Hire an offshore bookkeeper in the Philippines for your US business
By William Smith, Co-founder and CEO, Offshored. Published . Last updated .
An offshore bookkeeper from Offshored costs US$1,500 to US$2,000 per month, all-inclusive, and works full time in your QuickBooks Online or Xero file during your US business hours.
One dedicated person, recruited and managed by Offshored, who keeps your books current every day instead of every quarter. You choose the candidate, set the hours and own the work; Offshored handles recruitment, onboarding, payroll and HR in Manila.
An offshore bookkeeper does the same job as a bookkeeper sitting in your office in Dallas, Denver or Tampa: they keep the general ledger accurate and up to date so that your CPA, your controller and you always have current numbers to work from.
The difference is the model. Instead of a part-time local bookkeeper or a shared outsourcing pool, you get one full-time person who works only for your business, in your accounting file, in your hours, reporting to you. Most Offshored clients hand over the daily and weekly processing first, then payroll support and month-end close once trust is established.
They work inside your systems with the access you grant. Your data stays in your QuickBooks Online or Xero file and you can change or remove that access at any time.
Task list
Tasks you can hand to an offshore bookkeeper
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.
Daily transaction coding bank feed reconciliation and coding to the correct accounts and classes
Accounts payable entering vendor bills, matching to purchase orders and preparing payment batches in Bill.com or your bank for your approval
Accounts receivable raising invoices, sending statements and following up past due customers
Receipts and expenses processing receipts through Dext or Expensify, employee expense reports and corporate card reconciliations
Payroll support preparing payroll runs and PTO reports in Gusto, ADP or QuickBooks Payroll for your sign-off
Sales tax workpapers reconciling sales tax collected by state and preparing the figures for you or your CPA to file
Month-end close balance sheet reconciliations, accruals, prepaids and intercompany entries
Management reports profit and loss, balance sheet, AR and AP aging and cash flow reports on your schedule
Inventory and job costing stock adjustments and job or project cost tracking where your business uses them
Clean-ups and catch-ups bringing a neglected file up to date or migrating from desktop software to QuickBooks Online or Xero
Systems
Tools an offshore bookkeeper typically uses
QuickBooks OnlineXeroBill.comGusto, ADP and QuickBooks PayrollDext and HubdocExpensify and RampAvalara and TaxJarMicrosoft Excel and Google SheetsStripe, Square, Shopify and PayPal reconciliationsJobber, ServiceTitan and Housecall ProBuildertrend and Procore
US small and medium businesses run on QuickBooks Online first and Xero second, so those two are the systems we recruit for first. If a field service, construction or e-commerce platform feeds your accounts, tell us on the first call and we shortlist candidates who already know it.
Monthly cost
How much an offshore bookkeeper costs per month in USD
A bookkeeper from Offshored costs US$1,500 to US$2,000 per month. 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.
Item
Offshore bookkeeper
Monthly fee
US$1,500 to US$2,000 per month
Monthly fee, Pacific hours
US$1,650 to US$2,200 per month
Where in the band
Lower end for daily processing and reconciliations; upper end for full-function bookkeeping with payroll support, sales tax workpapers and month-end reporting
What is included
Everything: 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 included
Your accounting software subscriptions, CPA review and tax filing, and any hardware you choose to supply beyond what Offshored provides
Night shift differential
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.
Fees
No recruitment, placement or setup fees. One monthly invoice in US dollars from Offshored Pty Ltd, an Australian company
How the USD figure is set
Converted 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 bookkeeper, and what it replaces
A bookkeeper from Offshored costs US$1,500 to US$2,000 per month, all-inclusive, which is US$18,000 to US$24,000 a year. The US median wage for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks is US$50,670 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$72,386 a year. At the midpoint of the band, US$1,750 a month, the saving is 71.0 percent.
Comparison
Figure and source
Offshored fee
US$1,500 to US$2,000 per month, all-inclusive (US$18,000 to US$24,000 a year), converted from the Australian band on the Offshored pricing page.
US median wage
US$50,670 a year, occupation 43-3031 Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks, national estimate, May 2025 (BLS OEWS, released May 15, 2026). 25th percentile US$43,520, mean US$53,560, 75th percentile US$61,470. Employment 1,373,680.
With employer benefits
US$72,386 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.
Saving
71.0 percentat the band midpoint of US$1,750 a month (US$21,000 a year) against the loaded median cost of US$72,386. At US$1,500 the saving is 75.1 percent; at US$2,000 it is 66.8 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, so the real saving is usually larger. The Offshored fee already includes the Philippine night shift differential (10 percent of the team member's regular wage for hours between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am Manila time); fees shown are for Eastern hours, Pacific hours are 10 percent higher before rounding. 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 bookkeeper does in a typical week, on your hours
Your morning: reconcile the bank and card feeds from yesterday and code every transaction in QuickBooks Online or Xero
Your morning: enter vendor bills, match them to purchase orders and prepare the payment batch for your approval
Your midday: raise customer invoices, send statements and follow up past due accounts by email and phone
Your afternoon: process receipts and expense reports and reconcile the corporate cards
Friday: prepare the payroll run and PTO report for your sign-off, then send you the week's cash position
Every week: update AR and AP aging, chase missing receipts and keep the month-end checklist moving: accruals, prepaids and the sales tax workpapers when the period closes
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 bookkeeper for a US business:
Degree a bachelor's degree in accountancy, accounting technology, financial management or a related field; the Philippines produces a large pool of accounting graduates every year
US experience two or more years working on US client files, either for a US business or through a Philippine firm serving US accountants
US bookkeeping knowledge accrual and cash basis books, sales tax by state, 1099 vendor tracking, payroll journals and month-end close
Software certification QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor or Xero Advisor certification where the role calls for it
English strong written and spoken English; the Philippines has one of the largest English-speaking workforces in Asia and business is conducted in English
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 make the final decision, so the person you hire meets your standard, not just ours.
Working hours
US business hours, covered from Manila
Your offshore bookkeeper 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 zone
Manila is ahead by
Your 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.
How the engagement works
Who you contract with, and who employs your team member
You contract with Offshored Pty Ltd, an Australian company (ABN 84 664 866 433), for a dedicated staffing service and receive one monthly invoice. Your team member is employed in the Philippines by Australian Pathways OPC, a registered Philippine company (Company Reg. 2023010082245-00), which runs payroll, statutory contributions, benefits and HR. No US employment relationship arises, and Offshored has no US entity, office or phone number: our offices are in Sydney and Manila, and we work with US clients by video call, email and WhatsApp.
The employment contract includes confidentiality and intellectual property assignment clauses, so the work product belongs to you. Read how offshore staffing works and how Offshored protects client data. Ask your own CPA or attorney how to treat the monthly invoice and any vendor documentation your business requires.
Six questions
What US owners ask before hiring an offshore bookkeeper
How much does an offshore bookkeeper cost in the US?
An offshore bookkeeper costs US$1,500 to US$2,000 a month through Offshored for one full-time person dedicated to your business. The fee is all-inclusive: recruitment, employment by Australian Pathways OPC, salary, 13th month pay, payroll, HMO health insurance after probation, and replacement at Offshored's cost if the person leaves. There is no recruitment fee and no lock-in contract; the statutory night shift differential for hours worked between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am Manila time is already inside the fee. The US median wage for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks is US$50,670 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025), before employer benefit costs.
Can an offshore bookkeeper work in QuickBooks Online and Xero?
Yes. QuickBooks Online and Xero are the two systems we recruit for first, and we tell you on each shortlist which candidates hold ProAdvisor or Xero Advisor certification. Your bookkeeper works in your own file with the user role you grant, so your data never leaves your account and you can remove access at any time.
Will my offshore bookkeeper work US business hours?
Yes. Your bookkeeper 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.
Do I become the employer of an offshore bookkeeper?
No. Your bookkeeper is employed in the Philippines by Australian Pathways OPC, a registered Philippine company, and you contract with Offshored Pty Ltd, an Australian company (ABN 84 664 866 433), for a staffing service. Offshored has no US entity, office or payroll. Ask your CPA how to record the monthly invoice in your books.
Will my offshore bookkeeper have access to my bank accounts?
Only the access you choose to give. Bank feeds in QuickBooks Online and Xero are read-only imports, so a bookkeeper can reconcile transactions without being able to move money. We recommend you keep payment approval in the US: your bookkeeper prepares the batch in Bill.com or your bank and you or your controller approve and release it.
How is my financial data protected?
Your data stays in your own systems; Offshored holds no client data on its own infrastructure. Every team member signs an employment contract with confidentiality and IP assignment clauses that survive the end of employment, company-supplied devices have USB ports and personal cloud drives blocked, and all system logins are removed on the person's last day. Read how Offshored protects client data for the full list.
Ready to talk about hiring an offshore bookkeeper? 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.
Prefer to type? Message us on WhatsApp or send the inquiry form. We reply within one business hour, 8am to 6pm Sydney time (AEST, UTC+10), Monday to Friday; book a call and we phone you at a time that suits your US time zone.