outsourced accounting firms

Hiring internally as your business and client demands grow can be a slow and costly endeavor. As a result, many firms turn to outsourcing as a more flexible and cost-effective staffing alternative. 

However, finding a reputable and affordable firm you can trust to deliver for your clients can be challenging. 

Through extensive research and talking with dozens of profitable firm owners, we discovered the top accounting outsourcing partners that thousands of US-based accounting firms work with successfully. 

In this article, we share some of the most common services accounting firms outsource, reveal the best accounting firms for outsourcing, and provide some questions to help you find the right partner for your firm. 

Typical Accounting Services That Can Be Outsourced

Here are some of the standard services CPA firms frequently outsource. 


Bookkeeping

Since bookkeeping tasks are done continually, it often becomes repetitive and time-consuming for your team. 

That’s why accounting outsourcing partners often offer bookkeeping as one of their primary services. Many even offer this as their only service. These services include tasks like balancing the ledger and expense tracking. 

Skilled in-house professionals can let the outsourced team keep track of all data entry tasks and simply oversee the completed records to ensure they’re error-free. 


Accounts Receivable (AR)/Accounts Payable (AP) Management

An outsourcing partner can help a firm manage accounts receivable and accounts payable for their clients, ensuring all payments are made and received promptly. 

Some of the main tasks outsourced teams can handle on your behalf include:

  • Invoice management
  • Expense reporting
  • Check processing
  • Order management
  • Collections management

Preparation of Financial Statements

Outsourced accounting firms can help you prepare financial statements for your clients. This is especially beneficial if they’re already handling the bookkeeping tasks and AR/AP management. 

If this service is offered, the outsourced firm can provide you with accurate financial statements and custom reporting, which your clients can present to their internal team and external stakeholders. 

However, while your outsourcing partner can prepare these statements to save you time and resources, you will likely review them for accuracy before passing them on to your clients. 


Controller/CFO Services

Full-service outsourcing partners are also available that can offer more substantial accounting services. In addition to the services listed above, they typically include controller or CFO services, such as audit reporting, compliance management, cash flow analysis, KPI monitoring, and more. 

While these services aren’t standard for accounting firms to outsource, they can be helpful if you act as a fractional controller/CFO for your clients. In turn, you can offer clients expert guidance to help them make informed business decisions and evaluate financial insights. 


The 6 Best Outsourced Accounting Firms


1. TOA Global

TOA Global is a talent solutions provider in the accounting industry. Founded in December 2013, they provide dedicated outsourced accounting talent to international firms of any size. 

Comprised of over 3,400 professionals in the Philippines, the TOA Global team serves more than 1,000 accounting and bookkeeping firms worldwide. Their talent can handle over 100 different roles for their clients, including accountants, CPAs, bookkeepers, administrators, and more.

All of their accountants and CPAs have bachelor’s or master’s degrees and receive regular training to expand their capabilities and offer quality service to their clients. 


2. Paro

Paro’s platform connects firms to expert accountants based on their unique accounting needs. Their goal is to help firms fill talent gaps and support growth without hiring full-time staff. Their robust online network of US-based professionals includes bookkeepers, tax experts, and qualified accountants. 

Paro only accepts the top 2% of applicants with 15 years of experience on average to their platform. This means firms get top industry talent recommendations. These individuals can be hired on demand to fill temporary vacancies or partner with you long-term. 

Paro begins the process with an introductory call to learn about the scope of work your firm needs. Then, they connect you with a professional from their network with the right expertise for the job. 

Paro takes pride in their proprietary AI software that makes talent matches significantly quicker than traditional recruiting methods. 


3. Maxim Liberty

Since 2005, Maxim Liberty has offered flexible and affordable outsourced bookkeeping services for CPA firms in Canada and the United States. With plans starting at just $50 a month and the ability to cancel anytime, Maxim Liberty ranks highly in the industry for its high-value bookkeeping services.

Maxim Liberty’s services include payroll processing, financial reporting, bank reconciliations, billing management, and more. Their bookkeepers are trained in several accounting software programs and can update client books as frequently as you desire, whether daily, weekly, or monthly. 

They have performed bookkeeping tasks for thousands of businesses throughout the year, both big and small. Though they have clients in many industries, such as manufacturing, engineering, and consulting, they share that 70% of their business is white label for accounting and CPA firms. 


4. Bench

Based in Canada, Bench only provides bookkeeping and tax preparation services for small businesses and firms in the United States. 

In addition to tax preparation, they perform other duties like month-end financial reporting, tax advisory, and monthly bookkeeping services. They can either work directly for your clients on a referral basis or through a white-label accounting solution on the back end while you remain on the customer-facing side. 

What makes Bench unique is how they expertly manage their bookkeeping tasks by utilizing their own proprietary software program. However, as a result, this means they won’t integrate into your existing accounting software and systems.


5. Botkeeper

Botkeeper is a solid option for US accounting firms needing expanded capacity for their bookkeeping services. The platform gives users access to a team of bookkeeping professionals in the Philippines trained in common accounting platforms like Xero and QuickBooks Online. 

Firms that need to outsource their bookkeeping tasks will enjoy using Botkeeper because of the built-in software included with their services. The platform has convenient dashboards to help you collaborate and manage workflows between their bookkeepers and your internal accounting department. 

Botkeeper partners with companies of all sizes and works with over 200 accounting firms to automate bookkeeping tasks for over 5,000 of their business clients. 


6. inDinero

InDinero offers tax, accountant, and financial services for businesses of all sizes. Some of their solutions include CFO services, accounting and bookkeeping services, tax services, and financial reporting. They have a few hundred team members both on and offshore. 

From small businesses to established enterprises, inDinero’s accounting services are handled by a team of fractional accountants, overseen by a controller, that completes all financial and recordkeeping tasks. 

They also leverage advanced software to keep their work efficient, transparent, and easily accessible for the client. Plus, they have built-in support for accounting software like QuickBooks Online, Bill.com, NetSuite, Expensify, and others, so they can seamlessly integrate with your team. 


How to Tell If an Outsourced Accounting Firm Is Good or Not

Finding the right partner is crucial if you decide to outsource some of your accounting services. You want to ensure your clients receive the same level of service and care you would personally offer while still taking advantage of the efficiency and cost savings that outsourcing provides. 

When you’re evaluating potential outsourcing partners, here are some essential questions to consider so you find the best match for your needs: 

  • Do they have any success stories or case studies from firms similar to yours?
  • Do they have good customer reviews and references?
  • What types of qualifications or training does their team have?
  • How do they stay compliant with relevant regulations and standards?
  • How easily will they integrate with your internal team? 
  • Do they support the software programs you utilize?
  • What data security measures do they employ to protect sensitive client data?
  • How long will onboarding take?
  • What kind of ongoing communication will you have with the firm?

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