A monthly-close service runs about $99 to $500 a month and leaves the daily money work with you; a dedicated part-time bookkeeper through VirtueStaff is about $1,387 a month and takes the invoicing, collections, bills and payroll prep as well as the close.
Short answer
A monthly-close service costs about $99 to $500 a month and leaves the daily work with you. A dedicated part-time bookkeeper through VirtueStaff costs about $1,387 a month for 20 hours a week and does the invoicing, collections, bills and payroll prep as well as the close. Full-time is about $2,600; in-house, about $5,200.
“Outsourced bookkeeping” covers two very different things. One is a service that closes your books once a month from your bank and card data. The other is a dedicated bookkeeper who works only for your business, every day, in your systems. They’re priced differently because they do different jobs.
We’re VirtueStaff, a remote staffing company in Gilbert, Arizona. We place dedicated offshore accounting professionals, recruited primarily in the Philippines, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Pakistan, Africa and India, with U.S. businesses and CPA firms; they work your U.S. business hours. This guide puts the published prices of both options side by side, with the in-house cost from federal wage data, so you can see which one your business actually needs.
Proof you can check: rated 4.9 out of 5 from 32 Google reviews (read 2 November 2026); five clients have published their results with us by name (client results); a registered Arizona business, entity 23662151, with an office in Gilbert.
In this guide
- What does outsourced bookkeeping cost, by type of service?
- What’s the difference between a bookkeeping service and a dedicated bookkeeper?
- What does each option actually buy for the money?
- Which should you choose?
- When does a dedicated bookkeeper pay for itself?
- Who checks the work?
- Who can you hire for bookkeeping through VirtueStaff?
- Do CPA firms outsource bookkeeping staff?
- How do you keep your financial data safe?
- What else will you need?
- What does VirtueStaff cost for bookkeeping?
- Frequently asked questions
What does outsourced bookkeeping cost, by type of service?
About $99 to $500 a month for a monthly-close service, about $1,387 a month for a dedicated part-time bookkeeper, about $2,600 full-time, and about $5,200 a month in-house.
| Option | Published price | What you get | Who does the daily work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software-led bookkeeping (Pilot Essentials) | $99 a month, up to $100,000 in monthly expenses | AI categorizes transactions, reconciles accounts and closes the books monthly; support through in-app messaging | You |
| Bookkeeping firm (Bookkeeper360) | From $400 a month; cleanup from $1,000; bill pay and invoicing from $150 a month extra | A U.S.-based team closes your books monthly or weekly | You, unless you add bill pay and invoicing |
| Tax and bookkeeping bundle (1-800Accountant) | $469 a month, billed annually | Bookkeeping with a dedicated bookkeeper, plus tax filing, in one plan | You |
| Dedicated outsourced bookkeeper (VirtueStaff) | Part-time: $16 an hour for 20 hours a week, about $1,387 a month. Full-time: $15 an hour, about $2,600 a month. No setup fees; catch-up work is billed as ordinary hours | A bookkeeper or accountant who works only for you, every day, in your software and your time zone | Your hire |
| Other dedicated-staffing companies | Stealth Agents: $1,600 to $3,000 a month for 160 hours, plus an onboarding fee and a three-month commitment; Hire Overseas: $2,000 to $4,000 a month for most roles | A dedicated assistant or professional, matched by the company | Your hire |
| In-house bookkeeper | About $61,900 a year with payroll taxes and benefits, about $5,200 a month | An employee on your payroll, on site | Your hire |
Prices are as each company published them (bookkeeping services read 3 November 2026, dedicated-staffing companies 23 October 2026) and change; check before you buy. The in-house figure is the U.S. median wage for bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks, $24.36 an hour in May 2025, plus Social Security and Medicare, federal unemployment tax, and insurance and retirement at 14.5% of pay, the same method as our virtual assistant cost guide.
What’s the difference between a bookkeeping service and a dedicated bookkeeper?
A service keeps your books accurate. A dedicated bookkeeper also does the work that produces them.
| Monthly bookkeeping service | Dedicated bookkeeper through VirtueStaff | |
|---|---|---|
| Closes the books and reconciles accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Sends invoices and chases unpaid ones | Usually an add-on, or you | Yes, every day |
| Enters and pays bills, tracks vendors | Usually an add-on, or you | Yes |
| Prepares payroll and tracks hours | Separate plan, or you | Yes |
| Answers customer and vendor questions about money | No | Yes, by email and phone, in your time zone |
| Works only for your business | No; even a named bookkeeper serves many clients | Yes |
| Learns your customers, jobs and quirks | As far as the monthly data shows | Every day, month after month |
If your books need only a monthly close and the invoices, bills and payroll are already handled, a service is the cheaper answer, and we’d tell you so. If someone in your business, often the owner, spends hours every week sending invoices, chasing payments, paying bills and preparing payroll, a dedicated bookkeeper takes all of it, and the monthly close comes with it.
What does each option actually buy for the money?
A service sells a monthly close. A dedicated bookkeeper sells about 87 hours a month of a professional doing your money work.
Take a service with the daily-work add-on. Bookkeeper360 lists bookkeeping from $400 a month and bill pay and invoicing from $150 a month more: about $550 a month. You still chase late payments, answer vendor and customer questions, and prepare payroll yourself, and catch-up or cleanup work is a separate project from $1,000.
A part-time VirtueStaff bookkeeper is about $1,387 a month for 20 hours a week, about 87 hours a month, which works out to $16 an hour for a professional who works only for you:
| For about this much a month | What you get |
|---|---|
| $99 to $500 (monthly-close service) | Books reconciled and closed each month from your bank and card data |
| About $550 (service plus bill pay and invoicing) | The close, plus bills paid and invoices sent; collections, payroll prep and questions stay with you |
| About $1,387 (VirtueStaff, part-time) | The close, plus invoicing, collections, bills, payroll prep, vendor and customer follow-ups and catch-up work, about 87 hours a month, by one person who knows your business |
| About $2,600 (VirtueStaff, full-time) | All of that, about 173 hours a month, with room for admin, scheduling and reporting too |
| About $5,200 (in-house) | The same tasks from an employee on your payroll, in your office |
The difference between the service with add-ons and a part-time hire is about $837 a month. For that, the whole back office moves off your desk, not just the close.
And like for like: a U.S. part-time bookkeeper at the national median wage of $24.36 an hour costs about $2,111 a month for the same 87 hours, before payroll taxes or an agency’s margin. Dedicated-staffing companies that publish prices start at $1,600 a month for 160 hours, plus an onboarding fee and a three-month commitment at Stealth Agents.
Which should you choose?
Start from who’s doing the money work today.
- The owner or a manager spends more than a few hours a week on invoices, collections, bills or payroll: a dedicated bookkeeper through VirtueStaff, part-time to start.
- Your books are behind and need catching up: a dedicated bookkeeper; catch-up is ordinary hours, not a separate project fee, and you can add hours at the same rate while the backlog clears.
- You’re a contractor with change orders, subcontractors and preliminary notices: a dedicated bookkeeper who learns your jobs.
- You’re a CPA or accounting firm short of capacity: a dedicated accountant, full-time or part-time, month-to-month.
- The invoicing, bills and payroll are already handled and you only need a monthly close: a monthly-close service is the cheaper answer, and we’d tell you so.
When does a dedicated bookkeeper pay for itself?
When the daily money work is costing you or your best people real hours. Count the hours spent each week on invoicing, collections, bills, payroll prep and the questions that come with them. At $15 an hour, a full-time hire costs about half as much as an in-house bookkeeper, and part-time from 20 hours a week costs about $1,387 a month for someone who does the daily work a monthly service leaves with you.
Here’s what that looks like at our clients:
- Titan Roofing & Construction, a roofer in Mesa and Tucson, placed their first offshore hire in April 2026. The hire handles invoicing, insurance tracking for more than 50 subcontractors and weekly preliminary notices, and the finance lead no longer works nights and weekends. Read the Titan Roofing case study.
- Willmeng Construction, a commercial general contractor in Phoenix, added seven remote hires in accounting, IT and people operations in seven months. Read the Willmeng case study.
Who checks the work?
You do, the same way you check any team member’s, and that’s the advantage. A bookkeeping service works to its own process and hands you the result. A dedicated bookkeeper joins your team: they work in your accounting software, follow your approval rules, use your checklists and report to whoever you choose. You decide what gets reviewed, how often, and who signs off, so quality is built into your existing processes instead of bolted on from outside. The same goes for how your hire talks to customers: collections emails and calls follow your templates and the tone you set, and you approve them before they go out.
You’re not on your own with it. A dedicated success manager supports you and your hire from day one, and we offer coaching and check-ins on their work if you need it. If the fit still isn’t right, the Perfect-Fit Guarantee replaces the hire at no cost, at any time, for any reason.
What does a 20-hour week look like?
An example of how a part-time bookkeeper at a home-services company might spend the week; yours will follow your own priorities:
| Day | Four hours on |
|---|---|
| Monday | Invoices for last week’s completed jobs; enter and schedule this week’s bills |
| Tuesday | Follow up on overdue invoices by email and phone; update the receivables report |
| Wednesday | Reconcile bank and card accounts; match payments to invoices |
| Thursday | Payroll prep from timesheets, ready for your approval |
| Friday | Vendor and customer questions; a weekly cash and receivables summary for you |
Who can you hire for bookkeeping through VirtueStaff?
Accounting professionals, not just data-entry help. Our accounting candidates include CPAs licensed in their home countries (not U.S.-licensed CPAs), chartered accountants, senior auditors, tax specialists and bookkeepers with U.S. GAAP experience. They work in your accounting software and your systems, during the hours that suit your business.
What they handle:
- Accounts payable and receivable, invoicing and collections
- Bookkeeping and general ledger reconciliation
- Month-end close and financial statement prep
- Payroll processing and compliance reporting support
- Audit support and workpapers
- Client and vendor communication, scheduling and follow-ups
- For contractors: invoicing and change orders, work orders and job costing, subcontractor insurance tracking and preliminary notices; our trades candidates are familiar with field-service software such as ServiceTitan, Jobber, Housecall Pro and Service Fusion
Every candidate goes through seven screening steps, from a resume screen and an English and accent screen to a specialized evaluation for accounting and your own interview. Over 5,000 candidates are screened per week, and only the top 1% are presented to clients. You interview 2–4 finalists per round, for as many rounds as you need, and choose. Candidates can be ready to interview in as little as 3 days, and a new hire can start in as few as 5 days from the first call.
Do CPA firms outsource bookkeeping staff?
Yes, and a dedicated accountant is how many add capacity before tax season without adding payroll. A CPA or accounting firm can place a remote accountant on reconciliations, workpapers, month-end close, payroll support and client follow-ups, on month-to-month terms, and keep the reviewing and signing with the firm’s own licensed staff. See our accounting professionals page for the roles we place.
How do you keep your financial data safe?
Put it in writing, and control the access. Every VirtueStaff hire signs a contract with us that includes an NDA and confidentiality clause covering your business. On your side:
- Give your bookkeeper their own logins to your accounting software, bank portals and payroll system, never shared passwords.
- Use the role-based permissions your software already has: let them prepare payments, and keep approval with you.
- Turn on two-factor authentication everywhere.
- Review the bank reconciliation monthly, at least for the first quarter.
These are general practices, not legal or security advice for your setup.
What else will you need?
Whichever route you choose, budget for the rest of the stack. A dedicated bookkeeper works inside your tools, so you still pay for:
- Your accounting software and a payroll provider; your hire runs them, they don’t replace them.
- A CPA or tax preparer for your returns, if your bookkeeping provider doesn’t file them.
- Your own time in the first weeks: show your hire your customers, jobs and approval rules. Our first-30-days onboarding playbook shows how our clients do it, one system and one task at a time.
What you don’t need: a long contract to find out. Terms are month-to-month for most services, and the Perfect-Fit Guarantee replaces a hire at no cost if they aren’t right.
What does VirtueStaff cost for bookkeeping?
$15 an hour full-time, about $2,600 a month, with no setup, onboarding or upfront costs. Part-time is $16 an hour from 20 hours a week. Every plan includes:
- Your own bookkeeper who works only for you, in your time zone.
- Support from day one: a dedicated success manager for you and your hire.
- The Perfect-Fit Guarantee: we replace the hire at no cost, at any time, for any reason, and pause billing while you interview the replacement.
- Month-to-month terms: a single bookkeeping hire is month-to-month.
- Extra hours at the same rate in busy months: as long as the hire agrees, no overtime surcharge.
We’re not the cheapest way to get clean books, and we don’t try to be. We hold a high bar, pay the people we place above industry standards, up to 8x their local salaries, and back every client with real support, because the person doing your books should be someone you can rely on for years. Every rate is on our pricing page.
Do this week
Write down every money task done in your business last week, who did it, and how long it took. If the total is more than a day a week, price a dedicated bookkeeper, not just a monthly close.
Frequently asked questions
A monthly-close service runs about $99 to $500 a month, depending on your volume and the provider, and leaves the daily work with you. A dedicated part-time bookkeeper through VirtueStaff is about $1,387 a month for 20 hours a week, and full-time is about $2,600 a month at $15 an hour, covering the daily work as well as the close.
Usually, by a wide margin. An in-house bookkeeper at the U.S. median wage costs about $61,900 a year with payroll taxes and benefits. A full-time VirtueStaff bookkeeper is $31,200 a year, with no payroll taxes or benefits on your side, and a monthly-close service costs less again but leaves the daily work with you.
A dedicated outsourced bookkeeper handles accounts payable and receivable, invoicing and collections, reconciliations, month-end close and payroll prep, and answers customer and vendor questions, working in your accounting software and your time zone.
Our accounting candidates include CPAs licensed in their home countries, chartered accountants, senior auditors, tax specialists and bookkeepers with U.S. GAAP experience. You interview the finalists and choose the experience level your work needs.
Yes. At VirtueStaff, part-time is $16 an hour with a 20-hour weekly minimum, about $1,387 a month, for a bookkeeper who works only for you. Many businesses start part-time and move to full-time as the work grows, on month-to-month terms.
If the daily money work is landing on you or your team, yes. A service closes the books each month; a dedicated bookkeeper also sends invoices, chases payments, pays bills, prepares payroll and answers vendor questions, working only for your business. If those tasks are already handled, a service is enough.
Our Perfect-Fit Guarantee covers it at any time, for any reason. We pause billing, set up a new interview round, and you choose the replacement. The replacement never costs you anything.
Tell us what your books and back office need, and we’ll bring you the top 1% to choose from. See how our accounting professionals work.
Sources
- Published pricing: Pilot, Bookkeeper360 and 1-800Accountant, read 3 November 2026.
- Dedicated-staffing pricing: Stealth Agents and Hire Overseas, read 23 October 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national median wage for bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks (43-3031); Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026; IRS Topic 751 and Topic 759.
- VirtueStaff on Google: 4.9 out of 5 from 32 reviews, Google Maps, read 2 November 2026.
- VirtueStaff, pricing, accounting professionals and client results.
