Outsourced Bookkeeping: 8 Questions to Ask Before You Hire an Offshore Provider

Outsourced bookkeeping can cost a fraction of an in-house hire, but providers vary widely in how they check the work and protect your data. These eight questions separate the careful ones from the cheap ones, whether you run a small business or a CPA firm.

The eight questions

• Who reviews the work before I see it? Ask for the reviewer's qualifications and how often they check each client.
• Do you work inside my software, or copy files out? Working inside your own accounting system keeps one version of the books and one access trail.
• How are logins stored and shared? The right answer is a password manager, never chat or email.
• Does everyone sign an NDA, and can data reach personal devices?
• What hours does the team work? A team on US business hours can be reached live during your day.
• What is in scope, and what is not? Many offshore providers do not prepare tax returns. Know who does.
• What does it cost, and what changes the price? Hourly rates, transaction volume and catch-up work all move it.
• Is there a contract or setup fee? Month to month with no setup fee lets you test before you commit.

What it typically costs

Offshore bookkeeping runs about $10 to $25 an hour, while US firms charge roughly $200 to $5,000 a month depending on volume and who does the work. See the sourced price comparison.

How Opteamus answers them

Our accounting team is led by a Director of Accounting and Finance with chartered accountant (CA) level expertise who oversees QA review. We work inside your own software, logins sit in a password manager, every team member signs an NDA and managers monitor the browsers the team works in. The team works US business hours from Dhaka. We do not prepare tax returns. Pricing starts at $15 an hour with no setup fee. See our outsourced bookkeeping services or, for firms, white-label accounting.

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