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Hire an offshore accountant in the Philippines for your US business or CPA firm

By , Co-founder and CEO, Offshored. Published . Last updated .

An offshore accountant from Offshored costs US$1,700 to US$2,400 per month, all-inclusive, and prepares your month-end close, management reports and tax workpapers to US GAAP during your US business hours.

A qualified accountant, often a Philippine CPA, who works only for your business or your CPA firm. Recruited and managed by Offshored, employed in the Philippines by Australian Pathways OPC, and reporting to you or your supervising accountant every day.

Book a 20-minute callSee the monthly cost
The role

What an offshore accountant does

An offshore accountant sits a level above bookkeeping. Where a bookkeeper records transactions, an accountant turns them into information: monthly management reports, reconciliations that stand up to review, cash flow forecasts, budgets and the workpapers your CPA or tax preparer needs.

US businesses hire an offshore accountant when they have outgrown a bookkeeper but cannot justify a local senior hire. CPA firms hire them to prepare tax returns, financial statements and month-end work under a supervising CPA, which frees local staff for advisory work and client contact.

They work in your firm or business systems with the access you grant, following your review process. The offshore accountant prepares; your CPA or enrolled agent reviews, signs and files.

Task list

Tasks you can hand to an offshore accountant

Start with the first column and add the second as trust builds. Your team member follows your procedures and your approval limits, documented during onboarding.

  • Month-end close journals for accruals, prepaid expenses, depreciation and intercompany, balance sheet reconciliations and a documented close checklist
  • Management reports monthly profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow statements with commentary against budget
  • Tax workpapers trial balance clean-up, book to tax adjustments and the workpapers your CPA needs for federal and state returns
  • Budgets and forecasts annual budgets, rolling cash flow forecasts and scenario models in Excel or your reporting tool
  • Fixed assets and depreciation asset register maintenance and depreciation schedules
  • Compliance work for CPA firms preparation of individual, partnership, S corporation and C corporation returns and financial statements for review by the supervising CPA
  • Sales tax and payroll tax review reviewing the sales tax and payroll tax filings prepared by a bookkeeper or filing service before they go out
  • Supervising bookkeepers reviewing the work of an in-house or offshore bookkeeper and closing the month on time
  • Reporting packs board and lender reporting, KPI dashboards and project or job profitability analysis
  • NetSuite and multi-entity work consolidations, intercompany eliminations and subsidiary close for businesses on NetSuite
Systems

Tools an offshore accountant typically uses

QuickBooks OnlineXeroNetSuiteBill.comMicrosoft Excel (advanced)Google Sheets

QuickBooks Online and Xero remain the core systems for US small and medium businesses and firms, so we recruit for those first. NetSuite is the usual second requirement for multi-entity businesses, and Bill.com for payables approval. Tell us what your team uses, including your tax and practice management software, and we shortlist for it.

Monthly cost

How much an offshore accountant costs per month in USD

An accountant from Offshored costs US$1,700 to US$2,400 per month for a team member working US Eastern hours, or US$1,900 to US$2,650 per month for Pacific hours. That is one flat, all-inclusive fee per full-time team member, invoiced monthly in advance, converted from the Australian band on our pricing page as set out below.

ItemOffshore accountant
Monthly fee, Eastern hoursUS$1,700 to US$2,400 per month
Monthly fee, Pacific hoursUS$1,900 to US$2,650 per month
Where in the bandLower end for a degree-qualified accountant with two to three years of US client work; upper end for a Philippine CPA with five or more years on US files, firm experience and supervisory responsibility
What is includedEverything: recruitment and vetting, employment in the Philippines by Australian Pathways OPC, salary, Philippine income tax and statutory contributions (SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG), 13th month pay, paid leave, HMO health insurance after the six month probation, payroll, timekeeping, HR and performance management, office space and equipment for office based team members, and replacement at our cost if the person leaves
What is not includedYour software subscriptions and practice licenses, your CPA's review and signing, and any hardware you choose to supply beyond what Offshored provides
Night shift differentialUS business hours are covered by a night shift in Manila. Philippine law sets a night shift differential of 10 percent of the regular wage for each hour worked between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am (Labor Code of the Philippines, Article 86), and Offshored includes it in the monthly fee, so the USD price shown is the price you pay.
FeesNo recruitment, placement or setup fees. One monthly invoice from Offshored Pty Ltd, an Australian company
How the USD figure is setConverted from A$1,900 at the Wise mid-market AUD to USD rate of 0.7017 read on October 23, 2026, rounded up to the next US$50. Eastern time fees are shown; Pacific time fees are 10 percent higher before rounding. The rate is fixed between reviews and is reviewed on the first business day of each quarter (next review Monday, January 4, 2027); a change applies only to new quotes, never to a running contract.

A typical week for your offshore accountant, and what it replaces

An accountant from Offshored costs US$1,700 to US$2,400 per month, all-inclusive, which is US$20,400 to US$28,800 a year. The US median wage for accountants and auditors is US$83,680 a year (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025), and employer benefit costs add 30.0 percent of total compensation in private industry (BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026), so the loaded cost of the median US hire is US$119,543 a year. At the midpoint of the band, US$2,050 a month, the saving is 79.4 percent (Pacific hours: US$2,275 a month, 77.2 percent).

ComparisonFigure and source
Offshored feeUS$1,700 to US$2,400 per month for US Eastern hours, all-inclusive (US$20,400 to US$28,800 a year); US$1,900 to US$2,650 per month for Pacific hours (US$22,800 to US$31,800 a year), converted from the Australian band on the Offshored pricing page. The Philippine night shift differential is included in the fee.
US median wageUS$83,680 a year, occupation 13-2011 Accountants and Auditors, national estimate, May 2025 (BLS OEWS, released May 15, 2026). 25th percentile US$67,020, mean US$94,750, 75th percentile US$109,810. Employment 1,449,500.
With employer benefitsUS$119,543 a year. Benefits were 30.0 percent of total compensation for private industry workers in June 2026 (wages and salaries $32.82 and benefits $14.07 of $46.89 per hour worked; BLS ECEC, released September 9, 2026), so the loaded cost is the median wage divided by 0.700.
Saving79.4 percentat the Eastern band midpoint of US$2,050 a month (US$24,600 a year) against the loaded median cost of US$119,543. At US$1,700 the saving is 82.9 percent; at US$2,400 it is 75.9 percent. At the Pacific midpoint of US$2,275 a month the saving is 77.2 percent.

Method: the saving compares the Offshored monthly fee times 12 with the BLS national median annual wage for the occupation divided by the ECEC wage share of total compensation (70.0 percent, private industry, June 2026). It leaves out the US employer's recruitment, office, equipment and management costs on one side and nothing on the other, because the Offshored fee already includes recruitment, equipment for office based staff, HR and the Philippine night shift differential. Figures are national; wages in New York, San Francisco and Boston are higher than the national median and the saving there is larger. BLS figures read October 23, 2026.

What your offshore accountant does in a typical week, on your hours

  1. Monday: review the bank and ledger reconciliations prepared by your bookkeeper or the team and clear the open items
  2. Tuesday: post the month-end journals (accruals, prepaid expenses, depreciation and intercompany) and reconcile the balance sheet accounts
  3. Wednesday: build the management report pack: profit and loss against budget, cash flow and KPIs, with commentary for your review
  4. Thursday: prepare tax workpapers and draft returns, or year-end workpapers for a CPA firm's clients, for your CPA to review
  5. Friday: update the rolling forecast and budget tracking and send a short variance note
  6. Every week: keep the fixed asset register current, check the payroll and sales tax filings and improve one process, such as a reconciliation template or a reporting macro

This is the pattern most clients settle into after the first month. Your team member follows your procedures and approval limits, and you can change the mix at any time.

Who you get

Qualifications and experience

What Offshored looks for when shortlisting an offshore accountant for a US business:

  • Degree a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy, the four-year Philippine degree that leads to the CPA licensure examination
  • CPA license many candidates at this band hold the Philippine CPA license; we tell you on each shortlist which candidates do
  • US client experience three or more years on US month-end, management reporting or tax preparation work, either in-house for a US business or in a Philippine team serving US CPA firms
  • US standards working knowledge of US GAAP, federal and state income tax basics, sales tax and payroll tax as they apply to small and medium businesses
  • Software QuickBooks Online or Xero certification plus advanced Excel; NetSuite, Bill.com and tax software where your role needs them
  • Vetting a pre-screening interview with Offshored's recruitment team in Manila and an NBI clearance (the Philippine police check) before any candidate is presented to you

You interview the shortlisted candidates yourself, and for CPA firms we recommend a short practical test on a sample file before the final decision.

Working hours

US business hours, covered from Manila

Your offshore accountant works a full eight-hour day, Monday to Friday, at the times you set in your US time zone. Manila is UTC+8 all year and does not observe daylight saving, so the gap narrows by one hour while US daylight time runs (March 8 to November 1, 2026; March 14 to November 7, 2027). US business hours are covered by a night shift in Manila. Philippine law sets a night shift differential of 10 percent of the regular wage for each hour worked between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am (Labor Code of the Philippines, Article 86), and Offshored includes it in the monthly fee, so the USD price shown is the price you pay.

Your time zoneManila is ahead byYour 9:00 am to 5:00 pm day in Manila time
Eastern (New York, Miami, Atlanta)13 hours (12 hours in daylight time)10:00 pm to 6:00 am (9:00 pm to 5:00 am in daylight time)
Central (Chicago, Dallas, Houston)14 hours (13 hours in daylight time)11:00 pm to 7:00 am (10:00 pm to 6:00 am in daylight time)
Mountain (Denver, Salt Lake City)15 hours (14 hours in daylight time)12:00 am to 8:00 am (11:00 pm to 7:00 am in daylight time)
Pacific (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle)16 hours (15 hours in daylight time)1:00 am to 9:00 am (12:00 am to 8:00 am in daylight time)

Hours in the table are Manila local time; a 9:00 am Eastern start in winter is 10:00 pm the same calendar day in Manila. Team members work US public holidays unless the day is also a Philippine holiday, and Offshored gives you two business days' notice of any Philippine holiday that affects your team member's schedule. Every shift is logged on our timekeeping platform. Arizona (except the Navajo Nation) and Hawaii do not observe daylight time; ask us for your exact overlap.

Six questions

What US owners ask before hiring an offshore accountant

How much does an offshore accountant cost for a US business?

An offshore accountant through Offshored costs US$1,700 to US$2,400 per month, all-inclusive, which is US$20,400 to US$28,800 a year. The fee covers the accountant's salary, Philippine statutory contributions, 13th month pay, paid leave, HMO health insurance after probation, payroll, HR and replacement at our cost, and the Philippine night shift differential is included, never billed separately. For Pacific hours the fee is US$1,900 to US$2,650 per month. The lower end is for a degree-qualified accountant with two to three years of US client work; the upper end is for a Philippine CPA with five or more years on US files. There is no recruitment or setup fee.

What does an accountant earn in the United States, and how does that compare?

The median annual wage for accountants and auditors in the United States was US$83,680 in May 2025, with a mean of US$94,750, a 25th percentile of US$67,020 and a 75th percentile of US$109,810 (BLS OEWS, May 2025, released May 15, 2026). Benefits added 30.0 percent of total compensation on top of wages for private industry workers (BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026), so total compensation at the median wage is US$119,543 a year. The Offshored tier midpoint of US$2,050 a month is US$24,600 a year, which is 79.4 percent less.

Can an offshore accountant sign my tax return or my financial statements?

No. Your offshore accountant prepares the workpapers, journals, draft returns and draft statements to your firm's standard, and your US CPA or enrolled agent reviews, signs and files them. That is the same review structure most US firms already use with junior staff, and it keeps the professional responsibility where your licenses sit.

Is an offshore accountant suitable for a CPA firm as well as a business?

Yes, both. Businesses hire one as an in-house management accountant reporting to the owner or CFO. CPA and bookkeeping firms hire one or several to prepare returns, financial statements and month-end work under a supervising CPA, which frees the local team for advisory work and client contact. Offshored has clients of both kinds in Australia and recruits for the same structure in the United States.

Will my offshore accountant work US business hours?

Yes. Your accountant works a full eight-hour day, Monday to Friday, at the times you set in your US time zone. Manila is 13 hours ahead of New York in winter and 12 in summer, and 16 and 15 hours ahead of Los Angeles, so your US day is a night shift in Manila. US business hours are covered by a night shift in Manila. Philippine law sets a night shift differential of 10 percent of the regular wage for each hour worked between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am (Labor Code of the Philippines, Article 86), and Offshored includes it in the monthly fee, so the USD price shown is the price you pay.

What is the difference between an offshore bookkeeper and an offshore accountant?

A bookkeeper records and reconciles transactions and keeps the ledger current; an accountant analyzes and reports on them, closes the month, prepares budgets, forecasts and tax workpapers, and reviews the bookkeeper's work. If you need clean books, start with an offshore bookkeeper at US$1,500 to US$2,000 per month. If you need someone to close the month and explain the numbers, hire an offshore accountant.

Related US role pages: bookkeeper and accounts payable or receivable specialist. Australian version of this page: offshore accountant for Australian businesses. See every role Offshored recruits.

Ready to talk about hiring an offshore accountant? Book a free 20-minute call.

Pick a time and William Smith, Offshored's co-founder, calls you at a time that suits your US time zone. We scope the role, give you the monthly cost band in USD and tell you honestly whether offshore staff will work for your business. No lock-in, no obligation.

Book a 20-minute call Call +61 485 065 141

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