Outsourced Controller 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 accounting professionals in India across the controller-level work your firm delivers to its clients, from review of the close and the general ledger to multi-entity consolidation and the monthly reporting pack.

If an accounting role can be performed remotely, Accountably can fill it with A-players from India.

Here are some examples of the roles we can fill:

• Controller-level review: controllers, accounting managers
• The close underneath: staff accountants, CAS specialists
• The layer above: virtual CFO support staff, finance managers
• The books: bookkeepers, QuickBooks accountants, Xero accountants

An accounting manager reviews the closes your seats produce and owns the close calendar. A controller adds ownership of the reporting standard and control observations across the book. Firms selling controller services to their clients usually need the second.

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 controller 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 close every month and you want full-time staff inside your workflow.

A white-label delivery team makes more sense for smaller or seasonal firms that would 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 seat before you commit. Controller seats, and the accounting manager and senior accountant seats around them, are senior seats and are quoted on request. Accounting seats, such as a staff accountant who prepares the close your controller reviews, start from about $11 an hour, which comes to roughly $1,800 to $2,500 a month for a full-time seat.

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 controller hire in India through Accountably still costs your firm less than a comparable 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. And if someone rolls off later, we shadow and hand over during their notice period, so your close calendar doesn't take a hit.

An outsourced controller is a senior accountant outside your firm who owns the controller-level work for your clients, instead of an in-house hire. With Accountably, your controller owns the close calendar across your client book, reviews the reconciliations and journals prepared below, and delivers client-ready reporting for your partner to sign off.

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

• Ownership of the close calendar across your client book
• Review of the reconciliations and journals prepared below, including accruals, cut-off, and revenue recognition
• Balance sheet and general ledger review against supporting schedules
• Multi-entity consolidation, with intercompany eliminations
• The monthly reporting pack in your house format, with commentary on what moved and why
• Internal control observations raised for your review
• Audit-ready workpapers and supporting schedules for the client's auditor or lender

The same role goes by several names. Fractional means each client gets part of a controller's time, so one controller seat can cover a book of your clients. Outsourced means the work is done by a team outside your firm. Offshore means that team is in another country. With Accountably it is all of these: your controller sits in India and works inside your systems like any other member of your team.

The preparation underneath, from the general ledger to the month-end close and the reporting package, is covered on outsourced accounts management.

The main difference is cost. A controller hire in India costs your firm less than a comparable US hire, 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 controller 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, accountants in India working with US firms work in the same tools your team already relies on: QuickBooks and Xero for client books, and Karbon, TaxDome, and Suralink 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.

Onboarding then ramps your controller on your firm's software and SOPs, from your close checklist and review notes to your reporting pack template. The work happens inside the files your clients already keep, so there is no migration.

If there is a specialized system in your clients' environment, 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. Senior roles get longer interviews and deeper checks.

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 in the software your clients' books live in, 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.

Every file goes through preparer, senior, quality and final review before it reaches you. Your controller runs the senior review:

• Preparer: the accountant on the client runs the close checklist and builds the workpaper file inside your systems.
• Senior review: your controller reviews the reconciliations and journals, investigates variances, and checks the balance sheet against supporting schedules.
• Quality review: a separate pass ties the reporting pack to the trial balance, checks the format, and confirms every open item is written up.
• Final review: a final read confirms the close is ready for your partner, with the close summary and control observations attached.

Your partner then gets a written close summary with the open items, the questions, and any internal control observations raised for your review.

A bookkeeper makes sure the numbers are captured: transaction coding, AP and AR, and the monthly reconciliations. A controller makes sure the numbers are right: the month-end close, general ledger review, internal controls, and the financial statements. A CFO decides what to do with the numbers: forecasting, capital strategy, and board-level financial decisions.

Clients usually add them in that order as their books get more complex. Bookkeeping and accounts management cover the preparation a controller reviews, and virtual CFO support staffs the work behind the CFO layer above it.

No. Sign-off on the financials stays with your firm, along with every technical accounting position and its disclosure. Your controller prepares the position and the evidence; your partner decides. The seat exists so that everything which should happen before the sign-off has already happened.

The client relationship and every advisory conversation stay with your partners too. Your controller works inside your firm and your systems, and whether they ever meet a client is your call.

Yes. A controller reviews a client's whole ledger, so access is role-based and scoped to the entities your controller is assigned, inside the client's own accounting software. Your hire is background-verified, works under SOC 2-aligned controls and an NDA, and connects over a secure VPN.

Files move by encrypted exchange, audit logs record activity, and a zero local storage policy keeps every trial balance and close file off personal machines.

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