Virtual bookkeeping

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.

Virtual bookkeeping is the same monthly scope, transactions coded, accounts reconciled, invoices and bills recorded, reports produced, delivered by a bookkeeper who never visits: statements arrive through a bank feed or an upload, receipts through a phone camera, questions by email. For most small businesses the work is identical to a local engagement; what changes is the handover, which has to be organised because nobody is coming to collect the shoebox. This guide is for the owner weighing a virtual service against a local one, and the hiring sheet on this site prices either 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.

Check the handover works remotely

Bank feeds into the ledger, a way to photograph receipts as they happen, and sales reports that export cleanly are the three things a virtual engagement depends on. If any of them is paper-only today, the first month is a set-up job and should be priced as one.

Agree who answers what, and how fast

A remote bookkeeper cannot walk over and ask what a transaction was. Agree a weekly list of open questions, who in the business answers it, and by when. Unanswered questions are the reason virtual books fall behind, not the distance.

Price it against local and in-house

Virtual services often quote lower because they carry no travel and can serve more clients per bookkeeper. Put the quote into the hiring sheet against an employed bookkeeper and into the pricing calculator against the hours the scope takes, and compare on the same line as any local quote.

A quote the Virtual bookkeeping 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.

Send the question

What an owner comparing bookkeeping quotes asks about the Virtual bookkeeping

Is virtual bookkeeping safe?

As safe as the access you grant. Read-only bank feeds, a separate login for the bookkeeper and no shared passwords are the usual controls, and a service that asks for more than read access to the bank should explain why.

Does a virtual bookkeeper need to be in my state?

For bookkeeping, no. For state sales-tax filings and payroll, local knowledge helps and some services charge extra for states they do not usually handle. Ask which states the quote covers.

What happens at year end?

The virtual bookkeeper hands reconciled books to your accountant, as a local one would. Agree in advance who talks to whom, because a year-end where the owner is relaying questions between two remote professionals is slow and expensive.