Outsourced bookkeeping
Outsourced bookkeeping means a specialist team keeps your books instead of an employee. At Visory, a dedicated team keeps every account reconciled, with Delphi AI preparing and checking the routine work in the background, closes each month and, as a registered BAS agent, prepares and lodges your BAS, inside your own Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file, for one flat monthly fee.
Bookkeeper 
Visory team Visory team The short answer
What it is, who it suits, and when it is not the right call.
Outsourced bookkeeping (also called virtual or online bookkeeping) is when an external team keeps your books for a fee instead of an employee on salary. The team codes and reconciles every transaction, closes each month and prepares your BAS, working inside your accounting file. You keep ownership of the file and the decisions.
Businesses whose books are always behind, whose owner does them at night, or who rely on one bookkeeper with no cover for leave. It suits a business that has outgrown a part-time bookkeeper but does not need a full-time finance team.
If the business has a handful of transactions a month, software and an hour of your time may be enough. If you need a person on site every day, an in-house hire suits you better. We will say so on the discovery call.
Your options
Each option can work. They differ in how you pay, who checks the work, and what you get beyond a reconciled ledger.
| Option | How you pay | Who does the work | Cover for leave | BAS | Beyond the books |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-house bookkeeper | A salary plus 12% super, leave and recruitment | One employee you manage | Yours to arrange | Prepared and lodged in-house | Depends on the person |
| Freelance bookkeeper | By the hour or by the task | One person, shared across their clients | None while they are away | Lodged only if they are a registered BAS agent | Rarely |
| Accounting firm | By the task or by the hour | Whoever is free that week | Covered by the firm | Lodged by the firm as a registered agent | Year-end advice, if you ask |
| Offshore provider | A lower monthly or hourly rate | A team overseas, often rotating | Covered by the provider | Lodged through a registered Australian agent | Rarely |
| Visory | One flat monthly fee for an agreed scope | A named team working across Australia, with Delphi AI under their oversight | Built in: a team, not one person | Prepared and lodged by Visory as a registered BAS agent | Visory Insights, if you add it: a monthly read of the numbers |
Typical arrangements, not any named provider. Anyone who provides BAS services for a fee must be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board.
What it costs
Outsourced providers usually charge a monthly fee set by the volume of work. The useful comparison is with what a bookkeeper on staff really costs.
Salary: Robert Half, bookkeeper salary 2026, national median base salary to hire a bookkeeper, excluding super; earnings across all employed bookkeepers run lower. Super: ATO, 12% of ordinary time earnings. More in bookkeeper salaries, hourly rates and monthly fees in Australia.
Bookkeeping on its own runs about A$6,540 to A$10,740 a year (A$545 to A$895 a month). With payroll, payables or Visory Insights, most businesses pay A$10,000 to A$30,000 a year. Larger scopes are quoted.
A Business Performance Partner, a Manager and a Bookkeeper who know your business.
By Visory as a registered BAS agent, from reconciled books.
Payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable and Visory Insights, when you want them: your whole finance function, not just the books.
Who does what
Outsourcing the work is not handing over control. You keep the file, the approvals and the decisions.
Switching
Most of the work is ours. Your part is a conversation and granting access.
After your free financial health check, a proposal sets the services, the volume and one flat monthly fee.
Before you commitYou give the team access to your accounting file and bank feeds. Nothing moves to new software unless you want it to.
Your partA backlog is scoped before it starts, then worked while the current month stays current. What catch-up bookkeeping involves.
VisoryBooks reconciled, the month closed on its agreed timetable, and BAS prepared and lodged when it is due.
Every monthChoosing a provider
Six questions worth asking any provider, Visory included.
Anyone who lodges BAS for a fee must be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board. Visory is a registered BAS agent.
A named team that stays with you beats a queue. Visory gives you a Business Performance Partner, a Manager and a Bookkeeper by name.
Hourly billing makes every question a cost. Visory charges one flat monthly fee for an agreed scope.
Your books should live in your accounting software, in your name. Visory works inside your Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file.
Automation helps only with people behind it. Your team runs the work; Delphi AI prepares and checks the routine part in the background, and nothing that moves money happens without your approval.
Clean books are the start. Visory adds payroll, payables, receivables and a monthly read of the numbers when you want them. See the outsourced finance function.
The full list of 10 questions to ask an outsourced bookkeeping provider, with a scorecard
In their words
Having Visory as a flexible partner to handle our day-to-day has meant real relief for our CFO. From an economies of scale perspective, the outsourced model is cost-effective compared to bringing someone in-house, and the handoff to our external accountant for tax has been noticeably smoother than it was before.
What outsourcing to Visory adds
Common questions
Most Visory customers pay A$10,000 to A$30,000 a year (ex GST) for bookkeeping plus one or more of payroll, payables, receivables and Visory Insights. Bookkeeping on its own starts from A$545 a month for businesses with up to A$75,000 in monthly expenses, and A$895 up to A$125,000; larger scopes are quoted. Most providers set the fee by transaction volume and scope. You can see the published bands on the pricing page.
Usually cheaper to outsource, unless you need someone full time. A bookkeeper on the 2026 national median salary of A$85,000 costs about A$95,200 a year with 12% super, before leave cover, recruitment and software. Most Visory customers pay A$10,000 to A$30,000 a year for bookkeeping and more. An in-house hire makes sense when you need a person on site every day.
Outsource when the books are regularly behind, when you or a senior person is doing them, or when one bookkeeper has no cover. Keep them in-house if you need a full-time person on site, or have so few transactions that an hour a month covers them.
Only a registered BAS agent can: anyone who provides BAS services for a fee must be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board. Visory is a registered BAS agent, so the team prepares and lodges your BAS from reconciled books.
Ask where the work is done, who has access, and whether your books stay in your own file. With Visory, your books stay in your Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file, access is granted by you, and anything that moves money is authorised by you. Our Privacy Policy explains how information is handled.
Offshore providers do the work from overseas, usually at a lower rate, and BAS has to be lodged through a registered Australian agent. Sending personal information overseas brings its own privacy obligations (Australian Privacy Principle 8). Visory's head office is in Melbourne and the team works across Australia.
Codes and reconciles every bank, card and payment account, keeps payables and receivables current, closes the month with your profit and loss and balance sheet, and prepares BAS when it is due. At Visory, anything unclear comes to you as one question in the platform. See the full monthly bookkeeping service.
No. Visory works inside your existing Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file, so there is no migration unless you want one.
It depends on the state of the books. Granting access takes a conversation, and any catch-up is scoped before it starts, so you know the plan before work begins. Your proposal confirms the timetable.
They stay with you. Your books live in your own Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file, in your name, so ending the service means removing Visory's access, not moving your records.
Yes. Payroll, accounts payable and accounts receivable are run by the same team on the same monthly rhythm, so you add them without starting again.
General information for Australian businesses, not financial or tax advice.
Getting started
Three steps, each useful on its own. Nothing is agreed until you have a proposal and say yes.
An obligation-free conversation about your goals and what you want the numbers to tell you.
Obligation-free
A senior member of the Visory team will analyse your financials and show you where your finance function can improve. It is free, and it is your own numbers.
Free · your own numbers
A clear commercial proposal for the scope we agree, on one flat monthly fee. No hourly billing. You decide whether to go ahead.
Flat monthly feeGet started
Start with a 30-minute discovery call. If outsourcing is right for you, a free financial health check on your own numbers comes next.
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