- US median pay$76,590 a year[2]All industries, BLS May 2025
- Pay on our open vacancies$800–1,100 a month[3]You pay the person directly
- 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 an executive assistant does for accounting firms
- Book client calls around review blocks and keep at least some of the partner's day free of meetings
- Sort the inbox and answer routine questions from approved templates
- Prepare a one-page sheet for each client meeting: open items, last return, questions outstanding
- Keep the partner's list of extensions, filing dates and promised callbacks
An executive assistant works for one or two senior people: their calendar, inbox, travel, meeting preparation and follow-ups. The job is judgment about what reaches the boss and what does not, so it suits owners who already lose hours every week to coordination.
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
Send a fictional partner's week in the last days before a filing deadline, with six client emails. Ask for a new calendar, draft replies and a list of what to push back. See whether they protect review time and avoid any tax opinions.
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
84 executive assistants on Stafka, English B1–C2, updated 5 November 2026. The count is for the role, not for accounting firms: name your business in the brief.
Executive Assistant0 years of experience · GE-1200
- English B1
- $800–1,000 a month
- 40 h a week, flexible hours
- Retail Banker · 3 m
- B2B/B2C Sales Manager Intern · 3 m
Executive Assistant2 years of experience · KZ-1010
- English B1
- $800–1,000 a month
- 40 h a week, covers US hours
- Business & Operations Support · 1 y 11 m
- Marketing & Administrative Support · 3 y
Executive Assistant1 year of experience · KZ-1011
- English B2
- $800–1,000 a month
- 40 h a week, covers US hours
- Wolt Project Lead / Courier Operations Manager · 1 y 1 m
- SMM Manager · 4 m
Executive Assistant4 years of experience · AM-1023
- English B2
- $600–800 a month
- 40 h a week, flexible hours
- Banking Operations / Customer Service Officer (title inferred
- Accounting Assistant (title inferred
Executive Assistant1 year of experience · GE-1190
- English B1
- $800–1,000 a month
- 40 h a week, flexible hours
- Private Tutor / Educator
- Academic & Business Projects (student
Executive Assistant1 year of experience · AM-1021
- English B1
- $600 a month
- 40 h a week, flexible hours
- Freelance Translator / MTPE & LQA · 11 m
- Media & Subtitling Translator
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
Most of this work runs from a task list, so the person does not need your whole day. A few shared hours for the morning inbox review and urgent calendar changes are usually enough.
Against a 9–17 client day in winter[4][5][6][7]; for New York, on a 9–18 local day or a 13–22 shift. Check your own office.
What it costs
On our open vacancies this role pays $800–1,100 a month[3], paid by you to the person. The BLS figure of $76,590 a year is for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants[2] across all industries: we have no separate figure for this niche. Paying through Deel adds $49 a month[8]; Wise and Payoneer also work.
See also: executive assistant pay in the US, by state · pricing and replacement terms.
How hiring through Stafka works
- Send the brief or post the job free. Name whose time the person will protect, which inbox and calendar they will run, and what they may decide without asking.
- 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
Can an EA answer client questions at an accounting firm?
Only procedural ones: when something is due, what is missing, when a call can happen. Anything about what a client owes or should do goes to a licensed person. Template replies cover most of the repeats and make that line easy to hold.
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 executive 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 $800–1,100 a month on our open vacancies[3], 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.