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As a founder, you’re constantly making trade-offs—especially when it comes to time. Between building product, managing a team, and preparing for your next raise, bookkeeping often falls to the bottom of your to-do list. But messy or late books can have real consequences when it’s time to make decisions or face the IRS.
That’s where outsourced bookkeeping comes in.
Instead of hiring a full-time bookkeeper—or doing it yourself—outsourcing gives you access to professional support that keeps your finances organized, accurate, and investor-ready, without adding to your overhead.
Book a free consultation and we'll gladly take it off your startup-builder-founder-hands.
Outsourced bookkeeping is when you hire an external partner or service provider to manage your startup’s financial records—monthly reconciliations, categorization of expenses, P&L reports, and more—without having to bring someone in-house.
These services are typically provided by accounting firms or startup-focused bookkeeping companies. Some offer software integrations and dashboards, while others combine tools with human experts. The key difference is that you're not building or managing a finance department yourself.
Outsourced bookkeeping is designed to be:
A good outsourced bookkeeping service will handle the essential tasks needed to keep your startup’s finances in shape:
Your outsourced bookkeeper will carefully review and match every transaction from your bank and credit card statements with your general ledger. This ensures that your financial records are accurate, complete, and audit-ready month after month.
Rather than leaving your books cluttered with generic labels or uncategorized transactions, a bookkeeper will classify every expense and source of income based on how your business operates. This level of detail helps with budgeting, financial analysis, and tax deductions.
You’ll receive professional-grade reports, including your profit and loss statement (P&L), balance sheet, and sometimes cash flow statement. These documents are essential for understanding your financial health and for preparing reports for investors or internal planning.
A clean, well-structured chart of accounts is foundational to good bookkeeping. Your provider will ensure your categories are tailored to your startup's model (SaaS, marketplace, services, etc.), allowing for more insightful analysis and better investor reporting.
When it’s time to file, your outsourced team ensures all your records are up to date and ready for your CPA or tax advisor. This minimizes delays, helps you avoid penalties, and makes the entire filing process less stressful.
In some cases, services also include:
At Lazo, our bookkeeping team works in sync with tax advisors and financial consultants—so your numbers are always ready for the next investor meeting or IRS deadline.
If you’re a founder managing your books manually or letting them pile up until tax season, it’s probably time to consider outsourcing. Here are several common triggers that indicate it might be time to bring in expert support:
If updating QuickBooks or tracking receipts is eating into your product or fundraising work, your time is better spent elsewhere. Founders should be focusing on growth—not reconciling Stripe payouts.
Investors expect accurate, clean financials. If you’re not ready to share updated financial statements, projections, or burn rate data, you may lose credibility fast.
Late books delay your filings. That can mean penalties, interest, or just a lot of unnecessary stress during tax season.
Maybe you just started charging customers. Or expanded to another state. Or opened a new bank account. The more complexity, the greater the risk of errors. And the harder it becomes to maintain accuracy without help.
You may not need a CFO yet—but that doesn’t mean you should wing your books. Outsourcing gives you the benefits of a finance function without the cost of building one.
If you’re unsure how much runway you have left, what your monthly burn is, or whether your pricing model is profitable, you’re operating in the dark. Bookkeeping is the first step to having visibility and control over your startup’s financial health.
Many tax professionals require clean, updated books to deliver their best work. Outsourcing bookkeeping ensures that your numbers are ready when tax season arrives—or when a new opportunity comes up.
From team reimbursements to SaaS subscriptions and investor deposits, every transaction needs to be tracked. If you're finding surprises in your bank statements or losing visibility, it's time to bring in support.
Outsourcing isn’t just about offloading busywork. When done right, it creates operational clarity that gives you space to grow.
Here’s what you gain:
Some startups wait too long to outsource, trying to DIY until the numbers get messy. But cleaning up books is harder (and more expensive) than keeping them up to date from the start.
Costs vary based on the provider and the complexity of your business, but here’s a general range:
Some providers charge a flat monthly fee, while others bill hourly or offer tiered plans. Lazo’s bookkeeping plans are designed for startups and integrate with tax prep and financial planning support—so you don’t have to manage multiple providers.
If your books are behind, you might need a one-time cleanup to get started.
Look for a partner that understands startups—not just small businesses in general. Here are a few things to look for:
At Lazo, we combine human expertise with intelligent tools to keep your books investor-ready, tax-compliant, and aligned with your financial roadmap.
Bookkeeping might not be the most exciting part of startup life—but it’s foundational. Clean books mean confident decisions, faster fundraising, and less time worrying about admin work.
If you’re spending hours on spreadsheets or dreading tax season, it’s time to hand it off.
Book a free consultation with Lazo’s bookkeeping team and let’s get your numbers in order.
