Outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping services
- Monthly saving from outsourcing at the quote (negative means in-house is cheaper)
- $210
- In-house cost a month, wage plus on-costs plus software
- $660
- In-house over a year
- $7,920
The record-keeping periods these pages cite are the IRS's published figures; every fee, hour and rate is arithmetic on the numbers you typed, and no figure on this site is a published national price for bookkeeping, because there is none.
Outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping services together means one provider keeps the monthly books and also prepares the year-end accounts and returns, so nothing is handed between two firms in January. The appeal is a single throat to choke; the risk is a single invoice that hides where the money goes. This guide is for the owner comparing a combined engagement with separate bookkeeping and accounting, and the hiring sheet on this site prices the bookkeeping half against doing it in-house.
Open the Hire a bookkeeper: in-house or outsourced cost sheet Free to use. No account, no card, no trial clock.
Split the quote into its two halves
Ask for the monthly bookkeeping fee and the annual accounting fee separately, even in a combined engagement. The bookkeeping half should track your counts on the pricing calculator; the accounting half is a year-end price and should not move with monthly transactions.
Check who does the monthly work
In a combined firm the accountant sells the engagement and a bookkeeper does the months. Ask who that person is, how many clients they carry, and who reviews the reconciliations, because the year-end is only as good as the twelve months underneath it.
Keep the right to leave with your books
A combined provider holds everything. Agree in the engagement that the ledger is yours, that you have a login to it, and that on leaving you get the reconciled books and the working papers without a fee. This is the clause a combined engagement most needs.
A quote the Outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping services does not explain?
Tell us which figure on a quote does not add up and we will tell you how the sheet arrives at it.
What an owner comparing bookkeeping quotes asks about the Outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping services
Is outsourcing both cheaper than two providers?
Often slightly, because the year-end starts from books the same firm kept. It can also be more expensive if the combined fee is set by the accountant's rate for work a bookkeeper does. Price the halves separately and you will know.
What if the bookkeeping is poor but the accounting is good?
It happens, and the combined engagement makes it awkward. Agree at the start what the monthly output is and review it; a firm that will not show you the monthly reconciliation is asking for trust it has not earned.
Do I still need my own accountant?
Not for compliance if the combined firm prepares the returns. For advice on a sale, a loan or a restructuring, an independent view is worth paying for whoever keeps the books.