diff --git a/builtin/providers/google/config.go b/builtin/providers/google/config.go
index 99e693fd4..853b5228a 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/google/config.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/google/config.go
@@ -3,10 +3,12 @@ package google
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"log"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"runtime"
+	"strings"
 
 
 	// TODO(dcunnin): Use version code from version.go
@@ -54,10 +56,25 @@ func (c *Config) loadAndValidate() error {
 	var client *http.Client
 
 	if c.AccountFile != "" {
-		if err := loadJSON(&account, c.AccountFile); err != nil {
+		if c.AccountFileContents != "" {
 			return fmt.Errorf(
-				"Error loading account file '%s': %s",
-				c.AccountFile,
+				"Cannot provide both account_file and account_file_contents",
+			)
+		}
+
+		b, err := ioutil.ReadFile(c.AccountFile)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		c.AccountFileContents = string(b)
+	}
+
+	if c.AccountFileContents != "" {
+		if err := parseJSON(&account, c.AccountFileContents); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf(
+				"Error parsing account file contents '%s': %s",
+				c.AccountFileContents,
 				err)
 		}
 
@@ -150,13 +167,9 @@ type accountFile struct {
 	ClientId     string `json:"client_id"`
 }
 
-func loadJSON(result interface{}, path string) error {
-	f, err := os.Open(path)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	defer f.Close()
+func parseJSON(result interface{}, contents string) error {
+	r := strings.NewReader(contents)
+	dec := json.NewDecoder(r)
 
-	dec := json.NewDecoder(f)
 	return dec.Decode(result)
 }
diff --git a/builtin/providers/google/config_test.go b/builtin/providers/google/config_test.go
index b4ee58520..3ec20376a 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/google/config_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/google/config_test.go
@@ -1,24 +1,63 @@
 package google
 
 import (
-	"reflect"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"testing"
 )
 
-func TestConfigLoadJSON_account(t *testing.T) {
-	var actual accountFile
-	if err := loadJSON(&actual, "./test-fixtures/fake_account.json"); err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+const testFakeAccountFilePath = "./test-fixtures/fake_account.json"
+
+func TestConfigLoadAndValidate_accountFile(t *testing.T) {
+	config := Config{
+		AccountFile: testFakeAccountFilePath,
+		Project:     "my-gce-project",
+		Region:      "us-central1",
 	}
 
-	expected := accountFile{
-		PrivateKeyId: "foo",
-		PrivateKey:   "bar",
-		ClientEmail:  "foo@bar.com",
-		ClientId:     "id@foo.com",
-	}
-
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(actual, expected) {
-		t.Fatalf("bad: %#v", actual)
+	err := config.loadAndValidate()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("error: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestConfigLoadAndValidate_accountFileContents(t *testing.T) {
+	contents, err := ioutil.ReadFile(testFakeAccountFilePath)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("error: %v", err)
+	}
+	config := Config{
+		AccountFileContents: string(contents),
+		Project:             "my-gce-project",
+		Region:              "us-central1",
+	}
+
+	err = config.loadAndValidate()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("error: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestConfigLoadAndValidate_none(t *testing.T) {
+	config := Config{
+		Project: "my-gce-project",
+		Region:  "us-central1",
+	}
+
+	err := config.loadAndValidate()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("error: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestConfigLoadAndValidate_both(t *testing.T) {
+	config := Config{
+		AccountFile:         testFakeAccountFilePath,
+		AccountFileContents: "{}",
+		Project:             "my-gce-project",
+		Region:              "us-central1",
+	}
+
+	if config.loadAndValidate() == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected error, but got nil")
 	}
 }
diff --git a/builtin/providers/google/provider.go b/builtin/providers/google/provider.go
index c93812d5a..969895d17 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/google/provider.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/google/provider.go
@@ -59,9 +59,10 @@ func Provider() terraform.ResourceProvider {
 
 func providerConfigure(d *schema.ResourceData) (interface{}, error) {
 	config := Config{
-		AccountFile: d.Get("account_file").(string),
-		Project:     d.Get("project").(string),
-		Region:      d.Get("region").(string),
+		AccountFile:         d.Get("account_file").(string),
+		AccountFileContents: d.Get("account_file_contents").(string),
+		Project:             d.Get("project").(string),
+		Region:              d.Get("region").(string),
 	}
 
 	if err := config.loadAndValidate(); err != nil {