Xero bookkeeping services: what a Xero bookkeeper does and what it costs

What does a Xero bookkeeper do each month?

Xero brings in your bank and card transactions through bank feeds. A bookkeeper turns them into books you can rely on. Each bank line is matched to an invoice, a bill or a pay run. What is left is coded to the right account. Missing receipts and unexplained payments go back to you as questions, and the month is closed so your profit and loss and balance sheet stop moving. Xero is the ledger your business runs on. It is only as good as the information in it, and that information is only as good as the person keeping it.

At Visory, bookkeeping means six things every month: transactions coded and reconciled, month-end closed on a timetable agreed with you, a profit and loss and balance sheet, BAS prepared by a registered BAS agent, debtors and creditors kept visible and answers from a named bookkeeper. It does not include income tax returns, audits, sending your invoices or paying your bills. Those last two are separate services, accounts receivable and accounts payable, run by the same team when you add them.

If you run pay through Xero Payroll, the same team can run your pay runs there too, with Single Touch Payroll reporting on every run and super calculated each cycle. Is it worth outsourcing payroll? sets out what that involves and what to check.

Xero bookkeeper, BAS agent or accountant: who does what?

People search for a “Xero bookkeeper” and a “Xero accountant” for different jobs. The title on a website matters less than what the person is registered to do. Anyone who provides BAS services for a fee must be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board as a BAS agent or a tax agent. A BAS service is wider than lodging: applying the GST or PAYG withholding rules to your transactions, so that you rely on the result for your BAS, is one too. Coding done under the instruction and supervision of a registered agent is the exception, because the registered agent is the one you rely on. Preparing an income tax return for a fee needs a registered tax agent.

Who	What they do in your Xero file	Can they provide BAS services for a fee?	Income tax returns
A bookkeeper	Codes, reconciles, closes the month, produces reports	Only if registered as a BAS or tax agent. Coding done under a registered agent’s instruction and supervision isn’t a BAS service.	No
A BAS agent	The bookkeeping, plus BAS prepared and lodged	Yes, as a registered BAS agent	No
A tax agent, often an accounting firm	Year-end accounts and income tax returns	Yes	Yes
Visory	Bookkeeping, payroll, payables and receivables, plus Visory Insights if you add it	Yes, as a registered BAS agent	No

These are roles, not named providers. Applying GST or PAYG withholding rules for a fee is a BAS service, so a bookkeeper who codes your GST needs to be a registered BAS or tax agent, or work under one’s supervision, even if someone else lodges the BAS.

Your accountant or tax agent prepares your income tax return from the books, so the quality of the return starts with the bookkeeping. What a bookkeeper can and cannot lodge goes through the rules in more detail.

How do you check a Xero bookkeeper before you hire one?

Two checks answer two different questions. Xero’s advisor directory tells you about Xero skills and experience: Xero lists a firm only if it has staff trained in Xero and eight or more of its customers on Xero, and it says its certifications and badges show an advisor’s expertise in Xero products. The Tax Practitioners Board’s public register tells you whether a person or firm is registered to provide BAS services. A directory listing does not tell you about registration, and a registration does not tell you how well someone knows Xero, so check both. If the person who will code your GST is not registered, ask which registered agent supervises their work.

Then ask the same five questions of every provider you talk to:

• Are you a registered BAS agent, and under which name do you appear on the register?
• Who will work in my Xero file, and who checks their work before it reaches me?
• When will each month be closed, and what will I receive when it is?
• Does the Xero file stay in my name, with access I grant and can take back?
• What happens to my file and my lodgements if I leave?

Visory’s answers: Visory is a registered BAS agent, which you can check on the Tax Practitioners Board register. You get a dedicated team you know by name, who run the work, and you approve anything that moves money. The month closes on a timetable agreed with you, your books stay in your own file, and if you leave, Visory runs a full, professional offboarding and handover, so your records, lodgements and access pass cleanly to whoever takes over. Visory is a Xero Platinum partner, which Xero describes as its highest partner tier, and has been a Xero partner since Visory began, with Xero’s payroll specialist and migration specialist badges. The 10 questions to ask an outsourced bookkeeping provider go further, with a scorecard.

What does a Xero bookkeeper cost?

Xero’s own guide to hiring a bookkeeper in Australia, published 11 May 2026, puts outsourced bookkeeping at A$500 to A$2,500 a month for ongoing support, depending on transaction volume and the services you need. It also says a full-service arrangement that includes BAS lodgement and payroll costs more than basic data entry. For a business turning over about $2 million, that band is a starting reference, not a quote.

Bookkeepers charge in three ways: by the hour, by the task (a fee per BAS or per pay run, for example) or a flat monthly fee for an agreed scope. Whichever way a quote is written, the same few things set the number: how many transactions and bank accounts you have, how many entities you run, whether payroll, bills and invoicing are in scope, and how far behind the books are when the work starts. Two quotes for “Xero bookkeeping” can be far apart and both be fair, so compare what each one covers before you compare the price. If you are weighing up an in-house hire, what a bookkeeper costs to employ sets out the salary and on-costs.

Visory charges one flat monthly fee for the scope we agree, with no timesheets and no hourly billing. Most engagements land between about A$1,250 and A$4,000 a month, ex GST, and your proposal fixes the number. Visory can take on more of the work than a basic scope, so where your business sits in that range follows what it needs. These move a business up the range:

• high transaction volumes
• multiple entities with intercompany transactions
• more frequent work, such as daily coding
• added services, such as payroll, accounts payable or accounts receivable

A larger business can sit at the top of the range for bookkeeping alone. Every Visory bookkeeping scope includes the month closed on a timetable agreed with you and BAS prepared and lodged by a registered BAS agent, run by a dedicated team rather than one person. Bookkeeping alone is a valid starting point, and most businesses add services as they go.

Visory can also take over your Xero subscription at its partner rate, which costs less than paying Xero directly.

There is also a one-off onboarding fee. It covers the clean-up of your books, system set-up and integrations, and the transition from whoever does the work today, and it is set out in your proposal before you commit to anything. If your books are behind, the catch-up goes back to the last period that was properly reconciled and is scoped and quoted in the proposal as part of onboarding, then the work moves to the flat monthly fee. The number on your proposal is the number on your invoice, until your volumes change.

Visory is unlikely to be the right fit when the business has very few transactions, one bank account, no payroll and no employees. At that size, a bookkeeper working a few hours a month may be all you need.

What stays yours when someone else keeps your Xero books?

Your books stay in your own Xero file, which you own. The team works inside it with access limited to the role each person holds, and you can change that access at any time. Any change to your set-up is agreed with you before work starts.

You keep every approval that moves money. Bills are captured, coded, checked for duplicates and lined up in a payment run, and you authorise each payment in your own bank. Pay runs are prepared and checked, and you approve them before anyone is paid.

If you change providers, the file does not move because it was never anyone else’s. How to switch bookkeepers mid-year without missing a BAS covers the handover, including linking a new BAS agent at the ATO.

When is a Xero bookkeeper not enough?

Reconciled books tell you what happened. They do not tell you why margin moved, whether cash will cover the next quarter or what to change. When the books are current but nobody explains them, what is missing is a monthly read of the numbers and someone to talk it through with.

That is the job of Visory Insights: the Insights brief with every close, margin by service line, trends, a short-term cash forecast, one recommended move and a session with your Business Performance Partner, monthly or quarterly. It is a performance conversation, not a dashboard, and it is built on the same Xero file your bookkeeper keeps.

Questions about Xero bookkeeping services

Do I have to move to Xero to work with Visory?

No. Visory works with Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks. Your books stay in your own file, and any change to your set-up is agreed with you before we start. If you are weighing up a move, how to choose and set up an accounting package compares the three.

Can a Xero bookkeeper lodge my BAS?

Only if they are registered with the Tax Practitioners Board as a BAS agent or a tax agent, which you can check on the board’s public register. The same rule covers coding your GST or PAYG withholding for a fee, unless a registered agent supervises the work. As a registered BAS agent, the Visory team prepares and lodges your BAS from reconciled books.

Can the same team run payroll in Xero Payroll?

Yes. Visory works with Xero Payroll and Employment Hero for pay runs. Your Payroll Officer runs your payroll, and you approve before a dollar moves.

Who pays for the Xero subscription?

You choose. You can keep paying Xero directly, or Visory can take over the subscription and build it into your monthly fee at its partner rate, which costs less than paying Xero directly. If Visory holds the subscription and you stop working with Visory, it transfers back to you at Xero’s standard price for your plan, and you keep your file and data.

Book a discovery call. It is 30 minutes and obligation-free, and your fee is fixed in your proposal before you commit.