Offshore accounting companies compared: who publishes pricing and who does not

Why is offshore accounting so hard to compare?

Because the two things that would make comparison easy — a published price and a clear scope — are usually missing. Most offshore providers put you through a sales conversation before you see a number, and many describe what they do in broad terms that could mean a single seat or a whole function.

The useful lens is therefore not "who is cheapest", which you cannot answer from public information, but "who tells you what they charge, for what scope, delivered from where". That is answerable, and it separates the field more cleanly than any marketing claim.

Who publishes pricing, and who makes you ask?

This is the heart of it. Here is what each provider actually discloses.

QX Global Group's own two websites contradict each other on headcount and country count, so we cite neither. The only pricing figure QX publishes is the per-return tax price above; it does not publish general finance-and-accounting rates.

What does each provider actually offer?

Personiv

An established offshore finance and accounting provider delivering from the Philippines. It can start from a single full-time person and works inside your existing systems rather than imposing a platform. It does not publish pricing. We compare it in detail in Personiv vs Exordiom.

QX Global Group

An offshore provider delivering from India plus Latin America, active in finance, accounting and tax. Its one published figure is $100 per 1040 tax return for CPA firms on batches of 50 or more, which is a specific SKU aimed at accounting firms rather than a general F&A rate. If you are a CPA firm processing tax returns in volume, that number is directly relevant. If you want general accounting operations, you will need a quote.

The managed-pod model

Rather than placing individuals you manage, the managed-pod model gives you a team sized to your volume with a delivery lead in front, bought as an outcome and a service level. It is the model Exordiom runs, and the price is published: $3,000 a seat, from $12,000 for a managed function. More on how the pod model compares to a BPO or a captive centre.

How should you evaluate an offshore provider?

The provider names matter less than the handful of dimensions that decide whether an offshore arrangement works. Score any provider on these before you compare headline descriptions.

Delivery geography and timezone overlap

Where the team sits determines how many hours a day it works alongside yours. The Philippines, India and Latin America give different overlaps with a US day. Decide how much same-hour contact you actually need — high for anything conversational, low for overnight processing — and match the geography to it rather than treating overlap as a happy accident. Used deliberately, the offset is an advantage: work queued at the end of your day is done before you open.

Dedicated versus pooled staffing

A dedicated model gives you named people who learn your process and stay on your account. A pooled model spreads work across a shared bench, which can be efficient but means less continuity and less institutional memory of your quirks. Ask directly which one you are buying, because the two feel very different at month three.

Whether pricing is published

Most offshore providers publish nothing, so a public price is itself a signal: it means the provider is willing to be measured against it. Where a provider will not show a number until a sales call, ask for the monthly figure for your exact scope in writing, and ask what falls outside it.

What happens on attrition

Offshore teams turn over like any team. The question is who absorbs it. Ask who carries recruitment and replacement cost, how long you are uncovered while a seat is refilled, and whether the process was documented well enough that a new person can pick it up. A provider that employs the people and owns replacement carries that risk for you; a looser arrangement leaves it with you.

How automation is or is not included

Ask whether improving the process costs extra. Many providers scope automation and documentation as a separate project, and a per-transaction provider has little incentive to reduce the transactions it is paid to key. A provider that includes process documentation and automation in the fee is aligned with taking manual work off the process rather than protecting it.

Run every provider through the same five dimensions and the field separates quickly. The headline model — offshore, managed pod, marketplace — tells you less than how a provider answers these in writing.

Which model fits which buyer?

• You want a long-established Philippines provider and will ask for a price. Personiv fits.
• You are a CPA firm processing 1040 returns in volume. QX publishes a per-return figure aimed squarely at you.
• You want a whole function run to a service level, with a named lead and a published price. The managed-pod model fits, which is what we run.
• You want to direct one person yourself in your own systems. A single seat fits, available from Personiv or from us.

There is no single winner here. The right answer depends on whether you are buying a seat, a service level, or a specific tax SKU.

What should you ask any offshore provider before signing?

Whichever way you lean, get these in writing.

1. What is the monthly price for exactly this scope, and what falls outside it?
2. Where is the team based, and how many overlap hours do we get?
3. Do you work in our systems, or do we adopt a platform of yours?
4. Is process improvement or automation included, or billed as a separate project?
5. Who carries recruitment and replacement cost if someone leaves?

A provider that answers all five in writing before signature is telling you something useful about how the relationship will run afterwards.

Frequently asked questions