To delete Account records, you must have the permission to delete it. The Delete option is available on the account’s detail page and on its row on the account list page in both Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience. If you don’t see the delete option, you don’t have permission to delete the account.

Most accounts and their associated records can be deleted in one click – but some accounts can’t be deleted until associations have been removed. This is not related from where you delete the Account: page layout, apex code, API, etc.

Deleted accounts are moved to the Recycle Bin, along with these associated items.

• Contacts
• Opportunities
• Contracts (if they’re not activated)
• Activities
• Notes
• Attachments
• Portal roles and groups (if all portal users in the account are disabled.)
• Partner relationships
• Relationship group members

Note: We can’t access the recycle bin from Lightning Experience, but deleted items still go into it. Switch to Salesforce Classic temporarily to view or restore recycle bin items.

If you restore an account from the Recycle Bin, any related items are also restored except for:

• Relationship group members in certain cases.
• Portal roles and groups.

You can’t delete an account if:

• You don’t have the Delete permission on accounts.
• You aren’t the account’s owner, above the account’s owner in the organization role hierarchy; or an administrator.

You can’t delete a partner account if:

• It has any child records, associated cases, activated contracts, or related opportunities that other users own.
• It has associated contacts that are enabled as Customer or Partner users.
• It is associated with a channel program membership.

If you want to delete an account that has closed/won opportunities you own, you have to delete the closed/won opportunities along with the account or keep the account. If you want to delete an account that is associated with a channel program membership, you have to delete the membership before deleting the account.