Every founder eventually asks the same question: do I hire a bookkeeper or outsource the function? It feels like a binary, but the right answer is almost always a function of three variables — transaction volume, complexity, and the value of management information you actually consume each month.
The fully-loaded cost of an in-house bookkeeper
A competent UK bookkeeper now commands £30,000 to £38,000 in basic salary. That is the visible number. The hidden numbers are larger:
- Employer NI and pension add roughly 14% — call it £4,500.
- Software licences (Xero, Dext, ApprovalMax, payroll) — £1,800 a year minimum.
- Holiday and sickness cover — at least 5.6 weeks plus contingency. Either you accept the gap or pay a locum at £35 per hour.
- Recruitment, onboarding and training — amortised, around £2,500 per year.
- Office, equipment, and management time — easily another £3,000.
The honest fully-loaded number is closer to £42,000 to £48,000 for a single mid-level bookkeeper. For most owner-managed businesses, that is a serious chunk of operating profit committed to a function that does not differentiate you in the market.
Where outsourcing wins decisively
An outsourced model bills against the work, not against a seat. At PushDigits we typically deliver a fully reconciled monthly close for between £350 and £1,200 a month depending on transaction volume. That is £4,200 to £14,400 a year — and it includes Xero supervision, supplier ingestion via Dext, monthly management accounts, VAT preparation, and a senior reviewer signing off the file.
More importantly, you do not get one person. You get a team. When your bookkeeper goes on annual leave, your management accounts still arrive on the 10th. When VAT rules change, three accountants notice — not one. Continuity is the silent dividend of our BPO model.
When in-house still makes sense
We are not absolutists. In-house wins in three specific scenarios:
- Transaction volumes above 1,500 per month with significant FX, intercompany, or stock complexity. At that scale, a dedicated person embedded in the operations team can save real money.
- Regulated industries — solicitors with client account rules, certain healthcare structures — where on-site access to source documents matters.
- Very high cash-handling businesses where same-day reconciliation is operational, not financial.
The break-even calculation
Before you commit either way, model the next 24 months honestly. Take your current monthly transaction count and project it forward at your growth rate. If you are below 800 transactions per month and unlikely to triple, outsourcing is almost certainly the better unit economics. Above that, run the numbers both ways and stress-test for staff turnover.
What good outsourced bookkeeping actually looks like
The cheapest provider on the market is rarely a bargain. The signals of a credible partner:
- A named lead bookkeeper and a named reviewer. Two pairs of eyes is the minimum standard.
- A documented monthly close calendar — when does data need to be in, when do accounts land, when is the review meeting?
- Management information beyond the trial balance — variance commentary, debtor ageing, cash runway.
- Proactive flags. If your gross margin slipped two points, you should hear about it before you spot it yourself.
If your current bookkeeper, in-house or outsourced, never tells you anything you did not already know, you are paying for compliance, not insight.
Next step
If you would like a no-obligation comparison of your current bookkeeping cost against a tailored outsourced quote, we are happy to prepare one. Send us your last three months of transaction reports and we will turn it around in 48 hours. Start with our bookkeeping service page or book a 30-minute scoping call.