AWS account governance is the foundation of cloud security. Before applications, networks, or data controls are considered, every AWS environment relies on secure account-level configuration to define who can access resources, how activity is monitored, and how risk is controlled over time.
Without strong account governance, even well-architected workloads are exposed. AWS consistently identifies account misconfiguration — particularly around root access, identity controls, and logging — as a leading cause of security incidents and operational failure.
This article explains what AWS account governance is, why it matters, and which AWS-native controls organisations should implement to meet security best practices and Well-Architected Framework expectations.
What Is AWS Account Governance?
AWS account governance refers to the policies, controls, and operational practices used to manage AWS accounts securely and consistently. It focuses on account creation, identity management, audit visibility, cost controls, and long-term access continuity.
Effective governance ensures that:
AWS accounts are owned by the organisation, not individuals
Access is controlled using least-privilege principles
All activity is logged, retained, and protected
Security controls remain enforceable as environments scale
AWS treats account governance as a prerequisite for secure cloud adoption, particularly in multi-account and enterprise environments.
Why does Account-Level Security Matter?
Security failures at the account level have a broad blast radius. A compromised root user, missing audit logs, or weak identity controls can undermine every workload deployed within the account.
Common governance failures include:
- AWS accounts created using personal email addresses
- Root credentials used for day-to-day administration
- Multi-factor authentication not enforced
- CloudTrail disabled or limited to a single region
- No cost or anomaly monitoring
These issues often go unnoticed until an incident occurs. At that point, remediation is complex, disruptive, and costly.
For this reason, AWS positions account governance as a core pillar of the AWS Well-Architected Framework, supporting security, reliability, and operational excellence.
Core AWS Account Governance Controls
The following controls form the baseline of a secure AWS account:
Root User Restrictions
The AWS root user has unrestricted access to all services and resources within an account. It should only be used for tasks that explicitly require root-level permissions.
Approved root activities typically include:
- Managing AWS support plans
- Recovering IAM permissions
- Enabling MFA Delete on Amazon S3
- Closing an AWS account
- Updating account-level settings
The root user should never be used for routine administration. All operational access should be delegated through IAM roles, IAM users, or AWS IAM Identity Center.
Mandatory Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication must be enabled on the root user and is strongly recommended for all privileged roles.
MFA significantly reduces the risk of unauthorised access by requiring an additional verification factor beyond a password. AWS supports both hardware and virtual MFA devices and recommends enforcing MFA as a default security control for production environments.
Account Contact Ownership
AWS account contact details must be owned by the organisation, not individual employees.
Best practice includes:
- Using shared corporate email distribution lists
- Assigning company-managed phone numbers
- Separating billing and security contacts
- Reviewing contact details regularly
This ensures account recovery and billing notifications remain accessible even when personnel change.
Centralised CloudTrail Logging
AWS CloudTrail provides an immutable record of all API activity within an account. This includes actions performed via the AWS Management Console, CLI, SDKs, and integrated services.
To meet governance best practices:
- Enable CloudTrail in all AWS regions
- Store logs in a dedicated Amazon S3 bucket
- Enable S3 versioning and MFA Delete
- Restrict deletion access using IAM policies
CloudTrail logs are essential for security investigations, compliance audits, and operational troubleshooting.
Additional Governance Controls AWS Recommends
AWS recommends a small set of additional account-level controls to reduce risk and improve visibility.
- Enable Amazon S3 Block Public Access at the account level unless public exposure is explicitly required.
- Centralise identity access using AWS IAM Identity Center or a federated identity provider, and enforce role-based access with least-privilege permissions.
- Apply strong password policies for IAM users and federated identities, including complexity, reuse prevention, and rotation where required.
- Use AWS Budgets to monitor spend and alert on unexpected cost increases that may indicate misconfiguration or unauthorised activity.
- Enable Amazon GuardDuty in all accounts to detect suspicious behaviour such as anomalous API calls and known threat activity.
- Review AWS Trusted Advisor findings regularly and prioritise high-risk security and fault tolerance issues.
Implementing Governance Consistently
AWS account governance must be enforced through repeatable processes, not ad-hoc configuration.
Organisations should maintain clear internal standards that define:
- Approved root user usage
- Mandatory MFA requirements
- Standard logging configurations
- Account contact ownership rules
- Account provisioning checklists or automation
These standards should be documented, reviewed regularly, and embedded into account creation workflows to ensure consistency across environments.
AWS Prescriptive Guidance provides reference architectures and security controls that can be adapted to internal governance models, particularly for organisations operating at scale.
Talk to an AWS specialist
Through our AWS Well-Architected Framework reviews, Cloud Elemental helps organisations assess and strengthen account governance, resilience, and operational maturity.
As an AWS Advanced Tier Partner, we also support access to AWS funding programmes to reduce the cost of reviews and remediation.
To arrange a free AWS Well-Architected consultation, visit our information page or explore our AWS Marketplace listing.
