How to Change the Time Zone in Facebook Ads Manager

Trying to change the time zone in your Facebook Ads Manager can feel like a simple settings tweak, but it's a decision that has permanent strings attached. Once an ad account's time zone is set, it's locked in for good. This guide will walk you through exactly what that means, why you can’t just flip a switch, and the correct way to set up a new account with the right time zone so your scheduling, reporting, and billing all make sense.

Why Your Ad Account's Time Zone is a Big Deal

You might think the time zone is a minor detail, but it’s the quiet foundation of your entire advertising operation. It dictates three critical aspects of your account:

• Reporting Data: Every metric - from impressions and clicks to conversions - is logged based on your account's time zone. If your business is in New York (EST) but your ad account is accidentally set to Pacific Time (PST), your "daily" reports will be off by three hours. This means your end-of-day data won't line up with your actual business day, making it difficult to analyze performance accurately, especially for time-sensitive campaigns.
• Ad Scheduling: This is where most advertisers feel the pain first. Ad scheduling, or "dayparting," lets you run ads only during specific hours. If you want to show ads from 9 AM to 5 PM to an audience in your local time zone, but your account is set to a different one, your ads will run at the wrong times. For example, a 9 AM EST start time will begin at 6 AM PST, potentially wasting money reaching people when they’re not active.
• Billing Cycles: Meta bills you based on thresholds and dates set in your ad account’s time zone. While often less noticeable than a scheduling error, mismatched billing cycles can create accounting headaches when you’re trying to reconcile your ad spend with monthly or quarterly budgets.

Common Reasons You Need to Change a Time Zone

Usually, the need for a time zone change pops up in a few common scenarios:

• Simple Setup Error: A lot of people rush through the initial ad account creation and just click through the defaults without realizing the time zone is set to the US Pacific Time Zone (where Meta's headquarters are).
• Relocation: You or your business moved to a different state, country, or continent, and your new operational hours don't match the old account settings.
• Managing Client Accounts: As a freelancer or agency, you might inherit an ad account from a client in another part of the world, or you might need to create one on their behalf with their local time zone.

The Hard Truth: You Can't Actually Change an Existing Ad Account's Time Zone

Let's get this out of the way right now: you cannot edit the time zone or currency of an ad account after it has been created. There is no hidden menu or special request form that will let you do it. These two settings are permanently locked in the moment you create the account.

Why is it locked? Largely because of the reporting and billing implications mentioned above. Changing a time zone retroactively could corrupt historical data and create complicated billing inconsistencies. To avoid that chaos, Meta made the decision permanent.

So, what's a marketer to do? The only solution is to create a brand-new ad account with the correct settings and migrate your advertising efforts over. While it sounds like a hassle, it's a clean break that prevents future headaches. The rest of this guide will show you exactly how to do this smoothly.

Step-by-Step Guide: Creating a New Ad Account with the Correct Time Zone

Creating a new ad account within your existing Meta Business Manager is the official solution. Don't worry, your Business Manager itself isn't affected. You're just adding a new sub-account to it.

1. Navigate to Your Meta Business Settings

Log in to your Meta Business Suite or Business Manager. Find the gear icon for "Settings" in the lower-left navigation menu. From there, click on "Business Settings" to get to the main backend dashboard.

2. Go to the Ad Accounts Section

In the Business Settings navigation panel on the left, look for the "Accounts" dropdown. Click on it, and then select "Ad Accounts." This is where you can see all ad accounts associated with your business.

3. Create a New Ad Account

You’ll see a blue “Add” button near the top. Click it. A dropdown menu will appear with three options. You want to select "Create a new ad account."

Note: If this option is grayed out, you may have reached your ad account creation limit. New accounts often start with a low limit (sometimes just one) until you've established a history of spending and compliance with Meta's policies.

4. Fill In the Basic Account Details (The Important Part!)

A new window will pop up asking for the essential details. This is the moment of truth.

• Ad account name: Give it a clear, descriptive name. Something like "[Your Business Name] - EST" or "[Client Name] - Ads" helps you differentiate it from the old account.
• Time zone: This is mission-critical. Carefully scroll through the dropdown list and select the correct time zone for your operations. Double-check it before moving on.
• Currency: Equally important and also permanent. Select the currency in which you want to be billed. Make sure this matches your payment method and accounting needs.

Once you’ve confirmed these two crucial settings are correct, click "Next."

5. Assign Permissions and Payment Info

Meta will then ask how this ad account will be used. Choose "My business" and hit "Create."

Next, you’ll need to grant yourself (and any team members) access. Select your name from the list on the left, and then toggle the switch for "Manage ad account" to give full administrative control. Click "Assign."

Finally, a prompt will ask you to add payment information. You’ll have to add a payment method to this new account, as it won’t carry over from your old one. You can either do it now or close the window and do it later by going into the new account’s "Ad Account Settings." Your account is now officially created.

What You Need to Do After Creating Your New Ad Account

Your new, correctly zoned ad account is ready to go, but your old campaigns, audiences, and pixel data are still in the old one. Here’s how to migrate your essential assets efficiently.

Share Your Meta Pixel

Your Meta Pixel is one of the most valuable assets you have. Good news: you don't need a new one. The Pixel is created at the Business Manager level, and you can simply share it with your new ad account.

1. Go to Business Settings > Data Sources > Pixels.
2. Select the Pixel you use.
3. Click "Add Assets" or "Connected Assets."
4. Select your newly created ad account from the list and click "Add."

With that, your Pixel will immediately start tracking events for campaigns run from your new account. All of your historical pixel data remains intact, though new campaign reporting will start fresh.

Rebuild Your Audiences

Some audiences can't be moved over directly, but rebuilding them is fairly straightforward.

• Website Visitors (From Pixel): Once your Pixel is shared, you can recreate any website-based Custom Audiences (e.g., "All Website Visitors - 30 Days," "Lead Event - 90 Days"). They will start populating with new data immediately.
• Customer Lists: If you use Custom Audiences based on customer email or phone lists, simply re-upload the same list to the new ad account.
• Engagement/Video View Audiences: These are tied directly to an ad account, so audiences from your old account cannot be moved. You will have to build these again from scratch in your new account as people engage with your new ads.
• Lookalike Audiences: You'll need to create new Lookalike Audiences in the new ad account based on your newly created or re-uploaded source audiences.

Recreate Your Campaigns

Unfortunately, you can't move active or past campaigns from one ad account to another. You’ll have to recreate them in the new account. However, you can make this process faster.

The easiest method is to go into your old ad account, select a well-performing campaign, ad set, or ad, and click "Duplicate." In the duplication settings, you’ll see an option to choose the ad account. You should be able to select your brand-new ad account from the list. This isn't always available, but when it is, it saves you from rebuilding creatives, copy, and targeting from scratch. The performance data will not carry over - only the structure.

Deactivate (Don't Delete) Your Old Ad Account

Once you’re completely moved over and your new campaigns are running, you should deactivate the old account. Do *not* delete it.

Deactivating an account essentially puts it in a read-only, archived state. It stops all ads and billing immediately but preserves all of your historical data. You can still access old reports, look back at what worked, and use that past performance as a benchmark. To deactivate it:

1. Navigate to your Ads Manager and select the old account.
2. Go to the "Ad Account Settings."
3. Under the main account settings, you'll see a small "Deactivate Ad Account" button.
4. Follow the prompts to confirm your decision.

Final Thoughts

While you can't change the time zone on an existing Facebook ad account, creating a new one and migrating your assets is a structured way to fix the issue for good. Taking the time to properly create a new account, share your Pixel, rebuild your audiences, and recreate your campaigns will ensure your reporting, scheduling, and billing are perfectly aligned with your business operations from here on out.

Managing campaigns across different time zones or even just across different platforms introduces enough complexity. The last thing you need is a tool that complicates things further. At Postbase, we designed our platform to bring clarity to the chaos of social media management. Our visual content calendar gives you a complete, at-a-glance view of everything you have scheduled, helping you spot gaps and stay consistent without getting lost in spreadsheets. It’s an easy-to-use control room for your content strategy.