Most CPA firms do not struggle with the idea of month-end close. They struggle with the people to run it, every month, for every client, on the same few working days. When two staff seats stay open, the close slips, the reviewer works late and client queries pile up. This article looks at the staffing data behind that pressure and then sets out, in working-day terms, how a firm can split a QuickBooks Online close between its own reviewers and an offshore team in India. It describes a well-documented capacity strain, not a forecast for any particular firm.
- AICPA reports 55,152 accounting bachelor's and master's degrees in 2023-24 (down 6.6%) and new CPA Exam candidates falling from 42,626 (2023) to 28,082 (2024).
- BLS projects about 115,300 openings a year for accountants and auditors, and about 144,100 a year for bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks, even as clerk employment is projected to fall 6% by 2035.
- Close work is recurring and checklist-driven, which makes it a practical layer to move offshore. Judgment, sign-off and client contact stay with your firm.
- A 10-working-day sample calendar below shows where the handoffs, review gates and client queries fall.
- Run a three-close pilot on 4 to 6 clients before scaling, with engagement-letter, confidentiality and access controls in place first.
1. Why close is the layer firms struggle to staff
A monthly close has three features that make it hard to cover with a thin team. It repeats on a fixed calendar, so a vacancy shows up as a missed day, not a postponed project. It needs a trained eye, because a mis-coded transaction or an unreconciled card feed can sit unnoticed for months. And it is volume work, so one open seat means dozens of reconciliations that somebody still has to complete.
That is why the staffing question and the close question are the same question for many small and mid-sized firms. If the seat cannot be filled locally, the choice is not between a local accountant and an offshore one. It is between an offshore team working to your checklist and a close that finishes late or does not finish.
2. What the published data show
The figures below are taken from the AICPA's Trends data as reported in the Journal of Accountancy, and from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They describe the supply of new entrants and the demand for replacements. They do not say that any given firm will fail to hire.
| Measure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting bachelor's and master's degrees, 2023-24 | 55,152, down 6.6% year on year | AICPA Trends data, Journal of Accountancy, Oct 2025 |
| New CPA Exam candidates | 42,626 (2023); 28,082 (2024) | Same article |
| Accounting program enrollment, spring 2025 | 266,506, up 12.4% | Same article |
| Public accounting firms expecting to hire at least as many graduates in 2025 as in 2024 | 75% of participating firms | Same article |
| Accountants and auditors | 1,595,200 jobs (2025); +5% projected to 2035; about 115,300 openings a year; median pay $83,680 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, updated 27 Aug 2026 |
| Bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks | 1,532,400 jobs (2025); -6% projected to 2035; about 144,100 openings a year; median pay $50,670 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook |
Read these together. Enrollment is recovering, which is encouraging, but it takes years to turn into trained staff. BLS expects software to automate routine clerk tasks, yet it still counts about 144,100 clerk openings a year, all from people moving to other occupations or leaving the workforce. Demand for the close function remains, while the number of people trained to run it is not growing at the same pace.
UK practices report a similar strain. Broadbean Technology data reported by ICAEW showed accountancy applicants down 36% between June 2021 and June 2022. A 2026 survey of about 500 accountancy leaders by Advancetrack, itself an outsourcing provider, found 73% turning away potential clients because of staffing. Treat the second figure as an industry survey with an interested publisher, not an official statistic.
3. What an offshore team should and should not do in a close
| Close task | Offshore team prepares | Your firm decides |
|---|---|---|
| Bank and credit-card reconciliations | Match feeds to statements, list unmatched items, clear coding queries | Approves aged or unusual reconciling items |
| Transaction review and coding | Applies chart-of-accounts rules and bank rules; logs new vendors | Rules on unclear treatment; approves new rules |
| AP and AR sub-ledger tie-out | Reconciles aging reports to the balance sheet; flags old items | Decides write-offs and client follow-up |
| Accruals, prepaids and payroll journals | Drafts entries from schedules and supporting documents | Reviews and approves each journal |
| Flux and variance notes | Prepares the month-on-month comparison with questions listed | Writes the client commentary and advice |
| Close pack and period lock | Assembles the pack and checklist; requests the lock | Signs off and applies the lock |
| Tax returns, attest work, advisory | Not in scope | Stays with your firm |
The line is simple. The team produces and documents the close. Your reviewer decides what the numbers mean and whether the pack goes to the client. Sign-off is not delegated.
4. A 10-working-day close calendar
The calendar below is illustrative. It shows how handoffs can be sequenced across a time difference. India Standard Time is UTC+5:30, so it runs 9.5 hours ahead of US Eastern Daylight Time and 10.5 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. Work handed over at the end of your day can be waiting, with questions logged, at the start of the next. Set your own day numbers after the first pilot close.
| Working day | Offshore team | Your firm | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Confirm bank and card feeds are complete; request missing statements | Chases the client for statements and supporting documents | Missing-items list |
| 2 to 3 | Reconcile bank and card accounts; code and clear the transaction queue | Answers coding queries from the log | Reconciliations; query log |
| 4 | Tie out AP and AR aging to the balance sheet | Rules on old or disputed balances | Sub-ledger tie-out |
| 5 | Draft accruals, prepaid and payroll journals from schedules | Reviews drafts | Journal drafts |
| 6 | Post approved journals; prepare flux comparison | Available for overlap-window questions | Draft financial statements |
| 7 | Assemble close pack and checklist | First review begins | Close pack v1 |
| 8 | Clear review points | Logs review points by type | Close pack v2 |
| 9 | Support client queries from the log | Writes commentary; speaks to client | Client-ready pack |
| 10 | Request period lock | Signs off and locks the period | Locked period |
5. Review gates that keep quality with your firm
- Gate 1, source completeness (day 1). No reconciliation starts until statements and supporting documents are in the shared folder.
- Gate 2, reconciliation sign-off (day 4). A named reviewer approves reconciling items older than your agreed age.
- Gate 3, journal approval (day 5). Every manual journal has support attached and a reviewer's approval before posting.
- Gate 4, pack review (days 7 to 8). The reviewer works from the checklist and logs each point by type, so recurring errors become checklist changes.
- Gate 5, period lock (day 10). Only your firm locks the period.
The review-point log is the most useful record from a pilot. If the count of points per close falls over three closes, the process is settling. If it does not, fix the instructions before adding clients.
6. Worked example: a 30-client book
Facts (illustrative). A 12-person CPA firm has 30 monthly bookkeeping clients on QuickBooks Online. Each close takes about 7 hours of preparation and 1.5 hours of review. That is 210 preparation hours and 45 review hours a month. Two staff seats have been open for five months, so a senior and the owner prepare about 90 of those hours after the working day.
Pilot. The firm moves preparation for 6 clients to an offshore team: 42 hours a month. Review stays in-house.
| Item | Before pilot | During pilot |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation by in-house staff, per month | 210 hours across 30 clients | 168 hours across 24 clients |
| Preparation by offshore team, per month | 0 | 42 hours across 6 clients |
| Review by in-house staff, per month | 45 hours | 45 hours |
| After-hours preparation by senior and owner | About 90 hours | About 48 hours |
Reading the result. The pilot frees about 42 hours of after-hours work and still needs the full 45 review hours. If review time per file falls across three closes, the firm can add 6 to 8 clients a quarter. If it rises, the checklist needs work before more volume goes across. The figures show how to size the gap; actual hours vary by client.
7. Controls before client books are shared
Moving close work offshore does not move your professional obligations with it. A short summary of the main points follows. Our articles on the offshore data security control map and the CPA firm outsourcing guide go into detail.
| Area | Requirement | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Client notice | Tell the client, preferably in writing, that a third-party provider may be used, before confidential information is shared. The engagement letter can carry this. | AICPA ET 1.150.040 |
| Provider competence and supervision | Ensure the provider has the required skills and resources, and plan and supervise the work. | AICPA ET 1.300.040 |
| Confidentiality | A contract protecting confidential information is one route under the Code. | AICPA ET 1.700.040 |
| Information security programme | Select providers who can maintain safeguards, bind them by contract and assess them periodically. Use multi-factor authentication and encryption. | 16 CFR 314.4(c) and (f) |
| Tax return information | Separate consent rules apply if return data will be shared. This article is about bookkeeping and close. | IRC s.7216 |
8. Pilot checklist
A well-run offshore engagement should let you tick each of these before the first live close.
- The gap is sized in hours by client and task, with a decision on which tasks leave the building.
- A named reviewer has protected time each month.
- Engagement letters carry the third-party notice.
- A signed confidentiality agreement is in place, covering data location, subcontracting, breach notice and exit.
- Every team member has a named QuickBooks Online login with multi-factor authentication and the narrowest role that does the job.
- Each client has a written close checklist, chart-of-accounts notes and bank-rule list.
- A query log and a review-point log are set up before day 1.
- An overlap window is agreed for same-day questions.
- Stop criteria are written down: for example, review points not falling by the third close.
9. Frequently asked questions
Why are CPA firms looking at an offshore team for month-end close?
Mainly because they cannot fill the seats. AICPA Trends data show 55,152 accounting bachelor's and master's degrees in 2023-24, down 6.6%, and new CPA Exam candidates fell from 42,626 in 2023 to 28,082 in 2024. BLS still projects about 115,300 openings a year for accountants and auditors. Close work is recurring and rules-based, so it is one of the easier layers to move when local hiring stalls.
Is this a prediction that our firm will run short of staff?
No. The figures describe market-wide capacity pressure. Your own position depends on your client mix, turnover and how quickly you can hire. A close process that is documented well also helps with leave cover and growth, whatever the labour market does.
What should stay with our firm in a close?
Client communication, judgment calls on accounting treatment, sign-off on the finished close pack, advisory work, return signing and attest work. An offshore team should prepare and document; your reviewer should decide.
How long should an offshore close take compared with our current timeline?
Do not set a target in the first month. Run three closes on a small client group, record the day each deliverable reaches your reviewer, and then set a calendar. The sample calendar in this article is a starting frame, not a service level.
Which controls do we need before client books are shared?
Tell clients in the engagement letter that a third-party service provider may be used (AICPA ET 1.150.040), put a confidentiality agreement in place (ET 1.700.040), make sure the provider has the skills and that you plan and supervise the work (ET 1.300.040), and cover the provider in your written information security programme under 16 CFR 314.4, including multi-factor authentication and encryption. Section 7216 consent matters once tax return information is involved.
Can the offshore team use our QuickBooks Online subscription directly?
Yes, a common set-up is a named user for each team member on your client's QuickBooks Online file, with multi-factor authentication, role-based access and no shared logins. Your firm controls who is added and removed, and every change leaves an audit trail inside QuickBooks.
What does the time difference mean for a close?
India Standard Time is UTC+5:30. That is 9.5 hours ahead of US Eastern Daylight Time and 10.5 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. Work handed over at the end of your day can be waiting, with questions logged, when your team starts the next morning. Queries that need a same-day answer need an agreed overlap window.
Will an offshore close team certainly fix a staffing gap?
No. Results depend on scope, documentation, reviewer capacity and the quality of client records. A team with no reviewer time on your side adds output that nobody checks. Treat the first 90 days as a pilot with clear stop criteria.
10. Sources
- BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Accountants and Auditors (page last modified 27 Aug 2026): bls.gov
- BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks: bls.gov
- Journal of Accountancy, "The accounting graduate pipeline: Where do things stand?" (AICPA Trends data), 27 Oct 2025: journalofaccountancy.com; AICPA-CIMA Trends report: aicpa-cima.com
- Journal of Accountancy, "Working with third-party experts", Nov 2022 (summary of ET 1.150.040, 1.300.040, 1.700.040): journalofaccountancy.com. Read the Code text at pub.aicpa.org/codeofconduct before relying on it.
- eCFR, 16 CFR 314.4 (FTC Safeguards Rule): ecfr.gov
- ICAEW Insights, "Decline in applicant numbers raises alarm for recruiters" (Broadbean Technology data), 11 Aug 2022: icaew.com
- Consultancy.uk, 2026 Accounting Talent Index (Advancetrack), 16 Jun 2026: consultancy.uk
Somesh Chandak & Associates, Chartered Accountants (FRN 158694W), Thane, supports accounting firms abroad with bookkeeping, reconciliations and month-end close on QuickBooks Online. We can walk through scope, workflow and the documents your firm will need before any client data moves.
Outsourced Bookkeeping for Foreign Firms Talk to usThis article is for general information for accounting professionals and is not legal, tax or data-protection advice. Survey figures reflect the cited publishers' samples and methods. Confirm your own position with counsel before sharing client data with any third party.