The 8 Best Virtual and Outsourced Accounting Services for Small Businesses in 2023

The bottom line: Merritt Bookkeeping's incredibly affordable bookkeeping and thorough reporting services set it apart as one of the best virtual bookkeeping solutions for small businesses.

But there’s more than one virtual accounting company in the world, and solutions range from on-demand CFO services to simple pay-by-the-hour book balancing. Below, we review the best virtual and outsourced accounting services for small-business owners like you.

Merritt Bookkeeping automates some of the most time-consuming bookkeeping tasks — for instance, reconciling accounts, balancing books, and updating financial reports — so you can focus on running your business. It also starts at $190 a month, which is less than nearly every other provider on our list. 

But Merritt Bookkeeping's most stand-out feature might be its in-depth financial reports. Most other virtual bookkeeping services give you basic financial reports only, like income statements and balance sheets. In contrast, Merritt gives you more detailed reports like forecasting and quarterly comparisons.

Typically, you'd only get detailed financial statements like this through a CFO — which means Merritt gives you some of the best aspects of having a CFO without the high cost.

Unlike most other outsourced bookkeepers on our list, Merritt Bookkeeping doesn't offer any in-house add-ons for payroll and tax services. If you were hoping for a one-stop shop that can tackle all of your financial needs, Merritt might not be the right choice for you.

However, Merritt can still recommend a solid payroll provider or tax consultant who meets your needs. Plus, as Merritt's financial reporting package shows, focusing solely on bookkeeping instead of juggling bookkeeping, payroll, and taxes means the Merritt team can focus on giving you the most comprehensive bookkeeping service possible.   

For ease of use, versatility, and scalability, Bookkeeper.com is hard to beat.

Bookkeeper.com’s cheapest virtual bookkeeping service starts with bookkeeping basics, like preparing key financial statements. From there, you can add comprehensive accounting, payroll, and tax services as needed. Bookkeeper.com manages your accounts using QuickBooks Online (or QuickBooks Desktop, if you prefer). Plus, not every online bookkeeping service works with both accrual-basis and cash-basis accounting—but Bookkeeper.com does.

Bookkeeper.com’s cheapest plan, Small Business, starts at $399 per month. It includes key financial documents, bank reconciliation, and limited online support. Bookkeeper.com’s most popular plan, Small Business Plus, costs $599 a month. While it’s a big step up cost-wise, it’s also a big step up feature-wise: you get longer onboarding, unlimited online support, bill pay, and CFO and advisory services.

Looking for a scalable outsourced bookkeeping service with flexible payment options? Every inDinero plan includes a dedicated account manager, direct employee reimbursements, some inventory management, and payroll assistance. It also syncs with either QuickBooks Online or Netsuite (as opposed to syncing just with QuickBooks, like most virtual bookkeepers). And you can choose to pay monthly, quarterly, or annually.

Prices start at $500 a month for the Essential plan, which is geared towards startups that use cash-basis accounting. If you use accrual-basis accounting, you’ll need the Growth plan, which starts at $990 a month. And the Executive plan, which is built for larger companies that need CFO services, has custom pricing. You’ll need to get in touch with an inDinero rep for a price estimate.

When you sign up for Bench’s virtual accounting services, a dedicated bookkeeper talks you through Bench’s in-house software, analyzes your books, and starts sending you monthly financial reports. Your dedicated virtual Bench bookkeeper can connect directly with your current professional accountant. Bench will also prepare your tax paperwork for you. Unlike most of the other providers on our list, Bench doesn’t sync with QuickBooks: your bookkeeper will use Bench’s proprietary in-house software instead.

Bench offers two main plans. The Essential plan ($249 a month if billed annually or $299 billed monthly) focuses on bookkeeping only, giving you access to a dedicated team that performs monthly bookkeeping services. The Premium plan ($399 a month if billed annually or $499 billed monthly) adds tax advising services, end-of-year tax filing, and financial strategy planning.

Only need an hour of bookkeeping assistance every now and then? You might benefit from Bookkeeper360's hourly bookkeeping service.

With Bookkeeper360, you’ll get a dedicated virtual accountant who sends detailed reports on a monthly basis. You can also add on a variety of HR and payroll services.

For instance, Bookkeeper360 syncs with ADP and Gusto—two of our favorite payroll service providers—to make direct deposits, help with time tracking and PTO, file payroll taxes for you, and find medical benefits and workers compensation insurance for your small business. And on the accounting software front, Bookkeeper360 syncs with both Xero and QuickBooks Online.

Bookkeeper360 offers a pay-as-you-go plan that costs $125 per hour of on-demand bookkeeping support. It's an ideal plan for businesses that need minimal monthly support, though if you want more than two hours of help a month, you'll save more money simply going with a service like inDinero or Bench.co.

Otherwise, Bookkeeper360 offers two cash accounting plans that differ based on how often you need its services: a monthly plan, which starts at $349 per month if you pay annually, and a weekly plan, which starts at $499 per month (not per week). 

Want to kick off your small-business accounting with a solid accounting software service? Enter some basic information about your current accounting needs and we'll send you up to five customized quotes.

The virtual bookkeeping providers above might be our favorite—but if they don’t quite fit your needs, we understand completely. Here are three other online accounting service providers worth looking at.

Pilot’s plans are based on how much you pay in expenses each month. If you’ve just gotten off the ground and aren’t spending (or making) too much money yet, Pilot’s dedicated accountants can help you figure out how to get—and stay—on track. Unfortunately, you’ll pay a lot for the help: plans start at $499 per month for businesses with $15,000 worth of monthly expenses. And Pilot doesn’t have a month-to-month payment option. Instead, you’ll have to prepay for each plan annually.

Ignite Spot Accounting delivers heftier reports than many other cloud accounting providers we checked out for this piece. Along with typical financial reporting (like profit and loss reports and balance sheets), you’ll get a KPI (key performance indicator) report and profitability analysis, among others. However, Ignite Spot doesn't list its virtual accounting prices upfront. You have to enter more information about your needs to get a quote—which is useful if you want truly customized services but unhelpful if you'd rather choose a basic plan out of a lineup. 

Along with offering the typical outsourced bookkeeping services, AccountingDepartment.com provides outsourced controller services. With this service, their CPAs manage bookkeeping while also budgeting, forecasting, doing job costing, managing cash flow, tracking inventory, and performing other financial management tasks on your behalf. Contact the company directly for a quote.

The right virtual or outsourced bookkeeping solution can save you hours of bookkeeping time a month. And since they’re generally cheaper than hiring an in-house accounting team, virtual bookkeepers can save you money, too—but only if you find the right one for your unique needs. Before you sign up for a bookkeeping service, you’ll want to ask yourself questions like these:

• Does the virtual bookkeeping service sync with my preferred accounting software, like QuickBooks or Xero? Or am I okay adjusting to new accounting software?
• How much money can I afford to spend on bookkeeping each month?
• Does my business use cash or accrual accounting?
• Am I looking just for bookkeeping services like financial reporting? Or do I want additional services, like tax filing services, payroll runs, and HR advice?

Want to learn more about bookkeeping before you sign up for a virtual provider? Our article on business bookkeeping basics gives you more information on how to do bookkeeping and why.

Virtual and outsourced bookkeeping and accounting services are a happy medium between do-it-yourself software and pricey in-house bookkeeping. If that description fits what you’re looking for, one of the nine best virtual bookkeeping providers can save you time, money, and stress.

Bookkeeper.com is an all-around solid pick for small to midsize businesses that might want additional payroll and tax help down the road. But Merritt Bookkeeping is a cheaper option, inDinero has even more add-ons, Bench’s bookkeepers work seamlessly with your own CPA, and Bookkeeper360 integrates with some of our favorite HR and payroll providers.

In other words, no matter what type of virtual bookkeeping solution you’re looking for, there’s a perfect match out there for you. And one final tip for the road: before you sign up for a virtual outsourced accountant, don’t forget to ask your customer service representative about free trials and money-back guarantees. You deserve the best of the best.

Would you rather tackle accounting yourself instead of outsourcing it to a third party? Check out our list of the year’s best accounting software for small businesses to get started.

Disclaimer

At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.

Outsourced, virtual bookkeeping can cost as little as $150 per month and as much as $900 (or more) per month. Some companies charge by the number of accounts you need them to manage, while other companies charge based on your company’s monthly expenses. Typically, the lower your expenses (and the fewer your accounting needs), the less you’ll be charged.

Yes, virtual and outsourced bookkeeping is just as legitimate as in-house bookkeeping and accounting. However, as with any in-person accounting professionals you’d trust with your financial data, you should always verify a bookkeeping firm’s credentials before committing to a monthly plan.

To rate the best virtual and outsourced accounting services, we assessed the top providers in the following key categories: 

• Number and type of bookkeeping features and add-ons, such as tax assistance
• Pricing and plan information, including number of features included at each price point
• Integration with and use of third-party software like QuickBooks Online, Xero, or FreshBooks
• Customer service, including options for dedicated bookkeeping teams, modes of customer service access, and general customer service reputation

We weighted each category equally to calculate our star ratings, and we also considered our accounting expert's opinion and advice when ranking our top brands. Star ratings are subject to frequent review and may change.