· Reviewed by Issabela Masters
What does a remote bookkeeping assistant do?
An AssistBPO bookkeeping assistant works a standing brief of 10 duties, and anything on it can be added or dropped in the weekly review.
- Categorize bank and card transactions daily against your chart of accounts and coding rules
- Match receipts and bills to transactions from your receipt-capture inbox or app
- Raise and send customer invoices from your approved job or order data, and log payments received
- Enter supplier bills, track due dates and prepare a weekly payables list for your approval
- Reconcile bank, card and payment-processor accounts weekly and flag unmatched items
- Chase overdue invoices with courteous reminder emails and calls on the schedule you set
- Record payroll journals, loan payments and recurring entries from the documents you provide
- Prepare month-end workpapers for LedgerBPO or your accountant: reconciliations, open items, questions
- Maintain vendor and customer records, W-9s or supplier details and 1099-ready data where relevant
- Send the end-of-day report: transactions coded, invoices sent, cash position, items waiting on you
What skills and tools does a remote bookkeeping assistant need?
The 8 skills below are the ones AssistBPO screens for, and the bookkeeping assistant works them inside 8 platforms you already run.
- QuickBooks Online and Xero day-to-day operation, including bank rules and reconciliations
- Double-entry basics: knowing which side an entry belongs on and why
- Accuracy and attention to detail with receipts, amounts and dates
- Accounts receivable follow-up that keeps customers friendly and paying
- Spreadsheet skills for reconciliations, aging reports and cash summaries
- Confidentiality habits around financial and payroll data
- Clear written questions for the accountant instead of guesses
- Working to a month-end checklist and calendar
Tools this role works in
A sample day, in your time zone
- 8:00 CTPull the bank feeds, code overnight transactions, post the start-of-day check-in with today's cash position
- 8:45Match 40 receipts from the capture inbox to card transactions; query three with no receipt
- 10:00Raise 12 customer invoices from yesterday's completed jobs and send them from QuickBooks
- 11:00Enter 9 supplier bills, check them against purchase orders, update the payables list for Friday's run
- 13:00Weekly reconciliation of the operating account and the card statement; two unmatched items flagged
- 14:30Receivables follow-up: 6 reminder emails and 2 calls on invoices past 30 days
- 15:30Update the month-end workpaper for LedgerBPO with open questions and reconciliation status
- 16:45End-of-day report: coded, invoiced, reconciled, cash position, waiting on you
Times are illustrative. Your shift is fixed to your opening hours during onboarding.
Hours and models
Models
- Dedicated bookkeeping assistant, 80 or 160 hours a month, in your hours
- Agent and accountant pairing: an AssistBPO assistant for daily entries with a LedgerBPO accountant for review and month-end
- Project: a catch-up of backlogged months or a QuickBooks to Xero migration with agreed dates
Coverage
US Eastern to Pacific, UK and Australian Eastern shifts from the group's two offices. Daily coding can run ahead of your morning so the cash position is ready when you log in.
What are the terms for a remote bookkeeping assistant?
The card, the contract terms and this role's own schedule and screening, in one place.
| Specification | What you get |
|---|---|
| Focus, 20 hours a week | $800 a month, 80 hours |
| Dedicated, 40 hours a week | $1,600 a month, 160 hours |
| Standard schedule | Dedicated bookkeeping assistant, 80 or 160 hours a month, in your hours |
| Coverage | US Eastern to Pacific, UK and Australian Eastern shifts from the group's two offices. |
| Screening | 5 gates, named candidate within 72 hours |
| Setup fee | None |
| Minimum term | Month to month, no lock-in |
| Notice | 30 days, to stop or to change hours |
| If the fit is wrong | Trained backup covers the desk the same day, re-match at no charge |
| Continuity | One named assistant, one named backup, one team lead |
| Who does the work | Employed by SS Support Network LLC, never freelancers or contractors |
These are rate-card starting points. What you pay depends on the hours, the desk and the coverage window, which is what the staffing plan sets. Rates improve as you add assistants. Your staffing plan states the rate for the number of seats you need. The rate card carries the other currencies, the add-ons and the six things that move a plan off it.
How much does it cost to hire a remote bookkeeping assistant?
Plans start at $400 a month for 40 hours, at $10 an hour, and rates improve as you add assistants. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day.
What moves the plan
- Hours a week and whether the role is dedicated or shared
- Seniority and the tools involved
- Coverage zone: business hours, after-hours or 24/7
- One person or a pod with a lead
What the market publishes
Other providers' published ranges, by market, so you have something to hold this against. These are not AssistBPO prices.
| Market | Published range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Offshore managed remote staff $7 to $15 an hour typical, $640 to $2,400 a month full-time; part-time at 20 hours a week $350 to $1,300 a month | Wishup, Cherry Assistant, Zedtreeo and VantaStaff published pricing, 2026 |
| Australia | Offshore managed agencies A$8 to A$35 an hour, with DotVA publishing up to A$35 an hour for bookkeeping; onshore virtual assistants A$39.90 to A$65 an hour | Virtual Coworker, DotVA and Australian VA pricing roundups, 2026 |
| United Kingdom | UK-based VA and PA rates £25 to £45 an hour; Society of Virtual Assistants surveys put freelancers at about £28 to £35; PayScale employed average £15.33 an hour | SVA surveys and PayScale UK, 2026 |
How are remote bookkeeping assistants vetted?
5 gates, in order. A candidate who fails one does not reach the next.
- English and phone assessment
- Typing and tool tests
- Background check
- NDA and security onboarding
- Shadowing and QA scorecard
Candidates who clear all 5 gates are proposed to you by name within 72 hours.
Candidates write a receivables reminder to a good customer who is 45 days late and a question to an accountant about an unclear transaction, then take a call where they explain a reconciliation difference in plain words. Bookkeeping assistants talk to your customers and your accountant, so tone matters.
A timed QuickBooks Online and Xero sandbox exercise: code 50 transactions against a chart of accounts with planted traps, match receipts, raise an invoice with the right tax treatment, reconcile a bank statement with two deliberate errors, and produce an aging report. Accuracy is scored before speed.
Identity, address and employment verified, references from previous bookkeeping or finance roles, and a financial background check because the role sees your bank feeds. This is completed before any client access is granted.
Signed NDA, accountant or standard-user access in your own QuickBooks or Xero file rather than the owner login, read-only bank feeds where possible, MFA, managed devices, no downloads of statements outside your file, and a rule that the assistant never initiates payments.
The assistant shadows a senior on a live file, then works with the team lead reviewing coding and reconciliations for the first month, with LedgerBPO reviewing month-end. Monthly, the lead scores a sample on coding accuracy, reconciliation completeness, invoice timeliness and the quality of questions raised.
The full pipeline is on the how we hire and manage assistants page. Assistants are employees of the group, never freelancers, and you never co-employ them.
Services this role delivers
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to hire a remote bookkeeping assistant?
Plans depend on hours, desks and coverage. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day. For context, published offshore managed staffing runs $7 to $15 an hour or $640 to $2,400 a month full-time (Wishup, Cherry Assistant and Zedtreeo, 2026), DotVA in Australia publishes up to A$35 an hour for bookkeeping against A$39.90 to A$65 for onshore assistants, and UK freelance rates sit around £28 to £35 an hour in SVA surveys. A dedicated AssistBPO assistant is priced per person for a block of hours, with LedgerBPO review added when you want it.
Is it the same person every day?
Yes. One named assistant learns your chart of accounts, your coding rules, your customers' payment habits and which supplier always sends the bill twice. A backup is trained on your file so month-end never slips because of leave, and a team lead reviews the weekly report with you. If you use the agent and accountant pairing, the same LedgerBPO accountant reviews every month too.
What hours will the assistant work?
Your business hours on US, UK, Canadian or Australian time, from the group's two offices. Many clients choose a shift that starts before their morning so bank feeds are coded and the cash position is in the daily report when they log in. Live overlap is kept for the weekly review, receivables calls in your customers' hours and anything that needs a quick answer from you.
How are bookkeeping assistants vetted?
A written and spoken assessment covering a customer reminder, a question to an accountant and a plain-English explanation of a reconciliation difference; a timed QuickBooks and Xero test with planted coding and reconciliation errors; a background check that includes a financial check and references; a signed NDA with scoped access to your file and no payment rights; and a supervised first month with LedgerBPO reviewing month-end. The QA scorecard then runs monthly.
Is the assistant an employee or a contractor?
An employee of the group. AssistBPO and LedgerBPO are both divisions of SS Support Network LLC, and the assistant is salaried, managed staff with a manager, paid leave and training. We never place freelancers or contractors, you never co-employ the person, and no agreement exists between you and the individual. You engage AssistBPO for a staffed bookkeeping desk with a backup and a team lead included.
How does the assistant work with LedgerBPO?
The assistant does the daily and weekly work in your file: coding, matching, invoicing, bills and reconciliations. LedgerBPO, our sister accounting and billing brand, reviews month-end, handles adjustments and answers the accounting questions the assistant raises. You can also keep your own accountant; the assistant prepares the same workpapers for them. Either way, the assistant does not give licensed accounting or tax advice.
Will the assistant handle payments or payroll?
The assistant prepares, you approve. Payables lists, payroll journals and reimbursement summaries are prepared from the documents you provide, and every payment run is released by you or a signatory on your side. The assistant never holds payment authority, never sees full card numbers, and never moves money. That separation protects you and is written into the access setup from day one.
Can you catch up months of backlog?
Yes, as a project with agreed dates before the dedicated desk starts. A catch-up covers coding every historical transaction, chasing missing receipts and statements, reconciling each month in order and producing a list of unresolved items for LedgerBPO or your accountant. Once the file is current, the daily rhythm keeps it that way and month-end stops being a scramble, which is usually when owners notice their cash position for the first time in months.
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