What does an offshore bookkeeper cost a CPA firm compared with a US hire?
More hands on client books, without another US hire.
A dedicated, full-time offshore bookkeeper from Neon Link costs a CPA firm $2,995 a month, month to month, or $2,895 a month on the 6-month plan, with no setup fee, against about $5,870 a month for a US bookkeeper fully loaded at the BLS median wage. Working remotely from the Philippines or India on your US business hours, they keep your clients' books in QuickBooks Online or Xero, reconcile every account and run each close from your checklist, in a package built for your reviewers to sign off without rework. Your CPAs keep the review, the returns, the signatures and the advice.
Rates come from our live rate card. Page updated .
See 3 candidate profiles for your role
Tell us the role. Within 48 hours our team emails you 3 anonymized profiles from people who applied for this kind of work with us: their experience, their region and the software they use.
What your Linker handles
- Work across your client files at once, each on its own close checklist, with the access your firm gives them
- Record and categorize client transactions from bank feeds and bills captured in Dext or Hubdoc, and keep bank rules and each chart of accounts consistent month to month
- Reconcile bank, credit card, loan, payroll and merchant accounts, including Stripe and Shopify payouts, to their statements, and clear uncategorized and suspense items
- Prepare month end close from your checklist: accruals, prepaids, depreciation, adjusting journal entries and balance sheet reconciliations, in a package your reviewer can sign off without rework
- Book payroll from the register in Gusto, ADP or similar, and reconcile the payroll liability accounts
- Pull together the year end workpapers your tax preparers ask for, support 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC preparation and keep W-9s current
- Prepare sales tax schedules and support the filings your firm handles for clients
- Ask your staff or your clients in writing for what is missing instead of guessing, and flag a duplicate payment, an unfamiliar vendor or a change of bank details before anyone else finds it
- Write a short note with each close on what moved and why, in plain English a client can read
We screen for QuickBooks Online or Xero, ideally both, plus the tools that feed them, such as Bill.com, Gusto, Ramp, Stripe, Dext or Hubdoc, and practice tools such as Karbon where your firm runs them. If a finalist has not used yours, you'll know before they start.
How the work is measured
What your Linker is measured on. The targets are set with you in the first week, from your volumes and your hours, and written into your statement of work.
- Client books closed and packages delivered on the close calendar your firm sets
- Close packages and adjusting entries your reviewers accept without rework
- Every client account reconciled to its statement each month, with open items explained instead of carried forward
- The number of client files per Linker set with you, from the complexity of each set of books
What a team costs
| Team | Month to month | 6-month plan |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Linker | $2,995 | $2,895 |
| 2 Linkers | $5,990 | $5,790 |
| 3 Linkers | $8,985 | $8,685 |
| 4 Linkers | $11,980 | $11,580 |
| 5 Linkers | $14,975 | $14,475 |
| 6 Linkers | $17,970 | $17,370 |
Per month. 40 hours a week per Linker. No setup fee. Prices from our live rate card.
How we vet your Linker
Our recruiting team in the Philippines runs a strict screening and review of every applicant, using a process built by our founder, Dan Betthauser, from twenty years running outsourced operations across the Philippines, Costa Rica and the United States. Every Linker goes through:
- A screen of the application against your role: the work, the software and the experience you need
- A recorded spoken English sample, reviewed by our team
- A practical skills test for your work, scored in our own system
- A live video interview with our recruiting team
- An ID check and a background check: NBI clearance in the Philippines, police clearance in India and Pakistan
- A workspace check before day one: a quiet, private room, wired internet, a backup connection and a plan for power outages
- A signed confidentiality agreement before they see any of your data
- Your own interview with the finalist: nobody starts until you say yes
How it starts
- Step 1Tell us the work: a 15 or 30 minute call with our team, or the sixty second scope on the homepage.
- Step 2Get a written quote at the published rate, held for 30 days.
- Step 3We recruit and screen for your work and your software, and you interview the finalist before they start.
- Step 4Your Linker works your queue on your hours. A Neon Link manager runs the account and answers when you need them.
- Step 5If the fit is wrong in the first 60 days, we swap them at no cost.
A good fit, and not a fit
- CPA firms turning away monthly bookkeeping and close work because they cannot hire experienced staff in the US
- Firms whose staff accountants spend busy season on bookkeeping cleanup instead of returns and review
- Partners who want the same person on the same client files every month, someone who learns each client's vendors and quirks
- Signing returns, giving tax advice, or audit, review and other attest work. Those need your licensed CPAs
- Client files your engagement letters or your clients' consents do not allow to be handled outside the US. Sort out consent before your Linker sees them
- A few weeks of overflow a year. A full-time person on a monthly rate pays off on year-round work; for a short spike, a local temp or seasonal hire may cost less
Open roles behind this page
We recruit for this work now. These are the live postings we hire your Linker from:
See 3 candidate profiles for your role
Tell us the role. Within 48 hours our team emails you 3 anonymized profiles from people who applied for this kind of work with us: their experience, their region and the software they use.
Questions owners ask
How much does it cost to outsource bookkeeping for a CPA firm?
$2,995 a month for one dedicated, full-time person (40 hours a week), month to month, or $2,895 a month on the 6-month plan. There is no setup fee, and pay, equipment and management are inside that one number. For comparison, a US bookkeeper costs about $5,870 a month fully loaded, using the BLS median wage plus employer costs.
Do we need client consent to use an offshore bookkeeper?
Sometimes, and it depends on what they see. The AICPA Code expects a member firm to tell its clients, preferably in writing, that it may use an outside service provider before sharing their confidential information (many firms do it in the engagement letter), and to have a written confidentiality agreement with that provider or the client's specific consent. Separately, IRS rules under section 7216 require the taxpayer's consent, in specific wording, before tax return information is disclosed to a preparer located outside the US. We sign your firm's confidentiality agreement before your Linker sees a client file, and your Linker signs one too, but which clients need a notice or a consent form is your call to make with your own counsel.
What can a CPA firm hand to an offshore bookkeeper?
The work that fills your staff's week before review: transaction coding, reconciliations, close entries and schedules, payroll entries, sales tax schedules, 1099 preparation and the year end workpapers your tax preparers ask for. What stays with your licensed people is the review, the return, the signature, attest work and the advice your clients pay you for.
Why are CPA firms adding offshore help now?
Because experienced people are hard to hire. In the AICPA's 2026 CPA Firm Top Issues Survey of 629 participants, firms with 11 to 30 professionals ranked hiring experienced staff as their number one issue, and every firm-size group above 10 professionals ranked managing staff workload in its top four. A dedicated Linker adds a full-time pair of hands on client books without a US hire.
How is this different from hiring a virtual assistant?
You get one dedicated person who handles your work on your hours, inside your software, and a Neon Link manager runs the account: pay, equipment, replacement if it comes to that, and a phone that gets answered. You never run offshore payroll or manage a freelancer alone. It is not a shared pool, a ticket queue or a 24/7 answering line.
How fast can someone start?
We start recruiting when you say go. You interview the finalist before anyone starts, and the start date is set with you once you pick the person. We would rather take the time to find the right fit than hand you whoever is free.
What if the person is not the right fit?
If the fit is wrong in the first 60 days, we swap them at no cost. After that, if they leave, we recruit the replacement at no charge and manage the handover. Training on your process runs at the normal monthly rate.
Do we have to sign a long contract?
No. Month to month is available on every plan. The 6-month plan trades a longer commitment for a lower monthly rate. A written quote at the published rate is held for 30 days.
Sources: AICPA 2026 PCPS CPA Firm Top Issues Survey, via Journal of Accountancy (checked Oct 27, 2026).
Related pages
- Accounting & Bookkeeping: Bank recs, AP/AR, workpapers, payroll prep in QBO and Xero. Staffed before busy season.
- QuickBooks bookkeeper for CPA firms: Reconciliations, AP and AR, payroll entries, month end close and monthly reporting in QuickBooks Online, with schedules your CPA can pick up without rework.
1 US bookkeeper, fully loaded: ~$5,870/mo How we calculate this
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