A dedicated offshore accountant is one person who works on your books full time, as part of your finance function, while employed by an outside firm. It suits businesses that have outgrown part-time bookkeeping but don't want the cost and admin of hiring locally.
Key takeaways
- A dedicated offshore accountant works only on your business, so they learn your vendors, customers and processes in depth.
- Daily work covers bookkeeping, payables, receivables and reconciliations; monthly work covers the close and reporting.
- It makes sense once your workload fills most of a working month, usually at around 160 hours.
- At Oakridge Global, a full-time dedicated accountant is our Gold plan at $1,500 per month for 160 hours.
- You manage priorities directly, while the firm handles hiring, training, equipment and cover.
Thinking about a dedicated accountant? Book a free consultation
What is a dedicated offshore accountant?
It is a full-time accountant assigned only to your business by an offshore accounting firm. Unlike shared bookkeeping, where a team splits its time across several clients, a dedicated accountant works your hours on your tasks. They join your calls, use your systems and become the person who knows your books best.
What they do
Daily:
- Record bills, invoices and expenses.
- Match bank and card transactions.
- Answer questions from your team and vendors.
Weekly:
- Prepare payment runs for your approval.
- Send customer reminders and update the aging report.
- Review open items and flag anything unusual.
Monthly:
- Reconcile every bank, card and loan account.
- Post accruals, prepayments and depreciation.
- Prepare management reports and a summary of the month.
When a dedicated accountant makes sense
A dedicated accountant suits you when the work fills most of a month, when you want one consistent contact, or when your processes are specific enough that training several people would be inefficient. If your workload is smaller, a shared plan with fewer hours is usually better value. Our post on choosing between hourly and monthly plans helps you estimate it.
Ask us whether your workload needs a full-time accountant
Managing a dedicated accountant well
Treat them like a member of your team. Give them a clear task list, a weekly check-in and access to the people who can answer questions. Agree what they can approve and what needs you. Our posts on working with an offshore accountant and offshore vs in-house accountant costs cover the details. See our accounting services for what we cover.
Dedicated or shared: how to decide
Ask yourself four questions:
- Does your monthly workload come close to a full working month? If you are regularly near the top of a smaller plan's hours, a dedicated accountant may cost less per hour of useful work.
- Do you want one person who joins your team meetings and knows the business as well as an employee would?
- Are your processes specific, such as job costing, multiple entities or complex billing, so that training one person well is more efficient than training several?
- Do people across your business, beyond the owner, need to contact the accountant directly during the day?
If you answered yes to two or more, a dedicated accountant is worth considering. If not, a shared plan gives you the same core work for fewer hours.
The first month with a dedicated accountant
Expect the first few weeks to involve learning: your vendors, customers, approval habits and reporting needs. Give your accountant the same introduction you would give a new hire, including a walk-through of how the business makes money and who to ask about what. By the first month-end, they should be running the daily and weekly routine with little supervision.
Frequently asked questions
Is a dedicated offshore accountant an employee of my company?
No. They are employed by the offshore firm and assigned to your business. The firm handles their pay, equipment, training and leave, and you direct the work.
What happens when my dedicated accountant is on leave?
The firm should provide cover, with someone briefed on your books in advance. Ask how this works before you start.
How much does a dedicated offshore accountant cost at Oakridge Global?
Our Gold plan is $1,500 per month for 160 hours with a full-time accountant dedicated to your business.
Can a dedicated accountant work in my time zone?
They can arrange a regular overlap with your working day for calls and questions. Much of the routine work then happens while you are offline, which often means faster turnaround.
Get a dedicated accountant from Oakridge Global
We match each Gold plan client with a full-time accountant and support them with our wider team. Schedule a consultation with Oakridge Global to talk about what you need.