· Reviewed by Nimra Khalid
What is full-charge bookkeeping?
Full-charge bookkeeping means one person owns the entire accounting cycle for a small business rather than one slice. That covers posting and reconciling, sending invoices and chasing payment, coding bills and preparing payment runs, recording payroll and closing the month. It is the remote equivalent of a senior in-house bookkeeper who reports to the owner or a CPA.
-
Full-charge bookkeeping: what we do and how it runs
Full-charge bookkeeping means one person owns the entire accounting cycle for a small business rather than one slice. That covers posting and reconciling, sending invoices and chasing payment, coding bills and preparing payment runs, recording payroll and closing the month. It is the remote equivalent of a senior in-house bookkeeper who reports to the owner or a CPA.
01 / 06 -
What it is
Full-charge bookkeeping means one person owns the entire accounting cycle for a small business rather than one slice. That covers posting and reconciling, sending invoices and chasing payment, coding bills and preparing payment runs, recording payroll and closing the month. It is the remote equivalent of a senior in-house bookkeeper who reports to the owner or a CPA.
02 / 06 -
What you get
Books, billing, bills and payroll journals handled by one dedicated accountant
03 / 06 -
How it runs
A full close package delivered every month, reviewed twice
04 / 06 -
Discovery call
A 30-minute call to walk through your cycle end to end: how work becomes an invoice, how bills arrive, who approves payments, and who runs payroll. We list every system involved.
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.
Get a custom quote 06 / 06
Who it is for
Owners replacing a bookkeeper
Your in-house bookkeeper is leaving, retiring or costing more than the role justifies. You want the same coverage from a dedicated remote accountant without recruiting again.
Businesses between $1M and $10M
You have enough invoices, bills and staff that the owner cannot do the books on weekends anymore, but not enough to justify a controller and an AP clerk.
Firms and fractional CFOs
You advise the client on strategy and need someone reliable to run the day-to-day ledger so your review time is spent on judgment, not data entry.
What's included
- Daily or weekly categorization of every bank and card transaction
- Customer invoices raised from your job, time or order records
- Receivables follow-up with statements and reminders under your brand
- Vendor bills captured, coded and matched to purchase orders or receipts
- Weekly payment-run proposal for you to approve and release
- Payroll journals and liability accruals from Gusto, ADP or Paychex
- Sales tax, VAT or GST tracked by period and reconciled to filings
- Bank, card, loan, payroll and clearing-account reconciliations monthly
- Prepaids, accruals, depreciation and deferred revenue entries
- Month-end close package with P&L, balance sheet and cash flow
- Plain-English variance notes on anything that moved more than expected
- Year-end schedules and trial balance for your CPA or accountant
Deliverables and KPIs
| Deliverable | KPI we report | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Invoices issued | Out within 1 business day of the job, order or timesheet | Per invoice |
| Receivables aging and follow-up log | Every invoice over 30 days has a documented next action | Weekly |
| Payment-run proposal | Bills due listed with coding, approval status and early-pay terms | Weekly |
| Reconciliations | Zero unreconciled items older than 30 days across all accounts | Monthly |
| Close package | Statements and notes issued within 5 business days of month-end | Monthly |
| Year-end package | Adjusting entries, schedules and 1099 or T4A data ready for your preparer | Annually |
KPIs are what we measure and report, agreed per engagement. Service-level commitments are set in your agreement.
How it works
-
Discovery call
A 30-minute call to walk through your cycle end to end: how work becomes an invoice, how bills arrive, who approves payments, and who runs payroll. We list every system involved.
-
Access and handover
You grant accountant access to your ledger, invoicing, bill-pay and payroll tools plus read-only bank feeds. If a bookkeeper is leaving, we schedule a two-week overlap to capture what lives only in their head.
-
Dedicated accountant assigned
A named full-charge accountant takes the cycle over, with a trained backup and a team lead. The first month runs on a written procedures document that you review and keep.
-
Monthly close and review
Every month closes on the CloseTrack checklist. The team lead reviews under Two-Tier Review, and you receive the package with a short note on cash, margin and open items.
Software we work in
How much does full-charge bookkeeping cost?
Full-charge bookkeeping is priced per dedicated accountant, scaled to your invoice, bill and transaction volume and the number of entities in the close. Most clients pay a flat monthly fee that replaces a part-time or full-time in-house salary. Pricing depends on volume and scope, so we send a custom quote within 1 business day.
What moves the quote
- Monthly count of customer invoices and vendor bills
- Number of entities, bank accounts and payroll runs to reconcile
- Whether receivables follow-up includes calls or only email and statements
- Reporting depth: statements only, or job, class and department reporting
Market benchmarks
| Market | Typical range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US | In-house bookkeeper $40,000 to $60,000 salary, $6,000 or more per month fully loaded; outsourced plans $150 to $1,600 per month | RadCity, UseCalcPro, indinero (2026) |
| UK | In-house £24,700 to £32,100 plus employer NI at 15%; outsourced fixed fees £100 to £1,500 per month | UK salary and provider pricing surveys (2026) |
| Canada | C$300 to C$2,000 per month outsourced; freelance C$30 to C$90 per hour | Canadian bookkeeping fee surveys (2026) |
| Australia | A$300 to A$1,500 per month fixed; bookkeepers A$40 to A$100 per hour | Australian bookkeeping fee surveys (2026) |
Third-party ranges for orientation, not our prices.
Get a custom quote No setup fee. Month-to-month.
Full-charge bookkeeping for your industry
Case study
25-day close to 5-day close
Case studyFrom a 25-day close to a 5-day close for a marketing agency
A marketing agency on the US West Coast with retainer and project clients was closing its books around the 25th of the following month. By then the numbers were too old to act on. Client profitability was a guess, pass-through media costs were booked when the supplier invoice arrived rather than when the spend ran, and retainer revenue was recognized whenever the invoice went out. The agency engaged LedgerBPO for month-end close, financial reporting and invoicing and billing. A named accountant, a backup and a team lead worked inside the agency's QuickBooks Online, bill-approval tool and time-tracking system. The close moved from 25 days to 5 days, and the founders now review client margins in the first week of the month instead of the last.
- Days to close the month255
Security and compliance
- Payments are prepared by us and released only by you; we never move money
- MFA on every login, role-based access, and a per-client access log
- Background-checked staff on managed devices, NDA per engagement
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 do full charge bookkeeping services cost?
Pricing depends on volume and scope, and we send a custom quote within 1 business day. The comparison most owners make is against an in-house hire: a US bookkeeper costs $40,000 to $60,000 in salary and more than $6,000 a month once benefits, software and overhead are loaded (RadCity, UseCalcPro, 2026). Outsourced bookkeeping plans run $150 to $1,600 per month (indinero, 2026), with full-charge scope at the upper end.
What is the difference between a full-charge bookkeeper and a regular bookkeeper?
A regular bookkeeper records transactions and reconciles accounts. A full-charge bookkeeper also runs invoicing and receivables, codes bills and prepares payment runs, records payroll and closes the month, then hands a finished package to the owner or CPA. Our monthly bookkeeping service covers the first job; this service covers all of it.
Will you pay my vendors?
No. We capture and code the bills, match them to orders or receipts and prepare the payment run in Bill.com, Melio or your bank portal. The client approves and releases every payment; we never move money. That split keeps control with you and keeps our access to read and prepare only.
Do you run payroll too?
We support payroll rather than run it. Your provider, such as Gusto, ADP or Paychex, processes the pay run; we post the journals, accrue liabilities, reconcile the payroll clearing account and tie filings to the ledger. Our payroll support service describes the full scope, including year-end slips data.
Can one person really handle all of this remotely?
For most businesses under 300 invoices and 300 bills a month, yes, because the tools do the capture and the accountant does the judgment. Above that, we add a second accountant to the same team rather than stretching one person. The team lead reviews every close either way.
What happens when my accountant is on leave?
A trained backup who already has access and has worked your file steps in. The procedures document written during onboarding means nothing depends on memory. You are told in advance who is covering and for how long. Planned leave is scheduled around your close dates wherever possible.
How quickly can you take over from a departing bookkeeper?
Access and a first-close plan are in place within 48 to 72 hours of the discovery call. If your bookkeeper is still there, we run a two-week overlap. If they have already gone, we start with a short review of the file and a catch-up plan for anything left unposted.
Will you work with my CPA at year-end?
Yes. We prepare the year-end package: adjusting entries, fixed-asset and loan schedules, accruals, 1099 or T4A data and a clean trial balance. Your CPA or accountant reviews, prepares and signs the return. We answer their questions directly through the Compliance Desk so you are not the go-between.
Ask an AI assistant to summarize this page
Opens the assistant with a prefilled prompt so you can check our claims against the page yourself.