Outsourced Accounting
Full-cycle bookkeeping, monthly close by the 15th, and financial statements reviewed by a CPA. From $750/mo.
See what's includedGuide
How to outsource your bookkeeping —
without losing a month.
Most guides on this are written by software companies who want you on a subscription. This one is written by the people who do the work, and it includes the parts that are awkward to publish: what it costs, what to ask, which answers should worry you, and when you shouldn't outsource at all.
Step one
First, decide whether
you should.
Outsourcing solves a specific problem. If you don't have that problem, you'll pay to fix something that isn't broken — and a firm that won't tell you this is a firm that will sell you anything.
Outsource if…
- You couldn't state last month's cash position and gross margin right now without opening anything
- Financials arrive weeks after month-end, or only when you chase them
- Someone is coding transactions but nobody senior ever reviews the result
- Your bookkeeper is a single point of failure and their notice period is your problem
- A lender, buyer or auditor is going to look at these books within a year
- You're spending your own evenings in the ledger
Don't outsource yet if…
- You already get a clean close on a predictable date with senior review — you may just need a budget built
- You're pre-revenue or very early; a good bookkeeper and a tax CPA will cover you for less
- You want the cheapest possible transaction coding rather than books you can make decisions on
- Nobody internally will act on the reporting once it exists — better numbers don't fix an unwillingness to use them
Step two
Know what you're actually buying.
These three are not the same thing.
"Bookkeeping" gets used for three different services at three different prices. Most disappointment in this category comes from buying the first and expecting the third.
| What it's called | What actually happens | What it won't do |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction coding | Someone categorizes what moved through the bank and credit cards. | Nothing is reconciled to a statement, nothing is accrued, and no one asserts the numbers are right. |
| A monthly close | Every account reconciled, accruals and prepaids booked, balance sheet substantiated, statements produced on a set date. | Won't tell you what the numbers mean or what to do about them. |
| Close + review | All of the above, plus someone senior checking it before you see it and explaining what moved. | Won't build you a forecast — that's CFO work. |
The gap that catches most owners is between the first and the second. The transactions are coded, so it looks handled — but nobody ever closed the month, which means the numbers were never actually right, only tidy.
Step three
What it costs —
published, for once.
Almost nobody in this industry puts numbers on a page. Here are honest ranges for the market, and ours alongside them so you can see where we sit.
| What you need | Typical market range | Ours |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction coding only | A few hundred a month | Not something we sell |
| Full monthly close + statements | $750–$2,500/mo | Foundation, from $750/mo |
| Close + controller review + budget | $2,500–$3,500/mo | Growth, from $2,500/mo |
| Catch-up on books that are behind | Priced per month of backlog | Scoped separately, never buried in the monthly fee |
Two things to watch in any quote. Ask whether the price changes when your transaction volume does — a fee that silently re-rates at month four is the most common unpleasant surprise in this category. And ask whether catch-up work is inside or outside the monthly number, because a quote that hides it looks cheaper than it is.
Step four
Six questions —
and the answers that should worry you.
Every provider sounds competent on a first call. These are the questions that separate them, including when you ask us.
| Ask them | A bad answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| What date will my books be closed, every month? | "Usually a couple of weeks after month-end." No committed date means no accountability, and you can't plan a decision around "usually". |
| Who reviews the work before I see it? | "Our team checks everything." Ask for the person and their credential. One person checking their own work is not review. |
| What happens if the close is late? | Silence, or an apology with no process. You should hear about it from them, with a reason and a new date, before you notice. |
| Can you move money in my accounts? | Anything vague. The answer should be read-only access wherever the bank supports it, with payments behind your approval. |
| What state are my books in right now? | "We'll find out once we start." A provider should assess before you sign and put it in writing, even when the answer is unflattering. |
| If I leave, what do I get? | Hesitation. The ledger, reports and workpapers are yours. Difficulty leaving tells you how they intend to keep you. |
Step five
The handover —
where months get lost.
Most of the pain in outsourcing isn't the work, it's the switch. Run it in this order and you don't lose a reporting cycle.
-
Get the assessment first
Before you give notice to anyone, have the incoming provider look at the books and tell you in writing what shape they're in and what catch-up will cost. Discovering a two-year mess after you've already terminated is the expensive version.
-
Overlap by one close
Keep the current arrangement running through one full month while the new team runs the same close alongside. It costs one extra month of fees and it is the cheapest insurance available.
-
Take custody of everything
Admin rights on the ledger in your name, not theirs. Bank feeds, payroll, the document portal, and the workpapers behind the last closed year. Get this before the relationship ends, not after.
-
Agree the first close date in writing
A specific date for the first month the new team owns outright. That date is the whole point of the exercise — if it slips in month one, you've swapped one problem for another.
"The books being late isn't an annoyance. It removes options — you can't make a week-two decision on numbers that land in week five."
— Tristan Nguyen, CPA, MBA
Frequently asked
Outsourcing questions, answered plainly.
- Is outsourcing bookkeeping worth it?
- It's worth it when your books are late, wrong, or unreviewed and you're making decisions on them anyway. It is not worth it if a part-time bookkeeper is already producing a clean, on-time close — at that point you're paying to solve a problem you don't have. The honest test is whether you could tell us your cash position and gross margin for last month right now, without opening anything.
- How much does outsourced bookkeeping cost?
- Transaction-only bookkeeping generally runs a few hundred dollars a month. A full monthly close with financial statements and senior review typically runs $750 to $2,500. Add controller oversight and a budget to run against and you're at $2,500 to $3,500. Above that you're buying CFO-level forecasting rather than bookkeeping. Ours start at $750 for Foundation and $2,500 for Growth.
- What's the difference between a bookkeeper and outsourced accounting?
- A bookkeeper records transactions. Outsourced accounting closes the month — reconciling every account, booking accruals, substantiating the balance sheet and producing statements someone senior has reviewed. The gap between the two is where most owners get caught: the transactions are coded, but nobody ever closed the month, so the numbers were never actually right.
- Do I have to fire my current bookkeeper?
- Not necessarily. Plenty of engagements keep an in-house bookkeeper doing day-to-day entry with an outsourced team providing the close and the review on top. That's often cheaper than replacing them and it keeps the institutional knowledge in the building.
- How long does the transition take?
- Around 30 days for books in reasonable shape — access, review, one full close run end to end. Books that are months behind take longer, and the catch-up work should be scoped and priced separately so you can see it as its own number.
- What if my books are a mess?
- That's the normal starting point, not an embarrassing exception. What matters is that whoever you hire tells you the real state of things before you sign rather than discovering it in month three. Ask for that assessment up front and expect it in writing.
- Who has access to my bank accounts?
- It should be read-only wherever your bank supports it — visibility into transactions without the ability to move money. Anything that genuinely needs payment access, like bill pay, should sit behind your approval. If a provider can't answer this plainly, that's your answer.
- Can I get my files back if I leave?
- You should be able to, and you should confirm it before you sign. The ledger, the reports and the workpapers behind them are yours. A provider who makes leaving difficult is telling you how they expect to keep clients.
- Is virtual bookkeeping the same as outsourced bookkeeping?
- Mostly, yes — "virtual bookkeeping" usually just means the provider works remotely rather than sitting in your office, which describes almost everyone now including us. The word tells you where the work happens, not what you get. Two providers both calling themselves virtual can be selling transaction coding and a reviewed monthly close respectively, at very different prices. Ask what is actually delivered and who reviews it; the delivery model matters far less than the scope.
If you decide to
What we'd actually do —
and what it would cost.
We're one option among several and this guide works whether or not you call us. If you want to see the version with our name on it, these are the pages.
Let's talk
Ready to hand off
the books for good?
A free, no-pressure consultation — wherever you are in the country. Tell us where things stand, even if the honest answer is "nobody's looked closely in a year," and we'll map out exactly what it takes to get you clean and keep you there.
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