How to Choose an Outsourcing Partner for Your CPA Firm

SF Business Solutions publishes this guide and is one of the five options below, listed first. Every fact about another provider comes from that provider's own website, checked in September 2026 and linked under Sources, and each option carries one honest drawback, ours included.

• Best overall for a small or mid-size CPA firm that wants one partner for books, tax prep and staff: SF Business Solutions, quoted per firm on volume and the roles you need. Drawback: no published rate, no published SOC 2 report and three published reviews so far.
• Madras Accountancy publishes $12 to $20 an hour and dedicated staff from $1,400 a month, and shows SOC 2 and ISO 27001 badges, so a firm that needs a formal security report on file can get one. The rates are ranges, so the number firms up only after scoping.
• The Fino Partners publishes a price card from $1,700 a month for a virtual assistant to $3,500 for a financial controller. It is built around full-time roles, which is more than many small firms need at first.
• Steph's Books has an instant quote tool, so a firm can get a number before a sales call, and says it closes books by the 15th of the following month. It does not publish its own per-client price.
• TOA Global supplies offshore accounting staff to US firms from offices in Manila, Clark, Tarlac and Cebu in the Philippines, for firms building a dedicated team of 20 or more. It publishes no pricing; you book a call to get a number.

The Journal of Accountancy's guidance on outsourcing boils down to four checks. Do them before you compare prices.

• Qualifications: training in US GAAP and US tax forms, and a valid PTIN for anyone preparing returns. Ask for samples of work and references from other CPA firms.
• Data security: protocols at least as strong as your firm's own, and access you can see and remove.
• Confidentiality: a written confidentiality agreement with the provider, or the client's specific consent, before any data is shared; plus Section 7216 consent for offshore tax work.
• Responsibility: your firm stays responsible for the work delivered to clients, so plan your review.

Ask every provider the same questions, in writing, so the answers compare.

• Who will do the work, and will the same people stay on our account?
• How many hours of overlap with our working day will we get, and how fast do you answer questions?
• Which software do you work in today: QuickBooks Online, Xero, and our tax package?
• Where will client data live, and who can see it?
• How do you handle Section 7216 consent and Social Security numbers?
• What does your quality review look like before work reaches us?
• What happens to our data when the engagement ends?
• Can we start with two or three clients?

A good contract makes the arrangement easy to test and easy to leave. Look for a clear scope and turnaround for each service, pricing and how it can change, a notice period you can live with, confidentiality terms, who owns the work product, and how your data is returned or deleted at the end. If a provider will only sign a long minimum term before you have seen their work, treat that as a warning.

Walk away, or at least slow down, if you see any of these.

• No written confidentiality terms, or staff sharing logins.
• Prices that only appear after a long sales process.
• No clear answer on Section 7216 consent for offshore tax work.
• A different person on your work every month.
• Reluctance to start small or to give references from other firms.

Whether or not a provider calls it a free trial, ask to start with a few clients before you commit. Give them one or two months, then measure accuracy, how much of your review time the work took, and how quickly questions came back.

Make sure the partner already works in your stack. SF Business Solutions works in QuickBooks Online and Xero and holds QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor, QuickBooks Online Advanced, Xero Advisor and Xero Payroll certifications. We quote CPA firms per firm, after we have seen the work, and our team includes a licensed CPA.