lost, removed, or otherwise inaccessible ad account. This leaves it impossible to reach in order to deactivate it. In more complex cases, the Business Manager itself may have been associated with rule violations and could be permanently restricted, which unfortunately means your options for dealing with ad accounts are very limited.

An Important Note On The Primary Business Manager Account

A Business Manager’s "primary account" will sometimes have extra or hidden protection - such as against deactivation until secondary and all sub ad accounts have already been deactivated or dealt with.

Problem: You Already Deactivated the Account but Keep Seeing Ad Spend

Solutions: Wait For It to Deactivate or Deactivate at Campaign Level

Deactivating an advertising account isn't an instant or real-time event. You may still see a final ad spend charge up to 30 days after you confirm shutdown, so all current ad campaigns and ad sets could take some additional time to halt fully. An alternative method is to turn all campaign settings from 'on' to 'off' at the campaign level, preventing any additional and unwanted ad credit spending on those accounts prior to complete deactivation.

Removing Ad Account Access versus Deactivating It Entirely

Did you know there’s an alternative for cleaning your business manager's display that gets used more often than fully committing to deleting your entire history of running ads/campaigns?

There are some main differences between removing your own ACCESS from an ad account versus just removing the whole thing. It means the account still runs and other users you work with can continue using it, while YOU get it taken off your dashboard view AND email notifications!

When Is “Removing’ Access” from An Account Your Better Answer:

• Agency Account-Management - Where you’ve completed your client campaigns yet never fully owned any accounts.
• You Have Finished A Collaboration - An advertising job or a joint-venture promotion is now done. Not a whole-scale operation, more a smaller collaboration to gain social reach using each other's assets.
• You Accidentally Gained Access! In bigger marketing campaigns, mistakes will happen, but this may be an easy & fast remedy. Simply follow this guide instead: navigate to Settings on Business, accounts section & ad account panel, and then select "Remove" beside an account and that will do it! Please review warnings about any impact and hit ‘yes’ & that is you out & away - simple & effective every time!

Final Thoughts

Deactivating a Facebook ad account boils down to a few key actions: clearing your balance, backing up historical data, and locating the deactivation option in your ad account's settings. By following these steps and anticipating common issues like payment holds or permission errors, you can ensure a clean and permanent closure without any surprises.

Managing advertising data, exporting reports, and trying to pull insights across multiple ad platforms can be time-consuming, tedious work. That’s why we built Graphed . We connect directly to your live marketing data sources - including Facebook Ads and Google Analytics - and automate the process. Instead of manually exporting CSVs, you just ask questions in plain English, and our AI instantly builds the dashboards and reports you need, helping you get faster, clearer insights into what's driving your growth.