User cannot view the billing dashboard

Question

I created an IAM user with **AdministratorAccess**, but the user cannot view the billing dashboard and receives a 'permission denied' error. Why is the IAM user unable to see billing information despite having admin permissions?

usXCloudSec · Accepted Answer

The reason an IAM user with AdministratorAccess might be unable to see billing information and receives a "permission denied" error is that access to the **AWS Billing and Cost Management console is restricted by default, even for IAM users with administrative privileges**. 
This is a specific security measure by AWS. To **enable an IAM user to view billing details**, ** the root user of the AWS account must explicitly activate IAM user access to the billing console within the account settings**. 
**After this global setting is enabled by the root user, the IAM user will also need an appropriate IAM policy attached (such as the AWS managed policy Billing or a custom policy granting aws-portal:ViewBilling permissions) to gain access.**

> Without the root user enabling this specific account-level setting, no IAM user, regardless of their permissions, can access billing information.

re:Post Agent · Answer

This is a common issue with AWS billing access. Even though your IAM user has the AdministratorAccess policy, by default IAM users cannot access billing information. This is a specific security feature in AWS.

To resolve this issue, you need to explicitly activate IAM access to the Billing and Cost Management console. This can only be done by the AWS account root user (the email address and password used to create the AWS account) by following these steps:

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console with your root user credentials
2. On the navigation bar, select your account name, and then select Account
3. Scroll down to find the section "IAM User and Role Access to Billing Information"
4. Select Edit
5. Check the "Activate IAM Access" box
6. Choose Update

After completing these steps, the system will display a message that "IAM user/role access to billing information is activated." Once this setting is enabled, your IAM users with appropriate billing permissions will be able to access the billing dashboard.

Remember that even after enabling this setting, you may need to ensure your IAM users have the specific billing permissions needed for the actions they want to perform.  
**Sources**  
[Billing: Access Denied | AWS re:Post](https://repost.aws/questions/QUrN32mQmMTs-637GdddvyyA/billing-access-denied)  
[Access denied even though ive set permissions | AWS re:Post](https://repost.aws/questions/QUnKB2oUdgRI6Q-t27k4C9Gw/access-denied-even-though-ive-set-permissions)  
[Setting up your AWS account - AWS Identity and Access Management](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/getting-started-account-iam.html)  
[I get an error Access denied when I access New cost and usage report with date range of past 7 days, granularity daily, and group by dimension resource | AWS re:Post](https://repost.aws/questions/QUZkLuJy3uR7mZpZWmUwmfdg/i-get-an-error-access-denied-when-i-access-new-cost-and-usage-report-with-date-range-of-past-7-days-granularity-daily-and-group-by-dimension-resource)

User cannot view the billing dashboard

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