Remote Accountant Salary by Country: Offshore Accountant and Bookkeeper Pay Compared

The short answer

There is no single remote accountant salary. 18 of the country guides’ accounting rows (accountant, bookkeeper, financial analyst and accounting-staff wages) are reproduced here, covering 14 countries, and they sit in very different bands because each row comes from a different survey, a different job title and a different pay basis. This page reproduces those rows word for word, sorted by country, then puts the US wage statistics beside them so a first-time offshore hirer can see what is being compared.

It also sets out how the main professional qualifications relate to one another, what the quoted ranges include and leave out, how statutory employer costs change a headline wage, and which US compliance duties stay with a US firm whatever the wage. It does not publish any provider’s price or a savings percentage.

The US wage anchor

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes national wage estimates for the two occupations most relevant here. Accountants and auditors (SOC 13-2011) cover the professional end. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (SOC 43-3031) cover day-to-day recording, reconciliation and ledger work. Both are Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics figures for May 2025, which are wages only, before payroll taxes, benefits, software and management time.

The national median for accountants and auditors is $83,680 a year, with a 10th percentile of $56,020 and a 90th percentile of $144,090. For bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks the median is $50,670 a year, about $4,223 a month. These are US labour-market figures. They are a reference point for the job content, not a prediction of what any overseas hire would be paid.

For a US-focused pay benchmark by seniority level, see the bookkeeper and accountant salary benchmark. This page differs in that it is organised by country and quotes the country-guide rows themselves. That benchmark uses different sources and experience tiers, so its regional ranges (for example its Philippines bookkeeper band) sit above the guide rows quoted here.

Accountant and bookkeeper salary rows from the country guides

The table reproduces 18 of the accountant, bookkeeper, financial analyst and accounting-staff rows in RemoteStaffingWiki’s country guides, exactly as the guide states each one, with the source and date each guide gives. Rows are sorted by country and then role. A country missing from the table either has no accounting row in its guide or its row is not reproduced. The titles differ from guide to guide because they follow the title the source survey uses, so read the "Role as listed" column before comparing two rows.

Each country’s full salary table and method are on its guide: Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Portugal, Romania and South Africa. To check a figure against your own role, use the salary benchmark tool.

What the ranges include, and what they leave out

A headline range means little until the basis is known. The basis is stated in each row’s source string, and it varies in ways that matter.

• Percentile ranges. Some rows give the 25th to 75th percentile of total pay reported to a salary site (for example the Bangladesh and Costa Rica rows). Total pay can already include bonus, so the "annual" column is simply the monthly figure multiplied by twelve.
• Experience-band ranges. The India rows take the low end of the lowest experience band and the high end of the highest band, which gives a wide range that is not a typical offer for any one candidate.
• Averages with small samples. Several rows are an average from a handful of profiles. The Bulgaria row rests on 16 profiles and the Portugal row on 9, and the guides themselves label them indicative. Treat a small-sample average as a direction, not a market rate.
• Converted figures. Most rows are converted from local currency at the rate stated in the row. Exchange rates move, so the dollar figure can change without any change in local pay.
• Older or unverified rows. Where a row states an older year, or that it was not re-verified, the guide is telling you its age; the Egypt row carries that note.

None of these ranges include recruitment fees, equipment, software, supervision time, paid training, or any fee a provider adds. The annual column also records some statutory extras, such as a 13th-month payment in the Philippines and Brazil or provident fund and gratuity in India, and in some rows a note that employer contributions are on top.

Qualification equivalence: what each credential certifies

Job titles are not standard across countries, and neither are credentials. A "CA" in India, an "ACCA" qualification and a US "CPA" are awarded by different bodies under different rules. The table below describes only what each body’s own page says about its credential, so you can read a CV against it. It is not an equivalence ruling, and no body states that two credentials are interchangeable.

Two practical points follow. First, a credential shows training under one body’s rules. It does not give a right to sign, represent or file in another country. Who may prepare or sign a US return, for instance, is decided by US federal and state rules. Second, many bookkeeping and accounts-support roles do not need a professional credential at all, so the salary rows for "Bookkeeper" and "Accountant" can describe people with a degree, software experience or a short course rather than a qualification. RemoteStaffingWiki’s guidance is to verify any credential with the issuing body and to test practical skills with a paid work sample.

The role guide to a remote accountant or bookkeeper explains how titles map to duties, and tasks you can outsource to a bookkeeper lists the work that is usually delegated.

Statutory employer costs change the headline wage

A salary row is what the worker is paid. The employer also pays contributions and mandatory extras set by law, and these differ widely by country. They include pension and social-security contributions, mandatory bonuses such as a 13th month, and in some countries insurance or training levies. Comparing two countries on salary alone ignores them.

The employee cost calculator covers 21 countries and adds the statutory employer contributions and mandatory bonuses to a gross salary you enter, with the source for each rate. Enter the salary from the row you are considering, choose the country, and read the loaded cost. Add equipment, software and any provider fee only from a written quote.

The India rows on this page can be loaded with a published figure from the markup guide on this site: the Indian statutory employer on-cost is 17.8% of gross at ₹20,000 a month and 11.7% at ₹28,333 a month. The India bookkeeper row spans ₹20,833–₹35,000 a month, so the calculator, not these two points, should be used for anything above ₹28,333.

The layered structure of what a managed price contains (worker compensation, statutory employer cost, acquisition cost, delivery and overhead, margin) is covered in how a virtual assistant price is built; the same layers apply to an accounting hire supplied through a provider.

Worked example (RemoteStaffingWiki’s illustration)

The example prices one full-time bookkeeper using only figures already on this page. It is arithmetic on published numbers, not a quote and not a view on what any provider charges. The US reference is the BLS median for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks. The offshore references are the bookkeeper rows as published, with the India low end loaded using the 17.8% on-cost point.

Reading the table: the figures cannot be subtracted to get a saving, because the US median is a national median across all employers and the offshore rows are survey ranges for a different labour market, job content and pay basis. What the table does show is that every row needs the same second step, which is to add the statutory and operating costs that sit outside the quoted wage. RemoteStaffingWiki’s guidance is to do that second step with the calculator before comparing any two offers.

Contractor or employee

A salary row assumes an employment relationship. If the person would be engaged as an independent contractor, the pay is a fee, the statutory contributions above may not apply, and the risk shifts to whether the arrangement would be treated as employment in the worker’s country. The glossary entry on contractor vs employee explains the distinction, and the misclassification risk tool helps screen an arrangement. Accounting work done on a client’s systems under their direction, on fixed hours, can look like employment, so classification is worth checking before the first invoice.

US compliance duties that do not move with the wage

If a US firm sends client information to anyone outside the US, whether an employee, a contractor or a provider, a lower or higher wage does not change the firm’s duties. The topics below are pointers to the detailed, sourced treatment elsewhere on this site, not new legal claims.

• Tax return information. Section 7216 of the Internal Revenue Code and its regulations govern when a tax return preparer may disclose return information, including to a preparer outside the US. The consent and safeguard requirements are set out in the guide below.
• Client information safeguards. The FTC Safeguards Rule applies to tax preparation firms among others, and covers oversight of service providers.
• Professional conduct. The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct contains interpretations on using third-party service providers for CPAs.

The full treatment, with citations to the statute, regulations, IRS guidance and the FTC rule, is in Accounting Outsourcing to India: A Guide for US CPA Firms. It is written around India but the US rules it covers apply to any offshore engagement. A written data processing agreement is one of the documents a firm usually puts in place with anyone who will handle personal data; ask a qualified adviser what yours should contain.

For the shape of a whole team rather than one role, see building a remote finance and accounting team.

How to use these figures

• Start from the job, not the title. Decide whether you need recording and reconciliation (bookkeeping), preparation and analysis (accounting), or planning (financial analysis), then pick the row whose title matches.
• Check the basis. Prefer rows with a stated percentile range or sample size over a bare average, and note the date.
• Load the statutory costs. Run the chosen salary through the employee cost calculator for the country.
• Price the operating costs separately. Equipment, software, security controls and your own supervision time sit outside every row on this page.
• Settle the credential question. Decide whether the work needs a licence or professional credential, and if it is US tax work, who must sign.
• Get written quotes. If a provider is involved, ask for the structure of the price in writing and compare it with the wage and statutory layers above.

Sources

US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 national estimates, SOC 13-2011 Accountants and Auditors and SOC 43-3031 Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks: https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm

AICPA, This Way to CPA, CPA licensure: https://www.thiswaytocpa.com/licensure/

ACCA, Qualifications at a glance: https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/qualifications/glance.html

Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, FAQ on the New Scheme of Education and Training (PDF): https://icai-call-sahayata.icai.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/CA-Courses-.pdf

Institute of Cost Accountants of India, Overview of the CMA Course: https://icmai.in/ClntStudents/OverviewCMACourse

RemoteStaffingWiki country guides, accountant, bookkeeper and financial analyst salary rows (underlying sources as named in the table, each linked from its guide): India, Philippines, Brazil, South Africa and the others linked above.

RemoteStaffingWiki: Employee Cost Calculator by Country; Virtual Assistant Markup: How a VA Price Is Actually Built (Indian statutory on-cost points); Accounting Outsourcing to India (US compliance sources).

References checked on 1 November 2026