· Reviewed by Nimra Khalid
What is accounting firm back office support?
Accounting firm back office support is an outsourced admin team that handles the non-technical work around client engagements: sending and tracking engagement letters, collecting onboarding information, chasing prepared-by-client documents, keeping the practice-management system current and answering routine portal questions. The firm's accountants and partners keep the technical work and the client relationship.
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Firm back office: what we do and how it runs
Accounting firm back office support is an outsourced admin team that handles the non-technical work around client engagements: sending and tracking engagement letters, collecting onboarding information, chasing prepared-by-client documents, keeping the practice-management system current and answering routine portal questions. The firm's accountants and partners keep the technical work and the client relationship.
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What it is
Accounting firm back office support is an outsourced admin team that handles the non-technical work around client engagements: sending and tracking engagement letters, collecting onboarding information, chasing prepared-by-client documents, keeping the practice-management system current and answering routine portal questions. The firm's accountants and partners keep the technical work and the client relationship.
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What you get
Onboarding admin, PBC chasing and portal upkeep inside Karbon, TaxDome or Canopy
03 / 06 -
How it runs
Every request sent in your firm's name on a set cadence
04 / 06 -
Discovery call
We map your onboarding steps, letter templates, document-request habits and practice-management setup. You point to the admin work that eats most of your team's time.
05 / 06 -
A named accountant, a backup and a team lead
Inside your own software, on a fixed close calendar, with a reply from a person within 1 business day. Call +1-657-777-0006 or start a quote.
Start a pilot 06 / 06
Who it is for
Firms where accountants chase documents
Your senior staff spend hours a week emailing clients for bank statements and signed letters. An admin desk does the chasing so they can do the work when the documents land.
Firms onboarding new clients each month
Every new client means a letter, a questionnaire, software access and a portal setup. We run that checklist the same way every time so nothing is missed.
Practices on Karbon, TaxDome or Canopy
Your practice-management tool is only useful if tasks, statuses and client records are kept current. We keep it that way.
What's included
- Engagement letter preparation from your template and signature follow-up
- New-client onboarding checklist: questionnaires, IDs, software access, portal setup
- Prepared-by-client document requests sent in your name on a cadence
- Chasing by email, portal message and phone under your firm's brand
- Document intake, naming and filing to your folder structure
- Task, status and deadline upkeep in Karbon, TaxDome or Canopy
- Client record maintenance: contacts, entities, filing calendars
- Routine client portal questions answered from your script
- Renewal and proposal admin in Ignition or your proposal tool
- Weekly report of outstanding documents by client and age
- Season checklists for organizers, extensions and year-end requests
Deliverables and KPIs
| Deliverable | KPI we report | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Onboarding completed | Days from signed letter to complete file, reported per client | Per client |
| Document request cadence | Every open request chased on schedule with the promise date logged | Weekly |
| Outstanding-documents report | Open items by client and age, so nothing older than 14 days is unowned | Weekly |
| Practice-management hygiene | No task in Karbon, TaxDome or Canopy without a status and due date | Weekly |
| Engagement letter tracking | Every active client with a signed current-year letter on file | Monthly |
| Client record audit | Contacts, entities and deadlines checked against the filing calendar | Quarterly |
KPIs are what we measure and report, agreed per engagement. Service-level commitments are set in your agreement.
How it works
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Discovery call
We map your onboarding steps, letter templates, document-request habits and practice-management setup. You point to the admin work that eats most of your team's time.
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Checklists and scripts
We write the onboarding checklist, chase cadence and portal-reply scripts in your voice. Access is set up in Karbon, TaxDome or Canopy with a firm-branded email identity if you want one.
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Administrator assigned
A named administrator, backup and team lead start on a first group of clients. Your office manager reviews the first two weeks of messages and we adjust tone and timing.
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Steady operations
The desk runs the cadence every day, keeps the practice-management system current and sends your partners a weekly outstanding-documents report.
Software we work in
How much does firm back office cost?
Back-office support is priced per administrator seat per month, full-time or part-time, with the backup and team lead included. Seasonal seats are available for busy periods, and engagements run month-to-month with no setup fee. Pricing depends on volume and scope, and we send a custom quote within 1 business day.
What moves the quote
- Number of active clients and new onboardings per month
- Channels used to chase: email and portal only, or phone as well
- Practice-management tool and how current it is today
- Seasonal volume: organizer season, extensions, year-end requests
Market benchmarks
| Market | Typical range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US | $10 to $25 per hour for offshore accounting support versus $40 to $75 per hour for US-based staff | Madras Accountancy, Acculink (2026) |
| US | $8 to $35 per hour all-inclusive for offshore staffing depending on role | Rose Talent (2026) |
| UK | In-house bookkeeper or admin £24.7k to £32.1k plus 15% employer NI | UK salary surveys (2026) |
| Australia | A$40 to A$100 per hour for local bookkeeping and admin support | Australian bookkeeping fee surveys (2026) |
Third-party ranges for orientation, not our prices.
Start a pilot No setup fee. Month-to-month.
Firm back office for your industry
Case study
12-person firm, first season with a dedicated pod
Case studyA 12-person CPA firm's first tax season with a dedicated pod
This CPA firm outsourcing case study covers a first tax season with a dedicated pod. A 12-person CPA firm in the western US had grown its business-client list faster than its preparer bench. Each season the partners hired temporary staff, trained them in February and lost them in May. For the following season the firm engaged LedgerBPO for tax preparation support and a dedicated pod: named preparers, a backup and a team lead, working inside the firm's own tax and practice-management software. The pod handled bookkeeping clean-up and first-draft preparation, and the firm's reviewers and signing partners kept every review and every signature. It was the firm's first season with an offshore pod, so the engagement was built around IRS §7216 consent, a written workflow and a weekly status report the partners could rely on.
- Firm headcount1212, plus a dedicated LedgerBPO pod
Security and compliance
- Least-privilege access in your practice-management tool, MFA everywhere, access logged
- NDA per firm, background-checked staff, managed devices, no local downloads or paper
- Client documents stay in your portal; nothing is stored on our systems
Full control list on the security page and country rules on the compliance page. Certifications are listed only when held.
Frequently asked questions
How much does accounting firm back office support cost?
Pricing depends on volume and scope, and we send a custom quote within 1 business day. As a market reference, offshore accounting support for CPA firms typically runs $10 to $25 per hour versus $40 to $75 for US-based staff (Madras Accountancy, Acculink, 2026). Admin seats are quoted per month, full-time or part-time.
Will clients know they are talking to an outsourced desk?
Messages go out from a firm-branded email or your portal, in your templates and tone. Our administrators never identify themselves as LedgerBPO to your clients. Many firms disclose an offshore admin team in their engagement letter as good practice, and we can supply wording for that.
Does the back office see tax-return information?
Document chasing and onboarding admin can involve tax documents, so for US clients we treat it the same way as tax preparation support: your firm collects IRS section 7216 written consent before any return information is shared with our team. Engagement letters, contact records and scheduling do not need consent.
How is client confidentiality handled?
Documents stay in your portal or practice-management system; nothing is downloaded to our devices or stored on our side. Access is least-privilege with MFA and a log per user. Staff are background-checked and sign an NDA for your firm, and you can remove access from your end at any time.
Can the desk make phone calls to clients?
Yes, where you want it. Calls are made under your firm's name from your script, during the client's business hours, and logged in the practice-management tool. Outbound-calling rules follow each country: TCPA-aware in the US, PECR and Ofcom in the UK, ACMA in Australia and CRTC in Canada.
What time zone does the desk work?
Our team covers US Eastern and Pacific hours, UK hours and Australian Eastern hours, so document requests and portal replies go out during your clients' day. Seasonal admin seats for organizer season and extensions are available through our tax season staffing service.
Which practice-management tools do you support?
Karbon, TaxDome and Canopy are the tools we work in most, with Ignition for proposals and renewals. We also keep client ledgers in QuickBooks Online or Xero current with the right accountant users, and file incoming documents to Dext or Hubdoc where the firm uses them.
How does this reduce my team's review burden?
Accountants stop reviewing inboxes. Documents arrive named and filed to your structure, tasks in Karbon or TaxDome show a true status, and the weekly outstanding-documents report tells partners which clients are holding up the work. Your accountants review files that are complete instead of half-empty.
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