Should an accounting firm pay for white label bookkeeping per client or have one dedicated bookkeeper?
Your firm's name on the work, one bookkeeper behind it.
For bookkeeping and CPA firms with enough client files to fill a full-time week, one dedicated bookkeeper costs less than white label pricing per file; a firm with only a few files pays less with per-file pricing. A dedicated, full-time bookkeeper from Neon Link who works behind your firm's name costs $2,995 a month, month to month, or $2,895 a month on the 6-month plan, with no setup fee and no charge per client file. Working remotely from the Philippines or India on your US business hours inside your firm's QuickBooks Online or Xero files and practice tools, they keep each client's books current on its own close checklist, reconcile every account and prepare the monthly reports your firm sends out under its own name.
Rates come from our live rate card. Page updated .
See 3 candidate profiles for your role
Tell us the role. Within 48 hours our team emails you 3 anonymized profiles from people who applied for this kind of work with us: their experience, their region and the software they use.
What your Linker handles
- Carry several of your client files at once, each on its own close checklist, inside your firm's systems with the access and email address you give them
- Keep each client's transactions coded and bank rules current from bank feeds and bills captured in Dext or Hubdoc
- Reconcile every client account to its statement each month, including Stripe and Shopify payouts, and clear uncategorized and suspense items
- Close each client's month from your checklist: accruals, prepaids, depreciation, adjusting entries and balance sheet reconciliations, ready for your review
- Prepare each client's profit and loss, balance sheet, cash position and budget to actual in your firm's format, with a short note on what moved and why
- Clean up the files new clients bring you: reclassify a mis-categorized history, fix opening balances and document every correcting entry
- Write the questions for your clients in plain English for your team to send, or send them from your firm's email if you choose
- Support payroll entries, sales tax schedules and year end 1099 preparation for the clients who need them
We screen for QuickBooks Online or Xero, ideally both, the tools your clients feed them with, such as Bill.com, Gusto, Ramp, Stripe, Dext or Hubdoc, and practice tools such as Karbon where your firm runs them. If a finalist has not used yours, you'll know before they start.
How the work is measured
What your Linker is measured on. The targets are set with you in the first week, from your volumes and your hours, and written into your statement of work.
- Every client file closed on the close calendar your firm sets
- Close packages your reviewer accepts without rework
- Every client account reconciled each month, with open items explained instead of carried forward
- The number of client files per Linker set with you, from the complexity of each set of books
What a team costs
| Team | Month to month | 6-month plan |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Linker | $2,995 | $2,895 |
| 2 Linkers | $5,990 | $5,790 |
| 3 Linkers | $8,985 | $8,685 |
| 4 Linkers | $11,980 | $11,580 |
| 5 Linkers | $14,975 | $14,475 |
| 6 Linkers | $17,970 | $17,370 |
Per month. 40 hours a week per Linker. No setup fee. Prices from our live rate card.
How we vet your Linker
Our recruiting team in the Philippines runs a strict screening and review of every applicant, using a process built by our founder, Dan Betthauser, from twenty years running outsourced operations across the Philippines, Costa Rica and the United States. Every Linker goes through:
- A screen of the application against your role: the work, the software and the experience you need
- A recorded spoken English sample, reviewed by our team
- A practical skills test for your work, scored in our own system
- A live video interview with our recruiting team
- An ID check and a background check: NBI clearance in the Philippines, police clearance in India and Pakistan
- A workspace check before day one: a quiet, private room, wired internet, a backup connection and a plan for power outages
- A signed confidentiality agreement before they see any of your data
- Your own interview with the finalist: nobody starts until you say yes
How it starts
- Step 1Tell us the work: a 15 or 30 minute call with our team, or the sixty second scope on the homepage.
- Step 2Get a written quote at the published rate, held for 30 days.
- Step 3We recruit and screen for your work and your software, and you interview the finalist before they start.
- Step 4Your Linker works your queue on your hours. A Neon Link manager runs the account and answers when you need them.
- Step 5If the fit is wrong in the first 60 days, we swap them at no cost.
A good fit, and not a fit
- Bookkeeping firms whose growth is capped by how many client files their own team can close each month
- CPA firms with a client accounting practice that need monthly close capacity behind their own brand
- Owners paying per file for white label bookkeeping whose file count has grown past what one full-time person costs
- A firm with a handful of client files. A white label service priced per file costs less than a full-time person until your files fill a week
- Tax strategy or advisory conversations with your clients, signing returns, or attest work. Those stay with your firm's own people
- Clients whose engagement letters or consents do not allow their data to be handled outside the US. Sort that out before your Linker sees the file
Open roles behind this page
We recruit for this work now. These are the live postings we hire your Linker from:
See 3 candidate profiles for your role
Tell us the role. Within 48 hours our team emails you 3 anonymized profiles from people who applied for this kind of work with us: their experience, their region and the software they use.
Questions owners ask
How much does it cost to outsource white label bookkeeping?
$2,995 a month for one dedicated, full-time person (40 hours a week), month to month, or $2,895 a month on the 6-month plan. There is no setup fee, and pay, equipment and management are inside that one number. For comparison, a US bookkeeper costs about $5,870 a month fully loaded, using the BLS median wage plus employer costs.
What is white label bookkeeping?
An outside bookkeeper does the work and your firm delivers it under its own name: your clients deal with your firm, and the reports, emails and close packages carry your branding. With a Linker, that bookkeeper is one dedicated person inside your firm's systems, managed by our team, and your firm reviews the work before it goes out.
Is one dedicated bookkeeper cheaper than paying per client file?
Once your files fill a full-time week, yes. White label services commonly quote a flat monthly fee per client file, so the bill grows with every client you add. Divide $2,995 by the per-file fee you pay today: if you have more files than that, one dedicated person costs less per file, and the same person learns each client's books. If you have fewer, per-file pricing is the better deal.
Do our clients need to know?
If you are a CPA firm, they need to be told, though the work still goes out under your name. The AICPA Code expects a member firm to tell its clients, preferably in writing, that it may use an outside service provider before sharing their confidential information (many firms put it in the engagement letter), and to have a written confidentiality agreement with that provider or the client's specific consent. Tax return information sent outside the US also needs the taxpayer's consent under IRS section 7216 rules. If you are not a CPA firm, check your engagement letters. We sign your firm's confidentiality agreement before your Linker sees a client file, and your Linker signs one too.
How is this different from hiring a virtual assistant?
You get one dedicated person who handles your work on your hours, inside your software, and a Neon Link manager runs the account: pay, equipment, replacement if it comes to that, and a phone that gets answered. You never run offshore payroll or manage a freelancer alone. It is not a shared pool, a ticket queue or a 24/7 answering line.
How fast can someone start?
We start recruiting when you say go. You interview the finalist before anyone starts, and the start date is set with you once you pick the person. We would rather take the time to find the right fit than hand you whoever is free.
What if the person is not the right fit?
If the fit is wrong in the first 60 days, we swap them at no cost. After that, if they leave, we recruit the replacement at no charge and manage the handover. Training on your process runs at the normal monthly rate.
Do we have to sign a long contract?
No. Month to month is available on every plan. The 6-month plan trades a longer commitment for a lower monthly rate. A written quote at the published rate is held for 30 days.
Related pages
- Accounting & Bookkeeping: Bank recs, AP/AR, workpapers, payroll prep in QBO and Xero. Staffed before busy season.
- QuickBooks bookkeeper for CPA firms: Reconciliations, AP and AR, payroll entries, month end close and monthly reporting in QuickBooks Online, with schedules your CPA can pick up without rework.
1 US bookkeeper, fully loaded: ~$5,870/mo How we calculate this
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