Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
An in-house accountant is your employee, so you pay salary plus your share of CPP and EI. An outsourced accountant is a firm or a contractor you pay by invoice, and you don’t run payroll for them. On a $60,000 salary in Ontario, the employer costs alone add $4,730.95 a year, so the real price of the hire is $64,730.95 before benefits.
What’s the real difference between the two?
Control and cost structure, mostly. The split that matters to most owners is whether they want someone inside the business who picks up every small question, or a specialist they only pay for the hours they use. An employee works your hours on your premises, learns your business deeply and is there when the owner has a question at 4 p.m. on a Tuesday. An outsourced accountant serves several clients, so you get a wider range of skills but a shared slice of their time.
Fees are where people expect a range. There isn’t an official one. No government source publishes what accountants charge, and rates vary by region and by how messy your books are. Get written quotes instead. What the calculators can price is the employee side.
What does an in-house accountant cost you on top of salary?
You pay CPP that matches your employee’s contribution, and EI at 1.4 times theirs. The CRA’s employer guide states both rules. These figures use Ontario and 2026 rates, from the payroll remittance calculator.
| Salary | Employer CPP | Employer EI | Yearly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| $40,000 | $2,171.75 | $912.80 | $43,084.55 |
| $50,000 | $2,766.75 | $1,141.00 | $53,907.75 |
| $60,000 | $3,361.75 | $1,369.20 | $64,730.95 |
| $70,000 | $3,956.75 | $1,572.30 | $75,529.05 |
The table leaves out vacation pay, benefits, workers’ compensation, software, an office desk and the hours you spend managing someone. Add those yourself. Quebec differs, since QPP and QPIP replace CPP and part of EI. On $50,000 the employer part there comes to $4,140.50, against $3,907.75 in Ontario.
Break the $64,730.95 down by month and it’s about $5,394. That ballpark is the number to hold up against any outsourced quote, before you add the extras.
When does an outsourced accountant make more sense?
When the work doesn’t fill a week. A business that needs monthly books, a GST/HST return every quarter and a year end may only need a few hours of an expert’s time each month. Paying an employee $53,907.75 for that would be like renting a truck to carry a bag of groceries.
Outsourcing also helps when you don’t want to run payroll for another person, or when you need a specialist once a year, say for a corporation’s tax return. The corporate tax calculator shows why: a small corporation’s rates and limits differ by province, and getting them wrong is expensive.
If your business grows past the point where you’re sending questions daily, the balance flips. Someone in the office who already knows your customers and suppliers saves time.
Think of Marie, who owns a four-person bakery in Moncton. She sends receipts to an outside bookkeeper twice a month and sees her accountant at year end. Hiring someone full time would mean paying for forty hours when she needs perhaps six. If she opened a second shop, that maths would change.
How do you compare an outsourced accountant with a hire?
Turn both into a yearly figure. For the hire, take the salary and add the employer costs from the table plus the extras above. For the outsourced option, multiply the monthly quote by twelve and add the year end fee if it’s billed apart. Then ask what each one actually covers.
Here’s a quick test. If the outsourced quote is $4,000 a month, that’s $48,000 a year, which sits under the $53,907.75 full cost of a $50,000 employee. But the firm might not answer phone calls the same day, and it might bill extra for a tax notice. That gap in scope can erase the saving.
Ask the same questions of every candidate, whether a person or a firm:
- Who is licensed, and can I check it in the provincial accounting body’s directory?
- What’s in the price, and what’s billed extra?
- Who tracks my filing dates, and how will I be reminded?
- What happens to my records if we part ways?
Can you start outsourced and hire later?
Yes, and many owners do. Outsourcing is easy to scale down or switch if it isn’t working, while a hire involves a contract, probation and possibly severance. If you’re unsure, start with a firm for a year, keep a note of how many hours of questions you actually send, and use that to decide. Plenty of owners find the hours are fewer than they feared.
Which mistakes come up most often?
Comparing salary with a fee is the classic one. The salary looks lower because the employer costs, vacation and management time stay out of the picture. The other error runs the opposite way: choosing the lowest quote without reading its scope.
Some owners also forget that responsibility stays with them. Whoever does the books, you sign the return. Late payroll remittances draw penalties from 3% to 10% of the amount, depending on how late, per the CRA. And you must keep records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, wherever they’re stored.
If you’d rather hire and run the work yourself, the payroll deductions calculator shows what the employee sees on each cheque. Self-employed and thinking about doing your own books? Try the self-employed tax calculator first.
Where the numbers come from
Employer CPP and EI figures come from the calculators on this site, which use 2026 rates, checked in autumn 2026. The rules on matching contributions, penalties and the six-year record period come from Canada Revenue Agency pages. We found no official figure for accountant fees, so none appear here. This site has no link with any government body or accounting firm.
Frequently asked questions
Is an outsourced accountant cheaper than an employee?
It can be when the work is a few hours a month. We couldn't confirm typical fees, so compare a written quote with the employee's salary plus CPP, EI and other costs.
What does an employer pay on top of salary?
Employer CPP that matches the employee's, and EI at 1.4 times the employee's premium. Vacation pay and benefits are extra.
Can I check that an accountant is licensed?
Yes. Your provincial accounting body keeps a public directory of members and firms.
Who is responsible for errors on my return?
You are, since you sign it. Read what your engagement letter says about the accountant's part.
How long must the business keep its records?
Six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, unless the CRA allows earlier destruction.
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