Meta Business Portfolio: Why Every Client Needs One
When we take on a new client who has been running Meta Ads without proper account structure, the first thing we check is whether they own their assets. More often than not, the answer is complicated. The ad account might be owned by a former agency. The pixel might live under a freelancer's personal Business Manager. The Facebook Page admin might be an ex-employee. Untangling this is time-consuming, sometimes impossible without Meta support, and entirely avoidable.
Meta Business Portfolio is the structural solution. Here is what it is, why the old way causes problems, and how to set it up correctly from the start.
Business Manager vs Business Portfolio
If you set up your Meta advertising presence before 2021, you likely have a Business Manager account. Meta has since rebranded and restructured this into Business Portfolio. The terminology has shifted, but more importantly, the structure and the recommended practices have changed.
The core concept is the same: a centralised hub that owns your business's Meta assets (ad accounts, Facebook Pages, Instagram accounts, pixels, product catalogues, and custom audiences). Agencies and freelancers are given partner access to those assets, not ownership of them.
The critical difference with Business Portfolio is that Meta now makes asset ownership clearer and the process for managing partner access is more structured. The underlying principle, that clients should own their assets and grant access to agencies, is the same as it always was. The failure is that many businesses never set it up this way.
Why the Old Business Manager Setup Causes Access Disputes
The most common problem we see: a business ran ads through an agency, the agency created the ad account and pixel inside their own Business Manager, and when the relationship ended, the client had no access to their own historical data.
This is not always malicious. Agencies frequently set things up the way that is easiest for them operationally, which means centralising everything in their own Business Manager. For the agency, this is convenient. For the client, it means their advertising history, their custom audiences, their pixel data, and sometimes their Page access all live somewhere they cannot access independently.
Historical custom audiences built over two years of pixel data cannot be exported. They exist as data in Meta's system tied to a specific ad account and business portfolio. If the agency owns the ad account, the client loses those audiences when they change agencies.
The same applies to the pixel. A pixel installed under the agency's Business Manager accumulates conversion data. If the client leaves and needs to start fresh with a new pixel, they lose the audience signal that makes lookalike and retargeting campaigns work.
The Correct Structure from Day One
The client should own everything. The agency should have partner access. This is not a preference. It is the correct structure that protects the client's assets.
The setup is straightforward. The business creates a Business Portfolio at business.facebook.com using the business owner's personal Facebook account as the admin. Inside the Portfolio, the business creates or claims its assets: the Facebook Page, the ad account, the Instagram account, the pixel, and any product catalogues.
The agency is then added as a partner at the portfolio level, or given access to specific assets at the asset level. Agencies can manage campaigns, create ads, and optimise without ever owning the underlying assets.
When the relationship ends, the agency is removed from the portfolio. The client's assets remain intact, with all history, audiences, and pixel data fully preserved.
How We Set Up Access for New Clients
When we onboard a new client, our first step is to verify that the Business Portfolio is set up correctly under the client's ownership. If it is not, we walk them through creating it before we touch anything else.
We ask for partner access to their ad account and pixel. We do not ask to be made an admin of their Business Portfolio unless there is a specific operational reason, and even then we prefer a temporary arrangement. The client should always have someone on their team who can access and manage the portfolio independently.
If the client is coming from a previous agency that held their assets, we help them recover those assets or set up clean replacements. Recovering an ad account from a third party can be done through Meta's Business Asset Claiming process, but it requires proof of ownership and can take time. Setting up a clean new ad account under the client's own portfolio is often faster.
The Asset Ownership Rules That Matter
Three assets need particular attention when setting up a portfolio correctly.
The pixel. Install the pixel through the client's own Business Portfolio. When the pixel is owned by the client, the conversion data it accumulates belongs to the client. Custom audiences built from that pixel data persist through agency changes.
Custom audiences. These live in the ad account that created them. They cannot be transferred. This makes ad account ownership critical. If the client's ad account lives in their portfolio, their audiences stay with them. If it lives in an agency's portfolio, it does not.
Facebook Page admin access. The business should retain at least one permanent admin on their own Facebook Page at all times. Agencies should be added as editors, not as the sole admin. An agency that holds sole admin access to a client's Facebook Page can, deliberately or accidentally, leave the business unable to access their own page.
Migrating from an Existing Business Manager
If a business is currently running under an old Business Manager setup and wants to migrate to a properly structured Business Portfolio, the migration path depends on where the assets currently sit.
If the assets are under the client's own Business Manager (even an old one), the transition to Business Portfolio is largely administrative. Meta has been migrating Business Managers to Business Portfolio progressively, so many existing setups have already been updated.
If assets are under an agency's Business Manager, the process is more involved. For ad accounts and pixels, the agency needs to transfer them to the client's portfolio, or the client needs to use Meta's Business Asset Claiming process. For Facebook Pages, the client needs admin access to manage their own page independently.
The time to sort this out is before starting a new engagement, not after it ends. If your agency cannot clearly show you where your assets live and confirm that you own them, that is a question worth pressing on before signing anything. See our Meta Ads service page for how we structure client access from day one, or contact us to discuss your current setup.