Financial Forecasting Services for CPA Firms

Accountably is a staffing and recruiting agency that helps US CPA, EA, and accounting firms hire talent from India across tax, accounting, payroll, and finance. Accountably offers offshore staffing services, placing full-time offshore employees from India who work inside your firm's workflow, on your software and SOPs.

Accountably places forecasting and budgeting professionals in India across the planning year, from the annual budget build to the monthly forecast refresh, the reforecast when the year changes shape, and the budget-to-actual pack your partner reviews.

If a forecasting or budgeting role can be performed remotely, Accountably can fill it with A-players from India.

Here are some examples of the roles we can fill:

• Budget builds, refreshes, and variance packs: financial analysts, with senior analysts for the annual model and the scenario structure
• Review of every refresh and the planning calendar: finance managers
• Budgets and forecasts inside your fractional CFO engagements: virtual CFO support staff
• The close the budget is measured against: controllers

Accountably's staffing model is fully managed: we handle the employment contract, payroll, tax compliance, benefits administration, and salary disbursement for every hire, so you get the talent without the administrative overhead.

This matters most for firms that don't have an established entity or employer of record (EOR) infrastructure in India.

You direct the day-to-day work; Accountably handles everything on the back-end.

Our staffing model also includes onboarding support, equipment coordination if needed, and ongoing HR support for as long as the engagement runs.

Dedicated hires and build-operate-transfer teams go through the same vetting and shortlisting process; a white-label team is staffed and run by its assigned manager.

The core difference between dedicated offshore talent and a white-label delivery team is who directs the work. With dedicated offshore talent, your analyst works inside your workflow and you direct the work like any member of your team; with a white-label delivery team, Accountably's manager runs the team, with its own reviewers, and you review the finished work.

Recruiting differs between the models. Dedicated hires go through the same recruiting process as build-operate-transfer teams, while a white-label team is staffed and run by its assigned manager.

Dedicated offshore talent is the right fit if your clients' forecasts are refreshed all year and you want full-time staff inside your workflow.

A white-label delivery team makes more sense if your volume peaks while client budgets are being built and you'd rather review finished work. Firms serious about long-term offshore control can also choose build-operate-transfer.

If you're not sure which fits your situation, mention it on the discovery call, and the team will walk you through all three options.

Accountably quotes every forecasting seat before you commit. Financial analyst seats start from about $11 an hour, which comes to roughly $1,800 to $2,500 a month for a full-time seat, and one analyst seat can carry the refresh cycle for a portfolio of clients. Senior seats, such as a senior financial analyst for the annual model build or a finance manager who reviews every refresh, are quoted on request.

The rate can vary by role and seniority, so you will get the specific figures on your discovery call, where we will walk you through the total cost for the role you need to fill.

But even with Accountably's fee included, a forecasting hire in India through Accountably can still save your firm up to 70% compared to an equivalent US hire.

For firms that don't have an existing international payroll setup or in-country legal infrastructure, the staffing model removes that work entirely. Accountably handles the employment contract, payroll processing, tax compliance, and benefits administration for your hires.

You direct the work. Accountably owns the employment relationship.

Also, with Accountably you pay nothing until you hire. The search, sourcing, shortlisting, and your interview stages all happen before any fee is due. If Accountably does not place someone, you owe nothing. A dedicated hire has a 60-day minimum commitment.

The 45-day replacement guarantee is included. If a placement does not work out within 45 days, Accountably finds a replacement at no additional charge.

Outsourced financial forecasting and budgeting is the practice of handing the build and upkeep of your clients' budgets and forecasts to a team outside your firm instead of hiring in-house analysts. That team builds each annual budget on your templates, refreshes the rolling forecast on the cadence you promised the client, and prepares the budget-to-actual workings, while your firm keeps the assumptions and the advice.

The two halves are related but different. A budget is the plan a client commits to at the start of the year: its revenue, cost, and profit targets. A forecast is the running estimate of where the year is actually heading, re-projected as actual results come in. The budget is the goal, and the forecast is the expectation.

For a CPA or accounting firm, the work usually covers:

• Annual operating budgets by department, entity, or location
• Driver-based budget models, where revenue and cost move with volume, headcount, and price
• Capital expenditure and headcount plans
• A rolling 12-month forecast, refreshed with each month's actuals
• Reforecasts when the year changes shape mid-cycle
• Budget-to-actual variance workings, with commentary drafted for your review
• Base, upside, and downside scenarios run on the live model
• Version control, so last quarter's forecast stays comparable with this one

Ongoing planning and analysis capacity across your client base sits on FP&A, and the short-term cash view the plan feeds sits on cash flow management.

Outsourced means the work is done by a team outside your firm. Offshore means that team is in another country. With Accountably it is both: your analyst sits in India and works inside your workflow like any other member of your team.

The main difference is cost. A forecasting hire in India can save your firm up to 70% compared to a US-based equivalent, due to the lower cost of living in India compared to the US.

With dedicated offshore talent, your firm manages the day-to-day work. Your analyst reports to your managers, follows your workflows and processes, and works as part of your team, just like any other remote employee.

Accountably doesn't direct their daily work or assign client files. You have complete control over their responsibilities and schedules. Think of Accountably as the hiring and administrative partner, not a management layer.

If you'd rather review finished work than direct it, a white-label delivery team comes with Accountably's own manager and reviewers.

Yes, analysts in India working with US firms work in the same tools your team already relies on: QuickBooks and Xero for the client ledgers each budget is measured against, and Karbon and TaxDome for workflow and client documents.

During vetting, Accountably screens explicitly for your stack rather than assuming tool familiarity and runs the assessments you already use.

Your analyst works inside a client's existing model where one is maintained, and builds to your template where a client is starting fresh. We won't replace a model your team knows with one it doesn't, unless the existing file can't carry the work.

If there is a specialized system in your clients' environment, such as a planning tool, we identify transferable skill paths and flag any ramp time upfront so you can make an informed decision.

Accountably puts every candidate through a rigorous screening process before presentation.

Every candidate goes through Accountably's vetting process, which includes:

• Skills assessment: technical evaluation specific to the role requirements
• Experience validation: Accountably verifies work history
• Software experience: we check every candidate's experience with the ledgers your clients' budgets read from, such as QuickBooks and Xero
• Cultural fit: Accountably screens for alignment with US business practices, work style, and your specific firm culture
• Motivation check: Accountably rules out candidates who are just looking for short-term contracts or salary bumps
• Background checks: we run background checks, and every hire works under an NDA

You only see candidates who meet all these criteria. Experienced hires start with onboarding on your software and SOPs. Newer hires first complete our 6-week US tax and accounting program.

It's the same discipline, sold as a different engagement. FP&A places ongoing analytical capacity across your client base. Forecasting and budgeting is scoped around one client engagement, with an annual build and a set refresh cadence.

The difference shows up in the calendar. The budget is built once a year, while the refresh lands every month for every client, and often nobody in the firm owns it. That refresh is the part that turns a one-off budget into a recurring advisory engagement.

One analyst seat can carry both for a portfolio of clients: the annual build, then the refresh cycle through the rest of the year.

On whatever cadence you promised the client, agreed during onboarding and owned by your analyst from then on. Monthly is the common baseline.

Each refresh replaces the budgeted figures for the month just closed with actual results, re-projects the remaining months, and adds a new month at the end, so the 12-month horizon never shrinks.

Every file goes through preparer, senior, quality and final review before it reaches you:

• Preparer: your analyst refreshes the model on your template and updates the assumption log as drivers move.
• Senior review: a senior traces the logic, tests the links, and checks the opening position against the ledger.
• Quality review: a separate pass runs the error checks, tests the model against a known scenario, and confirms the variance workings tie out.
• Final review: a final read confirms the pack is ready to present, with the assumption log attached.

The checks run on every refresh rather than only at the annual build, because a forecast error usually surfaces only when a client acts on it.

Your firm decides them, because whether a growth rate, a margin, or a hiring plan is realistic for a particular business is a judgment about that client, and it's why they hired you.

Your analyst builds the model to the assumptions you set, documents each one in the assumption log, and shows what changes when one moves. The recommendation, the monthly conversation with the client, and sign-off on every model that leaves your firm stay with your partners.

Your analyst works inside your firm and your systems. Whether they ever join a client meeting is your call.

Yes, client budgets and forecasts are handled under SOC 2-aligned controls by background-verified staff who work under NDAs.

A budget holds a client's plans before anyone outside the business has seen them, so access is role-based and limited to the models your analyst is assigned. It runs over a secure VPN, files move by encrypted exchange, audit logs record activity, and nothing is stored on a personal machine.

See data security and compliance for the full set of controls.