- US median pay$47,540 a year[2]All industries, BLS May 2025
- One-time fee$2,500–3,000[1]On the start day, only if you hire
- Free replacementWithin 180 days[1]One per placement, fee paid, role, hours and pay unchanged, no refund
What the week looks like at an accounting firm
A small practice lives by the tax calendar. In season, the phones ring, clients send photos of receipts by text, and returns wait on one missing form. Between deadlines the work turns to monthly bookkeeping clients, payroll runs, notices from tax authorities and advisory calls. Partners spend too many evenings chasing paperwork instead of reviewing work, and the same questions come in from dozens of clients at once.
What a virtual assistant does for accounting firms
- Send organisers and engagement letters and follow up until they come back signed
- Chase missing documents on a weekly schedule with polite reminders
- Update each client's status on the workflow board as work moves along
- Book review calls and send clients their appointment details
A virtual assistant, in job-title terms an administrative assistant working remotely, handles the repeating office work of a team: documents, data updates, scheduling, simple customer emails and research. It is broader and less senior than an executive assistant, and it works best with written procedures.
Tools accounting firms commonly use
- QuickBooks
- Xero
- Excel
- Microsoft 365
- Google Workspace
- Calendly
- Karbon
- TaxDome
- Gusto
Common in this kind of business, not a checklist: name your own stack in the brief.
How to test a candidate for an accounting firm
Give a list of fifteen clients with different missing documents. Ask for a chase plan and three reminder emails: first, second and final. Read for clarity and tone, then check if they noticed that one client appears twice under different names.
What to keep in-house or check first
Signing returns, tax advice and contact with tax authorities stay with licensed staff. Client tax records are sensitive: your professional body and tax authority may set rules on data security and on disclosing or getting consent for offshore preparation, so check before sharing anything. Use a portal instead of email, individual logins and multi-factor authentication.
General caution, not legal advice: check the rules that apply to you with a qualified adviser.
Available now
1 virtual assistant on Stafka, English B1, updated 5 November 2026. The count is for the role, not for accounting firms: name your business in the brief.
Administrative Assistant0 years of experience · AM-1007
- English B1
- $800–1,000 a month
Anonymous profiles of people who asked to be shown to employers. Most applied through our Telegram bot with a written and a voice English task; Silkstaff checks English on a live call before any client interview. Names, contacts and employers stay hidden until a candidate accepts your intro request.
Choose a country: shared hours
Repeating admin work can run on a written checklist with a daily check-in, so a partial overlap with your day usually works. Anything phone-based needs agreed hours.
Against a 9–17 client day in winter[3][4][5][6]; for New York, on a 9–18 local day or a 13–22 shift. Check your own office.
What it costs
We do not publish a pay band for virtual assistants yet: where a profile lists a monthly rate, that is what the person asks for. The BLS figure of $47,540 a year is for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive[2] across all industries: we have no separate figure for this niche. Paying through Deel adds $49 a month[7]; Wise and Payoneer also work.
See also: virtual assistant pay in the US, by state · pricing and replacement terms.
How hiring through Stafka works
- Send the brief or post the job free. List the recurring tasks, how often each one happens, and the person who will answer questions in the first month.
- Within 5 business days of a confirmed brief you get 3 matching profiles, or a plain no. Most apply through our Telegram bot with a written and a voice English task; each profile shows the English level (B1–C2); Silkstaff checks English on a live call before any client interview.
- You interview, choose and contract the person directly through Deel, Wise or Payoneer. Candidates never pay.
Questions
When should an accounting firm hire a virtual assistant?
Usually a few months before busy season, so that training is done when the volume arrives. Start with document chasing, because it is repetitive, easy to measure and has an immediate effect on how quickly work moves.
Can offshore staff see client tax documents?
Sometimes, with conditions. In the US, for example, preparers may need client consent before tax return data goes outside the country, and professional bodies have their own rules. Check with your compliance adviser and start with tasks that do not expose identity numbers. This is general information, not legal advice.
Where can an accounting firm hire an affordable virtual assistant?
The usual routes are a freelance marketplace, an agency with a monthly margin, or a direct hire in a lower-cost country. On Stafka it is a direct hire: you pay the person the monthly pay you agree with them, plus $2,500–3,000[1] once if you hire, with no monthly margin.
General information for small employers, not legal or tax advice: check contracts, tax and data rules for your country with a qualified adviser. Tool names belong to their owners; we are not affiliated with them. Spotted a mistake? Write to hello@silkstaff.com.