A client walked into our office last year convinced he was saving money with his in-house accountant. Her salary was EUR 1,800 gross per month — reasonable for a mid-level bookkeeper in Riga. What he hadn't calculated: the 23.59% employer social contributions (EUR 425), the software license (EUR 40/month), the two weeks of training she needed on PVN changes, and the month of scrambled corrections after she quit without finishing the annual report. His "EUR 1,800 accountant" had actually cost him over EUR 3,200 per month.

The outsourced-vs-in-house question is not about philosophy. It is about arithmetic.

The Full Cost of an In-House Accountant

Start with the salary. As of 2026, accountant salaries in Latvia break down roughly like this:

Junior bookkeeper (1-3 years experience): EUR 1,200–1,600 gross/month
Mid-level accountant (3-7 years): EUR 1,600–2,200 gross/month
Senior accountant / chief accountant: EUR 2,200–3,000 gross/month

Now add what employers almost always forget.

Mandatory employer costs:

VSAOI (employer social contributions): 23.59% of gross salary
For a EUR 2,000 salary, that is EUR 472/month — EUR 5,660/year

Software and tools:

Tildes Jumis license: approximately EUR 300–500/year
Or Horizon cloud subscription: EUR 15–50/month
Computer, monitor, office supplies

Overhead:

Office space allocation (even partial): EUR 100–200/month in Riga
Training and professional development: EUR 200–500/year
Sick leave, vacation coverage (who does the books when your accountant is on holiday for two weeks?)

Hidden costs:

Recruitment if the person leaves (agencies charge 1-2 monthly salaries)
Errors and corrections — a single accountant has nobody reviewing their work
Annual report preparation — many in-house bookkeepers cannot prepare the annual report independently, requiring external help anyway (EUR 300–800)

Let's model a realistic total for a mid-level accountant at EUR 2,000 gross:

| Cost item | Monthly | Annual | |---|---|---| | Gross salary | EUR 2,000 | EUR 24,000 | | Employer VSAOI (23.59%) | EUR 472 | EUR 5,660 | | Software license | EUR 40 | EUR 480 | | Office allocation | EUR 150 | EUR 1,800 | | Training/development | EUR 30 | EUR 360 | | Annual report help | EUR 50 | EUR 600 | | Total | EUR 2,742 | EUR 32,900 |

That is the real number. EUR 2,742 per month, not EUR 2,000.

What Outsourcing Actually Costs

Outsourced accounting firms in Latvia price their services based on transaction volume, number of employees, and PVN status. Here is the market range as of 2026:

| Company type | Monthly fee | |---|---| | New SIA, minimal activity | From EUR 150 | | Small (up to ~50 transactions, 1-3 employees) | EUR 200–600 | | Medium (100-300 transactions, 5-15 employees, PVN) | EUR 700–900 | | Large / complex structures | EUR 1,000+ |

These fees typically include: daily transaction entry, monthly PVN declarations, payroll processing, employer tax reports, and the annual financial report. Tax consulting and non-routine work (audit support, restructuring advice) is usually billed separately at EUR 50–120/hour.

A small SIA with 30-40 monthly transactions and two employees will pay roughly EUR 300–400/month for complete outsourced accounting. The same workload would not justify even a part-time in-house hire.

The Break-Even Calculation

At what point does hiring in-house become cheaper?

Take the fully loaded in-house cost of EUR 2,742/month. A single mid-level accountant can reasonably handle 150–250 transactions per month (depending on complexity), plus payroll for up to 15-20 employees.

An outsourced firm would charge EUR 700–900/month for the same volume.

The gap is EUR 1,842–2,042 per month — in favor of outsourcing.

The math shifts when volume increases. At 300-500 transactions per month with 20+ employees, outsourced fees climb to EUR 1,200–1,800. Now the gap narrows to EUR 942–1,542. Still favoring outsourcing, but less dramatically.

The true break-even sits around 500-700 transactions per month. At that volume, outsourcing fees approach EUR 2,000–2,500, and hiring one or two dedicated accountants starts to make financial sense — provided you can manage recruitment, retention, and quality control.

Here is the catch nobody talks about: an in-house accountant handles your company and nothing else. An outsourced firm handles dozens or hundreds of clients, which means they see patterns, regulatory changes, and audit triggers across the market. That exposure has value that doesn't show up in a cost comparison.

The Risks Each Model Carries

In-house risks:

Single point of failure — if your accountant leaves, you're scrambling
No built-in review process — errors can compound for months undetected
Knowledge gaps — one person cannot be an expert in all areas (PVN, payroll, transfer pricing, annual reports)
Continuity during illness or vacation

Outsourcing risks:

Less control over day-to-day processes
Response time — your accountant serves other clients too
Data security concerns (mitigated by contracts and GDPR compliance)
Less familiarity with your specific business nuances

In our experience, the most common failure mode for in-house accounting is not incompetence but isolation. An accountant working alone, without professional peer review, gradually develops habits that may not align with current best practices. We have taken over books from in-house accountants who had been making the same classification error for three years — nobody noticed because nobody checked.

The Hybrid Model

Some of our most successful client relationships are hybrids: the company employs a bookkeeper who handles daily data entry and document management, while we provide monthly review, PVN declarations, payroll processing, and the annual report. The in-house person costs EUR 1,200–1,500 fully loaded (a junior role), and our fee drops to EUR 300–500 because we're not doing routine data entry.

Total cost: EUR 1,500–2,000/month — comparable to full outsourcing at the medium tier, but with someone on-site who knows where every receipt is filed.

This model works particularly well for businesses with high transaction volumes but straightforward transactions (retail, hospitality, e-commerce).

Get Real Numbers for Your Outsourcing Decision

Every company has a different transaction volume, employee count, and complexity level. We model the exact costs of outsourcing versus hiring an in-house accountant for your specific situation -- and provide a transparent quote so you can compare directly.

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In-House vs Outsourced Accounting: Real Cost Comparison