Outsource Accounting in Australia Without Agency Fees

This guide explains how outsourcing your accounting function actually works, what it costs when you go direct versus through an agency, and how small professional services firms in Australia are cutting those costs by hiring offshore accountants directly.

What Does “Outsource Accounting” Actually Mean?

When most providers talk about outsourcing your accounting, they mean this: you pay them a monthly fee, they supply an accountant or bookkeeper based in the Philippines or India, and they manage that person for you.

You get someone to do the work. The agency takes a cut every month for as long as that person is in the role, often around 30–50% on top of the staff member’s actual salary.

Direct-hire offshore accounting is different. You find, screen and hire the accountant yourself, or use a recruiter to do the search. They work for you exclusively. You pay their salary directly. No agency in the middle, no ongoing margin, no monthly fee quietly eating your savings.

What Tasks Can an Offshore Accountant Handle?

Filipino accounting staff working Australian hours can take on most of the work that currently sits with your local team or lands on you:

Bookkeeping and bank reconciliations in Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks

Accounts payable and receivable processing

BAS and IAS preparation (ready for your registered agent to review and lodge)

Payroll processing and superannuation administration

Month-end close and management reporting

Financial data entry and records maintenance

They work in your systems, on your processes, in your time zone. For accounting, legal and financial planning firms, this is the most common first offshore hire, because the work is procedural, the tools are cloud-based and the training pays off quickly. See our accountant and bookkeeper role pages for typical tasks.

What Does Offshore Accounting Cost in Australia?

This is where many comparison articles go vague. They say “offshore accounting can save you up to 70%” without telling you what you’re comparing.

A clearer comparison, using typical estimates, looks like this:

Local Australian bookkeeper: typically around $90,000 a year plus super, leave entitlements and on-costs. Total cost: typically over $100,000 a year once super (about $10,800 at 12%) is added.

Offshore bookkeeper via agency: staff salary of around $1,400 a month (about $16,800 a year), plus the agency margin (often 30–50% on top). Total cost: often around $21,800–$25,200/year, ongoing.

Direct-hire offshore bookkeeper: staff salary of around $1,400 a month (about $16,800 a year). One-time recruitment cost ($5,000 excl. GST with Tarino). No ongoing margin. Year two and beyond: just the salary.

The agency model looks affordable in year one. Over several years, the margins add up to a large share of what the staff member earns. See what Filipino accounting staff typically earn, or compare options in the cost calculator.

Direct Hire vs Agency: The Real Tradeoff

Agency models aren’t all bad. If you’ve never managed offshore staff before, having someone else handle the HR admin, payroll setup and initial onboarding can save time. The trade is that you pay for that convenience every month.

The question is whether you actually need ongoing management, or whether you just need a solid hire and a clear onboarding process.

Many accounting firms that hire directly find the management isn’t complicated. Their offshore accountant logs in each morning, works through the day’s queue, flags anything unusual and closes out at the end of the day. It is not much different from managing a local team member who works from home.

The friction point is usually the hiring process: knowing where to find good candidates, how to screen for real technical skills and what to ask in a video interview. That’s the gap a direct-hire recruitment service fills, without locking you into an ongoing contract. The most common mistakes happen before you even post a job, so it’s worth reading before you start.

What to Check Before You Hire an Offshore Accountant

Getting the hire right matters more than getting it fast. A few things to confirm before you commit:

Skills and software match. Ask candidates to complete a short practical task in Xero or MYOB. Certificates are useful context; what they can actually do in your system matters more.

Communication style. Accounting work involves asking questions when something looks off. In a video screen, ask how they’d flag a discrepancy they found. You want someone who raises issues clearly, not someone who stays quiet and hopes it resolves itself.

Data handling practices. Your offshore accountant will have access to client financial data. Confirm they understand confidentiality, use business devices for work and have a private working space. Our article on hiring offshore staff compliantly covers the basics, and our security page lists practical steps. Both are general guidance, so check your own obligations with an adviser.

Australian-hours availability. It sounds obvious, but confirm it. You want your accountant online and responsive during your business hours, not only at the end of your day.

How the Hiring Process Works (The Direct Way)

With Tarino, the process runs like this:

Start: Role scoping. We help you define what good looks like for your firm’s workflow, not a generic job description.

Weeks 1–2: Sourcing and screening. We build a pool of 1,000+ candidates per role, then run CV and quality screening (40% remain), video screening (20%), practical skills tasks (10%) and a structured interview with a scorecard (5%). Finalist review leaves 2%.

About week 2: You receive a shortlist of 3–4 finalists.

Then: Final interviews with you. You meet the candidates, ask the questions that matter to your firm and make the call. Then the offer and onboarding prep, with the start date set by the candidate’s notice period.

The difference with a direct-hire model: at the end of this, you’ve hired someone who works for you. Not for an agency. Not on a contract an agency controls. You hold the working relationship and pay the person directly.

Is This Right for Your Firm?

Direct-hire offshore accounting works best for firms that:

Have enough recurring accounting work to fill 30+ hours a week

Use cloud-based accounting software (Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks)

Have someone internally who can do basic onboarding and daily check-ins

Want to build a long-term team member, not rotate through agency-supplied staff

It’s less suited to firms that need accounting help for one or two months a year, or where the work requires constant in-person collaboration.

If you’re an accounting firm, legal practice or financial planning business looking to scale without the cost of another local hire, this is one of the more straightforward ways to do it. Tarino recruits offshore accounting staff for Australian firms for one fee per hire: $5,000 excl. GST ($250 upfront, credited back when you hire, plus $4,750 on hire). No monthly markup. No ongoing retainer. Each placement includes 6-month replacement cover for the same role, under the conditions in your Scope of Work. See pricing, book a 30-minute call, or see what the agency model actually costs you over time before you decide which path makes sense.