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Accountant Access — QA Test Plan

A step-by-step manual test plan for inviting an accountant to a business, written for a manual tester — no coding or technical knowledge required. Follow each case top to bottom and record the result in each case's result box.

This covers the whole life of an accountant invitation, from Settings → Accountant on a business owner's account:

  • Invite an accountant to your business.
  • The Pending card, and the Resend and Cancel buttons on it.
  • The invited person creating their own account, and accepting.
  • Removing the accountant again.

Test mode only

All testing happens in a test / staging environment. Never invite a real accountant's email you don't control, and never do this on the live customer site. If you are unsure which environment you are on, stop and ask a developer.

What changed, in plain English

Previously, the moment you invited an accountant, the system quietly created a half-finished account for them behind the scenes. That caused a serious problem: the invited person could never sign up for MyAccountant themselves — the site told them "an account with this email already exists", but they had no password and could not log in. They were stuck permanently.

Now, inviting an accountant only sends an invitation. No account is created until they accept. So an invited accountant can freely register, or accept, or both.

Section C is the most important part of this plan — it is the exact problem being fixed.

Before you start

1. Confirm you are in test mode

  • The website address (URL) is the test / staging site your team gave you — not the real customer site.
  • If you are unsure, do not continue — ask a developer to confirm.

2. Test accounts and emails you will need

Ask a developer to set up:

  • A business owner account with no accountant currently attached.
  • A second business owner account, or a second business owned by the same person — needed for Section F.
  • An existing accountant account (someone who already uses MyAccountant) — for A3.

You will also need email inboxes you control:

  • Three or four spare, unused email addresses that have never been used on MyAccountant. Several cases below only work with a genuinely fresh email — reusing one from an earlier case will give a misleading result.
  • Access to those inboxes so you can open the invite emails and click the links.

Keep a note of which email you used for which case

Several cases look similar but depend on the email being brand new versus already used. A short list on paper saves a lot of confusion.

3. How to report a bug

Log every failure with: the case number; what you expected vs what happened; a screenshot; which account you used; the severity; and the date/time + browser.

How to read a test case

Every test case below has the same shape:

  • Steps — do these in order.
  • ✅ Pass if — the result you should see. If you see this, mark the case Pass.
  • ❌ Fail if — signs something is wrong. Mark Fail and log a bug.
  • Blocked — use this when you couldn't run the case (a dependency wasn't ready).

Severity — how serious is a failure?

Severity Meaning Examples (accountant access)
🔴 Blocker Wrong access, or someone locked out. Must be fixed before release. A removed accountant can still open the business; an accountant can see a business they were never invited to; cancelling one business's invite also cancels another's; the invited person cannot create their own account; the invite email contains a password.
🟠 Major A feature behaves incorrectly, but no access problem. Resend or Cancel does nothing; the accountant card doesn't appear; accepting shows an error; the list doesn't refresh after a change.
🟡 Minor Cosmetic only. A typo, wrong wording, misaligned layout, or a date shown as mm/dd/yyyy instead of dd/mm/yyyy.

The 🔧 marker

Cases marked 🔧 Needs developer setup need a developer to prepare something first. You still check the result yourself.

Known issues — please do NOT log these

These are already known and are being fixed separately. Finding them is not a bug in this release.

Expected — do not raise a bug for any of these

  • An invitation older than 14 days. The card still says Pending, Resend fails with an error, and you cannot send a fresh invite to that email. Cancel does work — cancel it, then invite again. This is a known gap scheduled for a later release.
  • The admin audit page shows "team.member.removed" when an accountant invite is cancelled. The wording is wrong; the action itself is correct.
  • An accountant invite email has no password, but a practice staff invite does. Both are correct — see the note in A2.

A. Invite an accountant

A1 — Invite an accountant who has never used MyAccountant

Steps

  1. Log in as the business owner.
  2. Go to Settings → Accountant.
  3. Enter one of your brand-new, unused email addresses and send the invitation.

✅ Pass if

  • A success message confirms the invitation was sent.
  • An accountant card appears showing that email with the status Pending.

❌ Fail if

  • Nothing appears, or you get an error → 🟠 Major.
  • The card shows Active before they have accepted → 🔴 Blocker.
  • No card appears at all, so there is no way to resend or cancel → 🔴 Blocker.

Steps

  1. Open the inbox of the email you invited in A1.
  2. Read the invitation email fully.

✅ Pass if

  • The email contains a link/button to accept the invitation.
  • The email does not contain a password or temporary password of any kind.

❌ Fail if

  • The email contains a password → 🔴 Blocker (an accountant invite must never email a password).
  • There is no accept link → 🟠 Major.

Two different invite styles — this is expected

An accountant invite (this plan) sends an accept link and no password. A practice staff invite (see the Team Members plan) sends a temporary password. Both are correct — don't log the difference as a bug.

A3 — Invite an accountant who already has a MyAccountant account

🔧 Needs developer setup — the existing accountant account.

Steps

  1. As the business owner, invite the existing accountant's email address.
  2. Open that inbox and read the email.

✅ Pass if

  • The invitation sends successfully and the card shows Pending.
  • The email is worded for someone who already has an account (it invites them to sign in and accept, rather than to sign up).
  • The email contains no password.

❌ Fail if

  • The invite is rejected because the person already exists → 🔴 Blocker.
  • The email tells an existing user to create a brand-new account → 🟡 Minor.
  • Any password appears in the email → 🔴 Blocker.

A4 — You cannot invite a second accountant while one is pending

Steps

  1. With the Pending invitation from A1 still showing, try to invite a different email address as accountant.

✅ Pass if

  • You are stopped with a clear message telling you an invitation is already pending, and to cancel or resend it.

❌ Fail if

  • A second invitation is created and two accountants appear → 🔴 Blocker.
  • The error message is confusing or doesn't say what to do next → 🟡 Minor.

A5 — An email typed with extra spaces still works

Steps

  1. Cancel any pending invitation so you can invite again.
  2. Invite a fresh email address, but type a space before and after it.

✅ Pass if

  • The invitation sends, and the card shows the email without the extra spaces.

❌ Fail if

  • The invite fails, or the card shows the email with spaces or in a broken form → 🟠 Major.

B. The pending invitation

B1 — Resend the invitation

Steps

  1. With an invitation showing as Pending, click Resend.
  2. Check the invited inbox.

✅ Pass if

  • A confirmation message appears.
  • A fresh invitation email arrives.
  • The card still shows Pending.

❌ Fail if

  • Nothing happens, or an error appears → 🟠 Major.
  • No new email arrives → 🟠 Major.

Steps

  1. After B1 you have two emails for the same person: the original and the resent one.
  2. Open the original (older) email and click its accept link.
  3. Then open the newest email and click its accept link.

✅ Pass if

  • The newest link opens the accept page normally.
  • The older link does not work — it shows a clear "this link is no longer valid" style message.

❌ Fail if

  • The older link still works and lets someone accept → 🔴 Blocker (a replaced invitation must stop working).
  • The newest link doesn't work → 🟠 Major.

B3 — Cancel the invitation

Steps

  1. With an invitation showing Pending, click Cancel.

✅ Pass if

  • The accountant card disappears (or clearly shows no accountant is assigned).
  • You are able to invite an accountant again afterwards.

❌ Fail if

  • Cancel does nothing, or the card stays → 🟠 Major.
  • After cancelling you still cannot invite anyone → 🔴 Blocker.

Steps

  1. Invite a fresh email, then Cancel the invitation.
  2. Open that invitation email and click the accept link.

✅ Pass if

  • The link does not work — a clear message says the invitation is no longer valid.

❌ Fail if

  • The cancelled invitation can still be accepted and the accountant gains access → 🔴 Blocker.

C. The invited accountant creates their own account

This is the most important section

This is the exact problem being fixed. Previously the invited person was told "an account with this email already exists" and could never get in. Use a genuinely fresh email for C1 or the result is meaningless.

C1 — An invited accountant can sign up for MyAccountant

Steps

  1. As the business owner, invite a brand-new, never-used email address as your accountant. Leave the invitation pending — do not open the invite link.
  2. Sign out (or use a private/incognito window).
  3. Go to the normal Sign up / Register page and create a new account using that same email address.

✅ Pass if

  • The account is created successfully.
  • You are not blocked with a message like "an account with this email already exists".

❌ Fail if

  • Sign-up is refused because the email already exists → 🔴 Blocker (this is the exact bug being fixed — log it immediately with a screenshot).
  • Sign-up errors in any other way → 🟠 Major.

C2 — After signing up, the invitation is still there

Steps

  1. Continue from C1. Log back in as the business owner.
  2. Go to Settings → Accountant.

✅ Pass if

  • The accountant card still shows Pending for that email.
  • Resend and Cancel are still available.

❌ Fail if

  • The card has vanished, or shows Active even though nobody accepted → 🔴 Blocker.

D. Accepting the invitation

D1 — Accept and set a password

Steps

  1. As the business owner, invite a fresh, unused email address.
  2. Open that inbox and click the accept link.
  3. Set a new password and finish.

✅ Pass if

  • You are asked to set your own password (none was emailed to you).
  • Accepting completes with a success message.

❌ Fail if

  • The accept page errors or won't let you set a password → 🟠 Major.

D2 — The card turns Active

Steps

  1. Log back in as the business owner and go to Settings → Accountant.

✅ Pass if

  • The accountant now shows as Active.
  • Resend and Cancel are no longer offered (they only apply to a pending invite).

❌ Fail if

  • The card still says Pending after a successful accept → 🟠 Major.
  • The card disappeared → 🟠 Major.

D3 — The accountant can open the business

Steps

  1. Sign in as the accountant you just created in D1.
  2. Open the business you were invited to and look around the main areas.

✅ Pass if

  • The accountant can open the business and see its data.

❌ Fail if

  • The accountant is Active on the owner's screen but cannot open the business → 🟠 Major.
  • The accountant can see a business they were never invited to → 🔴 Blocker.

Steps

  1. Open the same accept link from D1 a second time.

✅ Pass if

  • The link no longer works — a clear message says the invitation has already been used or is no longer valid.
  • No error page or crash.

❌ Fail if

  • The link can be used again → 🟠 Major.
  • A raw error or blank page appears → 🟠 Major.

D5 — Decline an invitation

Steps

  1. As the business owner, invite another fresh email.
  2. Open the email and use the decline option.
  3. Log back in as the business owner and check Settings → Accountant.

✅ Pass if

  • Declining completes cleanly.
  • The accountant does not get access.

❌ Fail if

  • Declining gives the accountant access anyway → 🔴 Blocker.
  • Declining errors → 🟠 Major.

E. Removing the accountant

E1 — Remove the accountant

Steps

  1. As the business owner with an Active accountant (from D1), remove them.

✅ Pass if

  • A confirmation appears and the accountant card clears.
  • You can invite an accountant again afterwards.

❌ Fail if

  • Remove does nothing, or errors → 🟠 Major.
  • Removal is refused for no clear reason → 🔴 Blocker.

E2 — The removed accountant loses access

Steps

  1. Sign in as the removed accountant.
  2. Try to open the business you were removed from.

✅ Pass if

  • The business is gone from their list and cannot be opened.

❌ Fail if

  • The removed accountant can still open or see the business → 🔴 Blocker.

E3 — The removed accountant still has their own account

Steps

  1. Still signed in as the removed accountant (or sign in again).

✅ Pass if

  • They can still sign in normally — their own account still exists and works.
  • Only access to that one business was taken away.

❌ Fail if

  • Their account has been deleted, or they can no longer sign in → 🔴 Blocker (removing access must never delete a person's account).

E4 — Re-invite the same accountant after removing them

Steps

  1. As the business owner, invite the same email you just removed.
  2. Accept the invitation as that accountant.

✅ Pass if

  • The invite sends (you are not blocked with "already exists").
  • They can accept and regain access.

❌ Fail if

  • Re-inviting is blocked or errors → 🟠 Major.
  • An unexpected error appears when accepting → 🔴 Blocker.

F. Two businesses, the same accountant

Highest-risk section — please take your time here

This is where a fault would be silent: the screen would look right while acting on the wrong business. Read each result carefully rather than clicking through.

F1 — Invite the same accountant to two businesses

🔧 Needs developer setup — two businesses you can switch between.

Steps

  1. In business one, invite a fresh email as accountant.
  2. Switch to business two and invite the same email address as accountant.

✅ Pass if

  • Both invitations send successfully.
  • Each business shows its own Pending card for that accountant.

❌ Fail if

  • The second invite is blocked because one already exists elsewhere → 🟠 Major.
  • Business two shows no card → 🔴 Blocker.

F2 — Each business shows its own invitation

Steps

  1. Switch between business one and business two, checking Settings → Accountant each time.

✅ Pass if

  • Each business shows a Pending invitation for that accountant.
  • The date shown on each matches when that business's invite was sent.

❌ Fail if

  • One business shows the other's invitation details → 🔴 Blocker.
  • One business shows no invitation at all → 🔴 Blocker.

F3 — Cancelling one business's invite leaves the other alone

Steps

  1. In business one, click Cancel.
  2. Switch to business two and check Settings → Accountant.

✅ Pass if

  • Business one's card is cleared.
  • Business two's invitation is untouched and still Pending.

❌ Fail if

  • Cancelling in business one also cancelled business two's invitation → 🔴 Blocker.
  • Business two's invitation is now missing or changed → 🔴 Blocker.

F4 — Accepting for one business does not grant the other

Steps

  1. Open business two's invitation email and accept it.
  2. Sign in as that accountant and look at which businesses they can open.

✅ Pass if

  • They can open business two only.
  • Business one is not available to them (its invite was cancelled in F3).

❌ Fail if

  • Accepting one invitation gave them access to both businesses → 🔴 Blocker.
  • They can open a business they never accepted → 🔴 Blocker.

Finishing up — saving your results

You record results inside each test case, not in a table at the end:

  1. At the top of the page, fill in the Test run panel — your name, the date, and the environment you tested.
  2. For every case, choose Pass, Fail, or Blocked in its result box, and add any notes / evidence (bug reference, screenshot filename).
  3. The summary at the top keeps a live tally (e.g. 18 pass · 1 fail · 3 not run).
  4. When you are done, click Print / Save as PDF and save the file as your evidence.

Your entries are saved in your browser as you go, so an accidental refresh won't lose them. Use Reset run to clear the page for the next round.

Each tester saves their own PDF

Results are stored per browser — they are not shared between testers or saved centrally. Each tester prints their own PDF as the record of their run.