Recruiting a bookkeeper for your practice
Keeps your clients’ books accurate and up to date, so your UK team can focus on review and advice.
Typical weekly tasks
- Bank reconciliations across your clients’ accounts
- Transaction coding and bank feeds in Xero, QuickBooks or Sage
- Purchase and sales ledgers kept up to date
- Receipts and invoices processed through Dext or Hubdoc
- VAT return preparation (MTD) for your review
- Payroll processing support
- Raising queries on missing paperwork with your team
Hiring for a more senior role? See how we recruit offshore accountants for year-end and VAT work.
Software
Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, FreeAgent, Dext / Hubdoc. They work in your systems through a named user account.
Who it suits
Practices with a growing bookkeeping backlog, or a finance lead who needs the day-to-day processing taken off their desk.
A good fit for UK accounting, bookkeeping and tax practices with roughly 2 to 50 staff, and for UK businesses with an in-house finance lead who needs more capacity.
What we test
Every bookkeeper sits a practical test set at bookkeeper level. Every technical test is reviewed by a qualified accountant. You see a scorecard for every candidate, not just a CV.
- UK bookkeeping
- Reconciliations
- VAT
- Software (Xero)
A recruiter screens experience, UK client exposure and motivation first, and a communication check covers written and spoken English. Then you interview the shortlist and choose. How our recruitment process works.
Candidate scorecard: Bookkeeper
Illustrative example, not a real person
- Recruiter screening
- Passed
- UK bookkeeping
- 21 / 25
- Reconciliations
- 20 / 25
- VAT
- 20 / 25
- Software (Xero)
- 21 / 25
- Technical test total
- 82 / 100
- Communication check
- Passed
Test reviewed by a qualified accountant. Screening by an experienced recruiter.
Specialisms we recruit at this level
Who you get
A finance or accounting degree, or part-way through ACCA, with 1–3 years of hands-on bookkeeping for UK clients.
Example profile: Bookkeeper
Illustrative example, not a real person
- Qualification
- ACCA student (Applied Skills level)
- UK work
- 2 years of UK bookkeeping
- Software
- Xero, QuickBooks, Dext
- Technical test
- 82 / 100
- Availability
- Two weeks’ notice
What a bookkeeper costs
Prices exclude VAT. UK business clients account for VAT under the reverse charge.
DigiHyre Dedicated
from£750/month
Typical range £750–£950 a month. We recruit, employ, pay and manage. 3-month minimum, then 30 days’ notice.
Find my bookkeeperDigiHyre Direct
£1,250one-time fee
We recruit and vet; you employ the bookkeeper yourself. No fee until you hire: the one-time fee is invoiced when your chosen candidate accepts your offer. Free replacement within 90 days of their start date.
Find my bookkeeperYear one compared with a UK hire
- UK hire, year one£30,000 salary, employer NIC, 3% pension, £3,000 overheads and a 20% agency fee
- £43,650
- DigiHyre Dedicated bookkeeper, year one£750 a month × 12, excluding VAT
- £9,000
- Difference in year one
- £34,650
Illustrative, using the same assumptions as our home page cost card. Employer NIC at 15% above £5,000 (2026 to 2027). Your own figures will differ.
What they can’t do
A bookkeeper prepares the work; your team reviews it and signs it off. They can’t act as your HMRC agent, sign off accounts or take on your professional responsibility. Final review, sign-off and HMRC submissions stay with your firm’s qualified professionals.
That keeps the arrangement simple: you stay in control of quality, and your client relationships stay with your firm.
Questions about hiring a bookkeeper
How much does an offshore bookkeeper cost?
Through DigiHyre Dedicated, from £750 a month (typically £750–£950), all-in and excluding VAT. Through Direct, a one-time fee of £1,250, invoiced only when you hire, and you pay the salary yourself. See full pricing and terms.
What hours does a bookkeeper work?
Your accountant works 9:00am to 5:30pm UK time, Monday to Friday. In Lahore that’s an afternoon and evening shift, so your working days line up fully, all year round.
Is our client data secure?
Every accountant signs an NDA and works inside your cloud software through a named user account with role-based access, with no local storage of client data. We support you with an International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) and a transfer risk assessment. Read about security and compliance.
What if the bookkeeper doesn’t work out?
Free replacement within 90 days of their start date. The replacement goes through the same screening and technical test as the first hire. How the replacement guarantee works.