Full disclosure: Corient Business Solutions wrote this guide, and we are one of the ten providers on it. We held ourselves to the same checks as everyone else, and we’ve said where we’re not the right fit.
If the books are eating your week, you have three options: hire someone, stretch the person you already have, or hand the work to an outside team. This guide is about the third. We compared ten providers so you can work out which kind of team suits your business, and what to ask before you sign.
The short version: expect to pay roughly $15 to $45 an hour, or $2,500 to $6,500 a month for one dedicated full-time person (our estimate, and it varies a lot by scope). Whoever you choose, ask to see their SOC 2 report, and ask who exactly will be working on your books.
Why so many businesses are handing this off
Hiring in-house has got harder. Indeed puts the average US accountant salary at $68,614 a year, and that’s before benefits, software, and the cost of covering when they’re off sick or leave. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported in 2022 that more than 300,000 US accountants and auditors had left their jobs in two years, a 17% decline (summary from NYSSCPA).
So for many owners, outsourcing is less about saving a few dollars and more about having anyone to do the work. The global finance and accounting outsourcing market was worth $54.79 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $81.25 billion by 2030.
The ten providers at a glance
Prices are indicative and will change with your scope. Security details are what each company publishes. Where we couldn’t find something, we say so, and we’d suggest you ask.
| Provider | A good fit if you… | Typical pricing | Security (as published) | Where the team sits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corient Business Solutions (us) | Want a dedicated team, as a growing business or a CPA firm | Per person or fixed scope | ISO 27001, GDPR, Cyber Essentials, SOC 1 and SOC 2 | US, UK, Far East |
| QX Accounting Services | Run a CPA firm and need more capacity without hiring | $15 to $45 an hour | SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, ISO 9001 | India and Mexico |
| CapActix | Are a smaller firm or business with irregular workloads | Priced per task | ISO 9001, ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, GDPR | India |
| AccountingDepartment.com | Need staff who are based in the US | Premium | ISO and SOC listed; carries E&O and employee dishonesty insurance | United States |
| Whiz Consulting | Are a startup or small business leaving spreadsheets behind | Entry-level | ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR | India |
| Auxis | Have the volume to justify automating your finance work | Project or managed | ISO 27001, SOC 2 (Type II per third-party sources) | Latin America |
| Datamatics Business Solutions | Are a CPA firm that wants work done under your own brand | Pilot first | ISO 27001 (we couldn’t find a SOC 2 report) | India |
| Grant Thornton (US) | Want a well-known audit brand and can pay for it | National firm rates | We couldn’t find one for this service; ask | United States |
| BDO USA | Have entities in more than one country | Premium | We couldn’t find one for this service; ask | Global network |
| Cherry Bekaert | Are PE-backed or a nonprofit and want help alongside your own team | Mid to premium | We couldn’t find one for this service; ask | United States |
The 10 providers, and who each one suits
We’ve listed ourselves first because it’s our guide, but please read all ten.
1. Corient Business Solutions (us)
We’ve spent over 20 years doing accounting for US businesses and CPA firms. That covers bookkeeping and accounting, payables (P2P), receivables (O2C), record to report, financial reporting, audit support, business tax and payroll. You get a dedicated team and a named account manager, not a shared pool. Pricing is per person or fixed scope, agreed before work starts. We deliver from the US, UK and Far East, and we’re headquartered in Dover, Delaware. There’s also a separate arm for UK accountancy practices.
On security, we hold ISO 27001, GDPR and Cyber Essentials, along with SOC 1 and SOC 2.
Worth asking us: who your account manager will be, and which CPA- or EA-supported people will work on your books.
2. QX Accounting Services
QX is one of the longest-established names in the space, and a natural fit for CPA firms that want more capacity without hiring. It runs five delivery centres in India and a newer one in Mexico, so you can get some overlap with US hours. It’s SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and ISO 9001, and a managed team model puts a review layer over the work before it reaches you. Rates are roughly $15 to $45 an hour.
Worth asking: which centre your work would sit in, and how the Mexico team is staffed compared with India.
3. CapActix Business Solutions
CapActix does bookkeeping, tax preparation, payroll and back-office work for US accounting firms and small businesses. It’s often mentioned for responsiveness, and for taking on smaller or irregular workloads that bigger providers turn away. It lists ISO 9001, ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II and GDPR, and delivers from India with task-based pricing.
Worth asking: how task pricing changes as your volume grows.
4. AccountingDepartment.com
If you or your clients want US-based staff in US time zones, this is the domestic option. It offers daily bookkeeping, payroll and controller services, and there’s no handover lag between time zones. You’ll pay more than you would for offshore or blended-shore help. It lists ISO and SOC credentials and carries E&O and employee dishonesty insurance. That’s worth it if your board is uncomfortable with offshore data handling.
Worth asking: the monthly minimum, and how the price compares with an offshore quote.
5. Whiz Consulting
Whiz handles bookkeeping, payroll, and payables and receivables for small businesses and accounting firms in the US, UK and Australia. It suits companies at the early end: those moving off spreadsheets for the first time, rather than complex multi-entity groups. Pricing is entry-level, and it lists ISO 27001, SOC 2 and GDPR, with delivery from India.
Worth asking: whether it can cope if you add entities or complexity later.
6. Auxis
Auxis is less about cheaper headcount and more about fewer manual steps. It pairs bookkeeping, FP&A and back-office work with process automation, mostly from Latin America. It will suit you best if you already have volume and want to shorten your close rather than just cut cost. It lists ISO 27001 and SOC 2, which third-party sources describe as Type II, so confirm that with the company.
Worth asking: what cycle-time improvement it has delivered for a client your size.
7. Datamatics Business Solutions
Datamatics runs an arm built for white-label work, which means the work goes out under your CPA firm’s brand and your clients never see the change. It also offers structured pilots, a sensible way to test a provider before committing. It lists ISO 27001, but we couldn’t find a published SOC 2 report, so ask for one. Delivery is from India.
Worth asking: how the pilot is scoped, and what happens when it ends.
8. Grant Thornton (US)
The largest US firm outside the Big Four offers outsourced accounting alongside its advisory work, with an emphasis on the mid-market. You’re buying the brand and the technical bench behind it. The trade-off is cost: you pay national-firm rates, which is hard to justify for routine transactional work. We couldn’t find a published security attestation for this service.
Worth asking: who does the day-to-day work on your account, and for the attestation report.
9. BDO USA
BDO combines outsourced bookkeeping, payroll and advisory with a global network, which matters if you have entities in several countries and want them treated consistently. It’s a premium option: sensible for cross-border work, but oversized if you have one entity and just need a monthly close. We couldn’t find a published security attestation for this service.
Worth asking: how multi-currency and cross-border reporting works in practice, and for the attestation report.
10. Cherry Bekaert
Cherry Bekaert offers outsourced accounting and co-sourcing, where its people work alongside your existing staff rather than replacing them. That suits a company with one overstretched finance person who isn’t ready to hand over the whole function. It’s strong in private equity portfolio reporting and the nonprofit sector. We couldn’t find a published security attestation for this service.
Worth asking: how the work is split between its team and yours, and for the attestation report.
How we compared them
We looked at the same six things for every provider, ourselves included. Where a company doesn’t publish evidence for one of them, we’ve said so rather than assume it passes.
- US experience: how long it has served US clients, and who it names publicly.
- Range of work: whether it goes beyond bookkeeping into payables, receivables, reporting, tax, payroll or controller work.
- Software: the platforms it uses every day, such as QuickBooks, Xero, Sage Intacct and NetSuite.
- Price clarity: whether it publishes a rate, a range or at least a pricing model.
- Security: SOC 2 and ISO 27001, as published.
- Fit: who it genuinely suits, and who it doesn’t.
We researched this in October 2026. Prices change with scope, so treat them as a starting point for a quote, not a quote.
How to choose: six questions to ask before you sign
A good shortlist helps, but the right choice depends on your business. These are the questions that tend to separate a smooth engagement from an expensive mistake.
- What exactly do I want off my plate? Write it down before any sales call. Is it payroll and bookkeeping, or the whole function including reporting and tax planning? Providers will happily scope upwards if you let them.
- Which software do you use every day? Not the ones on the website, the ones they work in. If you run Sage Intacct and they live in QuickBooks, expect a painful first three months.
- Who have you worked with in my industry? The rules are the same across sectors, but the practice isn’t. Healthcare has patient billing, construction has job costing, retail has inventory. Ask for two references in your industry, and actually call them.
- Can I stay with you as I grow? Switching providers mid-growth costs about three months of context. Check you can move from bookkeeping to controller to CFO-level help with the same team.
- Who will I actually speak to? Get the name of the person running your account and the hours they work. Outsourced shouldn’t mean unreachable. A weekly check-in and a shared portal are a fair minimum.
- Can I see your SOC 2 report? Ask for the report itself, not a logo on a slide. A Type 2 report tests the controls over a period of time, so it tells you more than a Type 1. Ask about ISO 27001, encryption, access controls, penetration testing and backups too. A provider that hesitates has told you what you need to know.
Is outsourcing right for you?
For most growing businesses, it’s a good deal. You swap one fixed salary for a flexible team, and you get people whose whole job is keeping up with IRS rules, FASB updates and US GAAP. Workload also isn’t flat: it spikes at close, at year-end and through tax season, and outsourcing lets you add capacity for eight weeks and release it afterwards. Many businesses see a 40% to 60% saving against a fully loaded in-house hire (our estimate, based on typical offshore and blended-shore pricing). And you get the software and the people who know how to configure it, without buying licences or running an implementation yourself.
It isn’t right for everyone, though. If you have very little bookkeeping, a part-time local bookkeeper may cost less and be simpler. If you need someone physically in your office every day, an offshore team won’t give you that. And if your records are in a mess, expect a clean-up phase before you see the benefits, whichever provider you choose.
Where Corient fits
We’re a good fit if you want the same people on your books every month, a named account manager you can call, and a price you agree before work starts. Our teams are US GAAP-trained and supported by CPAs and EAs, and we work with both CPA firms and US businesses. We’re not the cheapest option, and if you specifically need US-based staff, AccountingDepartment.com is a better match.
If you’d like to see whether the numbers work for you, we’ll walk through your current setup and give you a straight answer, including if outsourcing isn’t the right move yet.
Ready to see what outsourcing could save you?
Book a free consultation with Corient and we’ll walk through your current setup, no obligation.
People Also Ask
What are outsourced accounting services?
It means paying an outside team to run some or all of your finance work remotely: bookkeeping, payroll, reporting, tax compliance and more. You pay a monthly or hourly fee instead of employing someone to do it.
How much do outsourced accounting services cost in the USA?
Most US providers charge $15 to $45 an hour, or $2,500 to $6,500 a month for one dedicated full-time person (estimates). Bookkeeping-only packages start nearer $500 to $1,500 a month. The price moves with transaction volume, turnaround time, and whether you need US-based staff.
What is the difference between outsourced accounting and bookkeeping?
Bookkeeping records and reconciles your transactions. Outsourced accounting includes that, plus the work built on top: financial statements, payables and receivables, payroll, tax preparation, controller-level review and sometimes CFO support. Many providers start with bookkeeping and add the rest as you grow.
Which provider is best for a small business?
Small businesses usually do best with entry-level or task-based pricing and support for cloud software, which is what Whiz Consulting and CapActix offer in this list. If you want US-based staff, look at AccountingDepartment.com. Match the provider to your volume and the software you use.
Should I outsource accounting and tax together?
Often, yes. The same ledger feeds both. When bookkeeping and tax sit with separate teams, you pay twice for the same reconciliation work and lose time at every handover. Keeping them together usually lowers cost and shortens your close.
Is data security guaranteed when outsourcing accounting?
Nothing is guaranteed, but the standard to look for is clear: SOC 2 attestation, ISO 27001, encryption, restricted access and regular penetration testing. A certified provider often runs tighter controls than a small in-house team on a shared office network.
How long does onboarding take?
Two to six weeks for most businesses. The first week is access and documentation, weeks two and three are shadowing your current process, and by week four a good provider should be running the close while you review rather than do.
Can outsourced accounting firms handle international clients?
Yes. Many US providers, Corient included, support clients with operations in the UK, EU and Far East, including cross-border tax and multi-currency reporting.
Conclusion
The right provider depends less on who’s biggest and more on what you need off your plate. If you have entities in several countries, the national firms earn their premium. If you want US-based staff, choose a domestic provider and accept the price. If you just want your books closed properly every month, most of the specialists on this list will do that better than a stretched in-house team.
If you’d like to talk it through against your own numbers, we’re happy to, with no obligation either way.
