The gap is control over access, not campaign volume
Access levels inside a Google Ads account typically run from email-only and read-only to standard and admin. Standard is built for day-to-day campaign work. Admin adds control over access itself: who gets in, who is removed, and what level each person holds. Someone with only standard access can edit budgets and creatives all day and still have no way to guarantee they will be in the account tomorrow. Exact labels and menus follow whatever the console shows at the time.
What standard access can and cannot do
Standard users can generally create and edit campaigns, change budgets and bids, upload assets, and read reports. What they cannot do sits in the management layer: invite or remove users, change other people's access levels, and adjust account-level configuration. A quick test is to open the Access and security page. If you cannot see an invite button or change anyone's level, you hold standard or lower, whatever the other party calls it.
Three admin capabilities that decide real control
First, user management: an admin can invite new admins and remove existing ones, which is the precondition for any real handover. Second, account links to products such as Google Play, Google Analytics, and Firebase usually need admin rights to start or confirm. Third, payments: the payments profile has its own user list, and being a Google Ads admin does not make you a payments profile admin. Running ads in an account does not mean you can change the payment method, so check that separately.
Access through a manager account is not access you own
Many people work through a manager account (MCC). That access rests on a link between the manager and the client account, and the other side can unlink it at any time. The access page distinguishes users added directly from managers. If your only access comes through someone else's manager account, a broken link removes you instantly and you cannot restore it yourself. For accounts you need long term, your own Google account should be on the user list as a direct admin.
A pre-handover checklist and when to stop
Confirm each of these: your login appears as a direct admin in the user list; you can invite a new email and set its level; the previous admin has been removed, or the reason to keep them is clear; you know who administers the payments profile and who owns the payment method; and any Play or Analytics links are still active. If user management or the payments profile is not in your hands, pause the handover or the payment and ask the other party to fix it first, rather than accepting a promise to send it later.
An extra check when it comes with a Google Play developer account
Promoting an app requires permissions on both sides of the Ads and Play link: usually admin on the Ads side, and whatever the Play Console currently requires for linking. If you buy a developer account and the accompanying ad account only gives you standard access, you may not be able to set up or adjust the app event and conversion link yourself. Put the ad account's access level, payments profile ownership, and Play link status into the same confirmation list as the developer account holder details.