Outsourced Accounting Services vs. In-House: The Real Cost

Last March, a SaaS founder in Austin fired her third bookkeeper in eighteen months. The first one miscategorized $47,000 in expenses. The second quit without notice during tax season. The third simply couldn’t keep up with the transaction volume as the company scaled past $3 million in revenue. She’d spent nearly $180,000 on salaries, benefits, software licenses, and cleanup work — and still didn’t have financials she could trust.

Her story isn’t unusual. About one-third of U.S. small businesses now outsource at least part of their accounting functions, according to recent finance and accounting surveys, and that number climbs every year. The question most founders get wrong isn’t whether outsourced accounting services exist. It’s whether keeping books in-house actually costs less.

It usually doesn’t.

What Outsourced Accounting Services Actually Include

The term gets thrown around loosely, so let’s be specific. Outsourced accounting services typically cover the full spectrum of financial operations that a growing business needs but can’t staff internally. This includes bookkeeping and transaction coding, accounts payable and receivable management, bank and credit card reconciliations, payroll coordination, monthly financial statement preparation, and GAAP-compliant reporting.

Some providers stop there. Others extend into controller-level work — supervising the close process, managing the chart of accounts, handling audit prep, and producing the kind of reporting that investors or lenders actually want to see. The difference between a $500-per-month bookkeeping service and a $4,000-per-month outsourced accounting department is usually this layer of oversight and strategic thinking.

What most business owners don’t realize is that outsourced accounting services have evolved significantly over the past five years. The old model involved shipping boxes of receipts to a local CPA who’d reconcile everything quarterly. The modern model looks more like an embedded finance team — one that logs into your systems daily, uses your tech stack, attends your meetings when needed, and delivers financials by the fifth or seventh business day of each month instead of the twentieth.

The True Cost of Building an In-House Accounting Team

Here’s where the math gets uncomfortable for founders who assume hiring is cheaper.

A staff accountant in 2025 costs roughly $60,000 to $80,000 in base salary, depending on your market. Add payroll taxes, health insurance, retirement contributions, and other benefits, and you’re looking at $75,000 to $100,000 fully loaded. But a staff accountant alone can’t close your books to GAAP standards, build a financial model, or talk to your bank. For that, you need a controller — and controllers run $120,000 to $160,000 at small to mid-market companies, or $150,000 to $200,000 fully loaded.

Now add the software. QuickBooks Online runs $30 to $200 per month depending on tier. Bill.com or BILL for AP automation costs another $50 to $100 per user. Payroll platforms like Gusto or Rippling add $40 to $150 per month plus per-employee fees. Expense management tools, forecasting software, reporting dashboards — it compounds quickly. A reasonable software stack for a growing company runs $500 to $1,500 per month, or $6,000 to $18,000 annually.

Then there’s overhead. Desk space, equipment, training, management time. And the hidden cost that never shows up in a budget: turnover. The average tenure for accounting staff at small companies is under three years, and every departure means recruiting costs, ramp time, and institutional knowledge walking out the door.

A realistic in-house finance function for a company doing $5 to $20 million in revenue — one staff accountant plus a controller — costs $250,000 to $350,000 per year when you account for everything. And that’s before you’ve added any strategic leadership.

How Outsourced Accounting Services Are Priced

Pricing models vary, but most providers work on monthly retainers tied to complexity rather than hours. The drivers are usually transaction volume, number of entities, payroll headcount, and reporting requirements.

For very small businesses with simple operations — under $1 million in revenue, one entity, minimal inventory — basic bookkeeping packages typically run $500 to $1,500 per month. These cover transaction coding, reconciliations, and basic financial statements.

Small businesses in the $1 to $5 million range with more complexity — multiple revenue streams, AP/AR management, accrual accounting, monthly close — usually land in the $1,500 to $3,500 per month range for comprehensive outsourced accounting services.

Growing SMBs and lower middle-market companies — $5 to $20 million in revenue, multiple entities or locations, investor reporting requirements — often pay $3,000 to $8,000 per month for a full outsourced accounting department with controller-level oversight.

The comparison, then, looks something like this:

Scenario	In-House Cost (Annual)	Outsourced Cost (Annual)	Potential Savings
Early-stage ($1-3M revenue)	$90,000 – $130,000	$18,000 – $42,000	$48,000 – $112,000
Growth-stage ($3-10M revenue)	$180,000 – $280,000	$36,000 – $72,000	$108,000 – $244,000
Scaling ($10-20M revenue)	$280,000 – $400,000	$60,000 – $120,000	$160,000 – $340,000

These numbers assume equivalent capability. In practice, many outsourced providers deliver better output than a solo in-house hire because they’ve built systems, templates, and quality controls across dozens or hundreds of clients.

When Outsourcing Makes Sense (And When It Doesn’t)

The case for outsourced accounting services is strongest when you need expertise you can’t afford full-time, when your transaction volume fluctuates seasonally, when you’re scaling quickly and don’t want to hire-ahead of revenue, or when you simply don’t want to manage an accounting department.

The case against outsourcing is narrower than most people think. If you have highly specialized inventory or cost accounting needs that require someone physically present in your facility, in-house might make sense. If you’re a large enough company that you need a full-time controller and CFO anyway, adding outsourced bookkeeping underneath them may create unnecessary complexity. If your industry has unusual compliance requirements that demand deep institutional knowledge, building that expertise internally could be worth the investment.

But for most businesses between $1 million and $30 million in revenue? Outsourcing wins on cost, capability, and flexibility.

One counterintuitive insight: companies that think they’re “too complex” for outsourced accounting often have the most to gain. Complexity usually means more transactions, more entities, more reconciliation headaches — exactly the kind of work that overwhelms a small internal team but fits neatly into the systems and processes a good outsourced provider has already built.

What to Look for in an Outsourced Accounting Partner

Not all providers are the same, and the wrong choice can create more problems than it solves. Here’s what actually matters when evaluating outsourced accounting services.

First, industry experience. A provider who’s worked with SaaS companies understands revenue recognition and deferred revenue. A provider who’s worked with franchises understands royalty tracking and multi-location consolidation. A provider who’s only done professional services firms may struggle with inventory or manufacturing cost accounting. Ask for references in your specific industry.

Second, technology fit. You want a partner who works in your existing systems or can migrate you to something better — not one who forces you onto their proprietary platform. QuickBooks Online, Xero, NetSuite, Sage: your provider should be fluent in whichever GL makes sense for your stage and complexity. The best outsourced partners also bring expertise in the adjacent tools — AP automation, expense management, payroll integration — that make the whole system work together.

Third, communication cadence. How often will you hear from them? What does the monthly close process look like? Will you have a dedicated point of contact or get routed through a support queue? The best outsourced accounting services function like a member of your team, not a vendor you email into the void.

Fourth, scalability. Can this partner grow with you from $2 million to $20 million in revenue? Do they offer controller services and fractional CFO support for when you need that layer? Or will you outgrow them in eighteen months and have to switch again?

For authoritative guidance on what to look for in financial service providers, the American Institute of CPAs and Financial Executives International offer resources on vetting accounting and finance partners.

How to Make the Switch Without Disrupting Your Business

Transitioning from in-house accounting to an outsourced model — or from DIY books to professional support — doesn’t have to be painful. The key is sequencing.

Start with a clean handoff. Your new provider needs historical data: bank statements, credit card statements, prior-year financials, loan documents, payroll records. Most good providers have an onboarding checklist. Complete it fully before trying to start live work.

Overlap if possible. If you’re replacing an in-house bookkeeper, keep them on for two to four weeks during the transition. Let them answer questions, explain why things were coded a certain way, and flag any skeletons in the closet.

Establish communication rituals early. Weekly check-ins for the first month or two, then shift to as-needed once the relationship stabilizes. You should know exactly who to email, what response time to expect, and when your monthly financials will land.

Set clear expectations about what “done” looks like. Financial statements by the seventh business day? Specific reports in a specific format? AR aging reviewed weekly? Define it upfront so nobody’s disappointed.

The best transitions happen when both sides treat it like a partnership rather than a vendor relationship. You’re not just buying a service — you’re building the financial infrastructure your company will rely on as it grows.

Is it time to stop doing your own books? The math usually points in one direction. Outsourced accounting services cost less, scale more easily, and deliver better output than most in-house setups below $30 million in revenue. The question isn’t whether you can afford to outsource. It’s whether you can afford not to.