diff --git a/spanner/client.go b/spanner/client.go
index bfe00c2dcec0..d28b95cfaf20 100644
--- a/spanner/client.go
+++ b/spanner/client.go
@@ -296,6 +296,7 @@ func allClientOpts(numChannels int, compression string, userOpts ...option.Clien
 		option.WithGRPCConnectionPool(numChannels),
 		option.WithUserAgent(fmt.Sprintf("spanner-go/v%s", internal.Version)),
 		internaloption.EnableDirectPath(true),
+		internaloption.AllowNonDefaultServiceAccount(true),
 	}
 	if compression == "gzip" {
 		userOpts = append(userOpts, option.WithGRPCDialOption(grpc.WithDefaultCallOptions(