· Reviewed by Nimra Khalid
What does it mean to hire an offshore accountant?
Hiring an offshore accountant means adding a remote, dedicated staff member to your firm through a provider outside your country, instead of recruiting locally. The accountant works only on your clients, in your practice-management and ledger software, and follows your procedures. Your firm keeps client ownership, review responsibility and every signature. The provider handles recruiting, training, devices and backup cover.
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Dedicated accountants: what we do and how it runs
Hiring an offshore accountant means adding a remote, dedicated staff member to your firm through a provider outside your country, instead of recruiting locally. The accountant works only on your clients, in your practice-management and ledger software, and follows your procedures. Your firm keeps client ownership, review responsibility and every signature. The provider handles recruiting, training, devices and backup cover.
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What it is
Hiring an offshore accountant means adding a remote, dedicated staff member to your firm through a provider outside your country, instead of recruiting locally. The accountant works only on your clients, in your practice-management and ledger software, and follows your procedures. Your firm keeps client ownership, review responsibility and every signature. The provider handles recruiting, training, devices and backup cover.
02 / 06 -
What you get
One named accountant per seat, plus a backup and a team lead
03 / 06 -
How it runs
Works in your software and your workflows, under your firm's brand
04 / 06 -
Discovery call
A 30-minute call to map your software, client mix, the tasks you want to move and the hours you need covered. We agree what a good first quarter looks like.
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
Sole practitioners and small partnerships
You have one to ten staff and every hire is a bet. A dedicated seat gives you a full-time bookkeeper or accountant without recruiting, payroll tax or office space.
Practice managers at growing firms
You run 10 to 50 people and staff turnover keeps breaking your workflows. A stable seat with a backup means the work keeps moving when someone is out.
UK and Australian practices
Your local hiring market is tight and salaries keep rising. Our second office covers UK hours and Australian Eastern hours so the seat works your day, not the night shift.
What's included
- Named accountant assigned to your firm, full-time or part-time
- Trained backup who covers leave and absence without a handover gap
- Team lead who reviews output and manages the seat day to day
- Work performed inside Karbon, TaxDome, Canopy, QuickBooks Online or Xero
- Bookkeeping, reconciliations, month-end close and workpaper preparation
- Tax-return workpapers under your firm's review and signature
- Firm-branded email address and portal identity where you want one
- Weekly utilization and review-note report per seat
- Coverage of US Eastern and Pacific, UK and Australian Eastern hours
- Documented procedures written to match your firm's checklists
- Recruiting, screening, devices and management handled by us
Deliverables and KPIs
| Deliverable | KPI we report | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Client work completed on your schedule | Every assigned task closed by its due date in your practice-management system | Weekly |
| Utilization report | Hours logged by client and task, reconciled to the seat's contracted hours | Weekly |
| Review-note rate | Review notes per file tracked and trending down after the first quarter | Monthly |
| Reconciled client ledgers | Zero unreconciled bank items older than 30 days across assigned clients | Monthly |
| Seat continuity | Backup steps in the same day when the named accountant is out | As needed |
| Quarterly seat review | Scope, workload and skills reviewed with your partner or practice manager | 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
A 30-minute call to map your software, client mix, the tasks you want to move and the hours you need covered. We agree what a good first quarter looks like.
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Role scoping and access
You share checklists, templates and sample files. We set up least-privilege access in your practice-management and ledger tools, sign an NDA and, where US tax data is involved, the IRS section 7216 consent process.
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Seat assigned and shadow period
A named accountant, backup and team lead are introduced by video call. The first weeks run on a small client set with every file reviewed by your reviewer and ours.
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Steady state with reviews
The seat takes its full client load. Your reviewer sees output through your normal workflow, and we meet monthly to look at utilization, review notes and what to move next.
Software we work in
How much does dedicated accountants cost?
Dedicated seats are priced per accountant per month, full-time or part-time, with the backup and team lead included. There is no setup fee and engagements run month-to-month, with seasonal seats available for busy periods. Pricing depends on volume and scope, and we send a custom quote within 1 business day.
What moves the quote
- Full-time or part-time seat, and how many seats
- Skill level required: bookkeeper, staff accountant or senior with tax workpaper experience
- Hours window to cover: US, UK or Australian business day
- Software stack and how much of your procedure library already exists
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 seniority | Rose Talent (2026) |
| UK | £20 to £55 per hour for outsourced bookkeeping; in-house bookkeeper £24.7k to £32.1k plus 15% employer NI | UK provider pricing surveys (2026) |
| Australia | A$40 to A$100 per hour for local bookkeepers | Australian bookkeeping fee surveys (2026) |
Third-party ranges for orientation, not our prices.
Start a pilot No setup fee. Month-to-month.
Dedicated accountants 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 tools, MFA on every login, access logged per client
- Written information security plan aligned to the FTC Safeguards Rule; UK GDPR DPA available
- Background-checked staff on managed devices, no local downloads, NDA per firm
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 it cost to hire an offshore accountant?
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). Seats are quoted per month for full-time or part-time cover, with the backup and team lead included.
Do I need IRS section 7216 consent before the seat touches tax work?
Yes, for any US tax-return information. Section 7216 requires written taxpayer consent before return information is disclosed to a preparer outside the United States. We provide consent templates and a tracking sheet, and the seat only sees a client's return data after that consent is on file. Bookkeeping and non-tax work does not need it.
How do you protect client confidentiality?
Every accountant signs an NDA specific to your firm and works on a managed device with no local downloads or paper. Access is granted through your own tools at the least privilege needed, every login uses MFA, and access is logged by client. You can revoke access from your side at any time.
Will this add to my review burden instead of reducing it?
The first month does add review time, because your reviewer is teaching the seat your standards. After that, our Two-Tier Review catches most issues before you see the file, and the weekly review-note report shows the trend. Most partners move from line-by-line review to exception review within the first quarter.
What time zones do dedicated accountants work?
Seats are scheduled to your business day. Our team covers US Eastern and Pacific hours, UK hours and Australian Eastern hours, so questions are answered while your staff are at their desks. If you prefer overnight turnaround for batch work, we can schedule that instead.
What happens if my accountant leaves or is sick?
A trained backup who already knows your clients steps in the same day, and the team lead keeps the queue moving. If a seat needs a permanent replacement, we recruit and train the new person on our time, with a handover period where both work your files.
Can the accountant contact my clients directly?
Only if you want that. Many firms give the seat a firm-branded email and let it chase documents under your name through Karbon or TaxDome tasks. Others keep all client contact with their own staff. Either way the accountant never represents LedgerBPO to your clients.
Should I start with full-time or part-time?
Part-time seats suit firms moving a defined block of work such as monthly bookkeeping for 20 to 40 clients. Full-time seats suit firms replacing or adding a staff accountant role. Many firms begin part-time and move to full-time as they hand over more; see our tax season staffing page for seasonal seats.
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