diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a8c03ba96ee6..1dcaa9002272 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ It is strongly recommended to upgrade to these releases as well.
 
 ### Improvements
 
+* [#12668](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/12668) Add `authz_msg_index` event attribute to message events emitted when executing via `MsgExec` through `x/authz`.
 * [#12626](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/12626) Upgrade IAVL to v0.19.0 with fast index and error propagation. NOTE: first start will take a while to propagate into new model.
 * [#12649](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/12649) Bump tendermint to v0.34.20.
 
diff --git a/x/authz/keeper/keeper.go b/x/authz/keeper/keeper.go
index 5b86b647a6bb..80d8ffe6f0b6 100644
--- a/x/authz/keeper/keeper.go
+++ b/x/authz/keeper/keeper.go
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ func (k Keeper) updateGrant(ctx context.Context, grantee, granter sdk.AccAddress
 // grants from the message signer to the grantee.
 func (k Keeper) DispatchActions(ctx sdk.Context, grantee sdk.AccAddress, msgs []sdk.Msg) ([][]byte, error) {
 	results := make([][]byte, len(msgs))
+	now := ctx.BlockTime()
 
 	for i, msg := range msgs {
 		signers, _, err := k.cdc.GetMsgSigners(msg)
diff --git a/x/authz/keeper/msg_server.go b/x/authz/keeper/msg_server.go
index 88afed3c308a..ce4c4e282804 100644
--- a/x/authz/keeper/msg_server.go
+++ b/x/authz/keeper/msg_server.go
@@ -19,7 +19,14 @@ func (k Keeper) Grant(goCtx context.Context, msg *authz.MsgGrant) (*authz.MsgGra
 	ctx := sdk.UnwrapSDKContext(goCtx)
 	grantee, err := sdk.AccAddressFromBech32(msg.Grantee)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, sdkerrors.ErrInvalidAddress.Wrapf("invalid grantee address: %s", err)
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	// create the account if it is not in account state
+	granteeAcc := k.authKeeper.GetAccount(ctx, grantee)
+	if granteeAcc == nil {
+		granteeAcc = k.authKeeper.NewAccountWithAddress(ctx, grantee)
+		k.authKeeper.SetAccount(ctx, granteeAcc)
 	}
 
 	granter, err := sdk.AccAddressFromBech32(msg.Granter)
@@ -107,10 +114,6 @@ func (k Keeper) Exec(ctx context.Context, msg *authz.MsgExec) (*authz.MsgExecRes
 		return nil, sdkerrors.ErrInvalidAddress.Wrapf("invalid grantee address: %s", err)
 	}
 
-	if len(msg.Msgs) == 0 {
-		return nil, sdkerrors.ErrInvalidRequest.Wrapf("messages cannot be empty")
-	}
-
 	msgs, err := msg.GetMessages()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err