Cloud Digital Leader How Google Cloud Resources Are Managed Practice Question
An organization wants to allow their finance team to view billing account cost information but prevent them from making any changes to the billing account. Which IAM role should they grant?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Billing Account Viewer
Billing Viewer role provides read-only access to billing account information.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Billing Account Admin
Why it's wrong here
Billing Account Admin is an incorrect choice because it grants full administrative control over the billing account, including the ability to edit billing account details, change payment methods, and manage billing permissions. This level of access goes far beyond viewing, introducing an unnecessary risk of accidental or unauthorized modifications to billing configuration and linked payment instruments, which could disrupt or alter billing.
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Project Billing Manager
Why it's wrong here
Project Billing Manager is not the right role because it is scoped to a single Google Cloud project, not the entire billing account. While it permits managing how a specific project is linked to a billing account, it does not provide any visibility into aggregate billing data, invoices, or cost trends across all projects, so the finance team would be unable to see the full financial picture it needs.
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Billing Account User
Why it's wrong here
Billing Account User is not a suitable permission here because it is designed for operational linking of projects to a billing account, not for viewing financial information. A user with this role can associate or unlink resources, but it grants no read access to billing account reports, invoices, or costs, thus failing to satisfy the finance team's requirement of simply viewing billing details.
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Billing Account Viewer
Why this is correct
Billing Account Viewer is the correct role because it provides read-only access to all billing information on the billing account, including cost breakdowns, invoices, and payment history, without allowing any modifications. This aligns with the finance team's need to view billing data and perform analysis while adhering to least-privilege security principles, reducing the risk of unintended changes.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Cloud vs On-Premises Total Cost Analysis
Key term
Billing account
A billing account in Google Cloud is a container for all the charges generated by using cloud resources, linked to a payment method and used to track and pay for your usage.
Key term
IAM
Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a framework of policies and technologies that ensures the right individuals have the appropriate access to technology resources.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This GCDL practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the GCDL exam.