Hiring in-house gives you someone inside the business every day. Outsourced finance gives you an agreed set of tasks and access to a wider team. The right choice depends on the work, the skills it needs and who will own it. Compare bookkeeping, payments, collections, reporting, tax and cover separately. You can also combine an internal finance lead with external support. Compare the full scope and total cost before choosing.
You can have an accountant and still spend your evenings chasing invoices, approving payments and trying to work out whether you can afford the next hire.
At that point, “should I hire someone?” is a reasonable question. Before answering it, write down what you are still doing. One finance hire will not automatically remove every task or give you every level of expertise the business needs.
The first decision is what the finance function has to deliver. Then choose who can deliver it.
Start with the Work Left on Your Plate
We have seen an agency grow while the owner remained the bottleneck for too much of the finance work. Our existing arrangement needed to change as the business changed.
We mapped the tasks the owner was still doing and agreed what Around Finance could take off their plate. The lesson was to define the work and its owner, rather than assume a longer-standing relationship still covered what the business needed. The scope has to be agreed for each business; it is not a promise that every package includes a full finance function or CFO support.
The useful lesson is the task map. Buying “accounting” is vague. Agreeing who chases overdue invoices, who checks the numbers and who turns them into a cash decision is much clearer.
Before comparing proposals, list the work, its frequency and its current owner. Include the tasks nobody formally owns but you keep picking up.
What Are You Actually Comparing?
A bookkeeper, an accountant, a financial controller and a CFO do different jobs. A capable person may cover several areas, but their time and experience still have limits.
An outsourced service has limits too. If the engagement covers bookkeeping and statutory accounts, monthly reporting and payment runs do not appear simply because the supplier calls itself a finance partner.
| Work | Question to settle | What good ownership looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeping and reconciliations | Who keeps the records current? | Agreed deadlines, clean balances and exceptions followed up |
| Collections and payments | Who prepares, follows up and approves? | Named responsibilities, agreed controls and a clear escalation route |
| Reporting | Who explains the month? | Numbers delivered on time, with causes and decisions |
| Forecasting | Who updates the cash plan? | Current assumptions and a view of commitments before they fall due |
| Tax and compliance | Which returns and advice are included? | A written scope, deadlines and specialist support where needed |
| Cover | What happens during leave or absence? | A plan that does not put all the work back on the owner |
If a proposal leaves those questions unanswered, you have not yet priced the same job. Our accounting-fees guide explains why the monthly fee alone is a poor comparison.
When Hiring In-House Makes Sense
An internal hire can be the right choice when the business needs substantial daily finance involvement. They can work closely with operations, understand how decisions happen and deal with issues as they arise.
That may matter when pricing changes frequently, project teams need immediate support, or the volume of finance work fills a role. It can also matter when you already have a finance leader who needs someone to own the processing beneath them.
Be specific about the role. If you hire for bookkeeping experience and expect investor reporting, commercial analysis and tax advice as well, the gap has moved rather than closed.
Plan who will manage the hire, check the work and provide cover. An owner without a finance background may need external help to recruit and supervise the role properly.
When Outsourced Finance Makes Sense
Outsourcing can work well when you need several finance capabilities but do not have enough work to justify a full-time person at each level.
You might need regular bookkeeping, a controlled payment process, monthly reporting and periodic commercial advice. The important point is whether the provider has agreed to deliver those things, with enough time and access to your business to do them well.
Look for a service that can explain its working rhythm. What do you supply? What gets delivered each week or month? Who handles an urgent question? When does a problem get escalated?
If your owner workload remains the same after outsourcing, either the scope missed the real job or the agreed work is not being delivered. Both need a direct conversation.
Our outsourced finance support starts with that scope. Reporting, payment support and CFO involvement should be agreed explicitly, rather than assumed from the name of a package.
Compare the Total Cost
A salary is only part of an internal hire’s cost. Allow for employer costs, recruitment, equipment, software, training, supervision and cover. Use the current obligations that apply to the role rather than a generic percentage from an old article.
For an outsourced proposal, check setup costs, software, transaction or payroll limits, excluded returns, specialist work and what happens when the business grows. Compare whether VAT is recoverable for your business; use a consistent basis on both sides.
This example is an assumed budget, not a market salary benchmark or an Around Finance quote. It shows how to organise the comparison.
| Illustrative annual budget | Internal hire | Outsourced proposal |
|---|---|---|
| Salary or recurring service fee | €60,000 salary | €2,000 a month, €24,000 a year |
| Other assumed costs | €10,000 combined allowance | €3,000 one-off setup |
| First-year total | €70,000 | €27,000 |
That €43,000 difference does not establish equivalent service or prove that outsourcing is better. The internal person may provide far more daily capacity. The outsourced fee may cover only part of the work. Complete the task map before treating either total as a saving.
Include your own time. A cheaper option that needs five hours of owner supervision every week may be expensive in the place the business can least afford it.
You Do Not Have to Choose Only One
An internal finance lead can own the commercial decisions while an external team handles agreed processing and compliance. An internal bookkeeper can work with an external accountant or CFO for review and planning.
That arrangement can be useful as the business grows. It also needs clear boundaries. Two teams working on the same ledger without an agreed owner can create duplication and leave important work unchecked.
Set one reporting calendar, one source for the numbers and one person accountable for resolving differences. Investors and lenders need credible, timely information; the location of the team does not compensate for weak reporting or unclear responsibility.
Keep Control of Approvals and Access
Delegating preparation does not require giving away every approval. Agree who can enter a supplier, prepare a payment batch, authorise it and review the reconciliation.
Use named access, appropriate permissions and a documented approval process. Keep the business’s access to its own accounts and records. Avoid an arrangement where an absence or a supplier change leaves you unable to retrieve the information you need.
Ask how the provider handles handover, staff changes and mistakes. The answer should describe the process, not just reassure you that their team is experienced.
Six Questions Before You Commit
- Which jobs will stop landing on me, and from what date?
- What is included, excluded and charged separately?
- Who is accountable for delivery and who provides cover?
- When will I receive reporting, and who will explain it?
- What information and approvals does the team need from us?
- How will the arrangement change if volume or complexity increases?
Ask the same questions of a potential hire and an outsourced provider. You are choosing how the finance work gets done, not just who sends the bill.
Choose the Arrangement That Removes the Right Bottleneck
Hiring can give you valuable daily capacity. Outsourcing can give you a mix of skills and agreed delivery. Combining them can give you both. None works without clear ownership and a scope that matches the business.
If your current accountant mainly deals with year-end compliance, you may need a wider service rather than an additional person to coordinate the gaps. Our switching-accountants guide explains how to approach a change without treating it as a leap into the unknown.
If you run an Irish business turning over €250k or more and want to work out which finance jobs to hire for and which to delegate, Book a Finance Fit Call.
FAQs
Is outsourced finance cheaper than hiring an accountant?
It can be, but only a like-for-like scope comparison is meaningful. Compare the full cost, capacity, expertise, cover and work left with the owner. A lower fee for a smaller job is not automatically a saving.
Will outsourcing replace our internal finance team?
It does not have to. An external team can support an internal finance lead or bookkeeper. Agree who owns the ledger, reporting, approvals and compliance so the arrangement adds capacity rather than confusion.
Does outsourced accounting include a CFO?
Not automatically. CFO advice, forecasting and management reporting must be part of the agreed scope. Bookkeeping and annual accounts alone are a different service.
Do we lose control of our payments?
You should agree preparation and approval responsibilities before work starts. A provider can prepare a payment run while the business retains authorisation. The process depends on the service and systems you choose.
When is an in-house finance hire the better option?
When the business needs substantial daily capacity and involvement, and can recruit, manage and cover the role. Define the required level of skill rather than expecting one hire to perform every finance job.
What should we prepare before discussing outsourced finance?
Bring a list of finance tasks, who does them, current problems, transaction volumes and the reports you need. Include work the owner still does outside the formal accounting engagement.
