Outsourcing bookkeeping is the decision most firm owners make after a bad tax season rather than before one. The backlog grows, a job ad goes up for a role that takes months to fill, and partners spend evenings on ledger work that earns the firm its lowest rate. This page explains how outsourced bookkeeping works with us, what it costs, how the risks are controlled and how to start without betting a client on it.
What we take off your desk
We handle the recurring ledger work for the client files you assign to us, inside your own software, and return each file reconciled and reviewed on an agreed date every month:
- Monthly bookkeeping: feeds imported, transactions categorized, receipts matched.
- Bank, credit card, loan and payroll reconciliations, every account, every month.
- Accounts payable and receivable, with vendor statement matching and aging reviews.
- Payroll run for your clients in their payroll software, or posted from their provider's reports, and tied to the register.
- Month-end adjustments and a close pack ready for your review and sign-off.
- Sales tax, VAT and year-end schedules prepared for your tax team.
- Tax returns prepared in your tax software from the closed books, ready for your review and signature.
- Catch-up and clean-up projects for files that have fallen behind.
Advisory work, client meetings, the final review of each return, signing and filing stay with your team. That is where your partners add value; preparation is where their hours disappear.
Three ways firms add bookkeeping capacity
| In-house hire | Freelancer | Outsourced team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to productive | Months to recruit, then months to learn your clients | Days, but each new freelancer starts from zero | Two weeks to go live, with the same preparer every month |
| Cost pattern | Fixed salary, taxes and benefits, in slow months as in busy ones | Hourly, hard to forecast | One fixed monthly fee per scope, adjustable by season |
| Review | Depends on partner time | Usually none | A separate senior reviewer on every file |
| Continuity | Resignations restart the search | Availability varies | Named preparer and reviewer, with cover inside the team |
| Confidentiality | Employment terms | Varies | Mutual NDA, DPA on request, access only through your systems |
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median wage for bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks at $50,670 a year (May 2025), and the fully loaded cost of an employee is typically 1.25 to 1.4 times salary once taxes and benefits are added. Our article on tax-season capacity without the hiring spree shows how to compare that figure with an outsourced quote using your own file counts.
How the engagement runs
Onboarding, in two weeks
After the first call we sign a mutual NDA, send you a checklist for your engagement letter and client consents, and ask you to create our user accounts in your platform with the permissions you are comfortable with. We then take one file through a full close for free. If it meets your standard, we agree the scope and fee for the rest.
Every month
Each file follows the same five-day sequence: capture, reconcile cash, payables and receivables, adjustments, then senior review and delivery. Questions are raised on day one in a query log, not discovered on day five. Once a month is delivered and you have signed it off, the period is locked; later changes go through an adjusting entry, not a quiet edit.
Communication
You have one contact for the engagement and a direct line to the founder. We reply within four business hours and work hours that overlap the US Eastern, Central and Pacific working day, as well as UK and Gulf office hours. We never contact your clients unless you ask us to, from an address you control.
Quality control
Every file has a preparer and a separate senior accountant who did not prepare it and who reviews it before it reaches you: balance sheet tie-outs, a comparison against the prior month, and every open query. The result you should expect is an unreconciled difference of zero, reconciling items that clear when they said they would, and review notes that get shorter each month as the preparer learns the client. If a file is not ready on the agreed date, we tell you before the date, not after it.
Confidentiality and compliance for US firms
Sending tax return information to a team outside the United States is permitted, provided it is done the way the rules require. Under IRC §7216, your client has to give written consent before anything is disclosed to a preparer located outside the US, and for Form 1040 clients the Social Security number generally has to be masked first. The AICPA Code also asks you to tell clients that you use a third-party provider, to have a confidentiality contract in place, and to supervise and review the provider's work as you would your own staff's.
We set every US engagement up accordingly: mutual NDA first, a consent checklist for your counsel, SSNs masked by default, two-factor and role-based access inside your systems, and no client files stored on our machines. Our guide to what IRS §7216 actually requires covers the detail.
Pricing
Every engagement is quoted on its scope: the number of client files, their transaction volume and the services each needs. You receive one fixed monthly fee, agreed before we start, with no lock-in contract. Rates are negotiable from 20 client files, and we invoice monthly in USD, GBP, AED or EUR. The first client file is closed and reviewed free, with no commitment.
Is outsourcing right for your firm?
It usually is when your team spends partner or senior time on reconciliations, when seasonal workload is covered by overtime, when a bookkeeper has left and the search is dragging on, or when you want to take on more clients without adding payroll. It usually is not when your files are very small, or your team has spare hours outside the season. We will tell you which on the call, and we will send you a capacity plan and a quote either way.
Frequently asked questions
How quickly can you start?
Most firms go live within two weeks of the first call: NDA, access, one free trial file, then the agreed scope. Catch-up projects can start sooner if the file is ready.
Do we have to move our clients to your software?
No. We work inside your existing QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage, Zoho Books, Tally or FreeAgent files. Nothing is migrated unless you ask for a migration.
Who owns the relationship with our clients?
You do, entirely. We work under your name and never contact your clients. See our white-label bookkeeping page for how that is set up.
Can you take only the overflow during tax season?
Yes. Many firms give us a fixed set of files year-round and add more from January to April. The fee is per file and per scope, so it scales up and down without a new contract.
What happens if we are not happy with a file?
Tell us what fell short and we fix it in that cycle. Because there is no lock-in contract, you can also reduce or end the engagement; we hand back locked, reconciled files and remove our access.
Is it legal to send US client data to a team in India?
Yes, with the taxpayer's written §7216 consent and with Social Security numbers masked, and provided your engagement letter discloses the use of a third-party provider. We give you a checklist and your counsel approves the wording.
Do you prepare tax returns as well?
Yes. We prepare returns in your tax software from closed, reconciled books, once your client's §7216 consent is in place. Your team reviews, signs and files every return.
Do you also work with sole practitioners?
Yes. You can start with a single client file, and the free trial is the same for a sole practitioner as for a multi-partner firm.
