Bookkeeping · Tax prep · Year-end 164 reviews on Upwork · Top Rated Plus

Bookkeeping and tax prep, white-labeled for US CPA firms.

A Chartered Accountant-led India team you deploy under your own brand — books, sales tax, 1040s, 1120s, year-end. Roughly $50K/yr in saved payroll per FTE versus a US hire, and every claim we make is checkable against our 164 public reviews on Upwork (Top Rated Plus, 5+ years). NDA standard, productive in 2 weeks, your client never knows.

Book a call
NDA in 1 page IRC §7216 compliant Productive in 2 weeks
Per-FTE US hire vs. Crisp
Same scope of work
One bookkeeping FTE, two ways
Typical mid-level US bookkeeper, fully loaded, versus one dedicated Crisp FTE.
US in-house hire Salary + benefits + recruiting
$5,500/mo
Crisp Advisors One dedicated CA-credentialed FTE
$1,295/mo
Annual payroll saved
Per dedicated FTE on staff
~$50K/yr
Same client invoices. Same partner sign-off. Scales with your headcount.
Trust & Compliance SOC 2 aligned IRC §7216 workflow NDA standard MFA + AES-256 Background-checked staff
The proof

Most India outsourcing firms have zero public reviews. We have 164.

CPA partners get burned by offshore providers who can't show their work. We can. Every engagement we've delivered since 2024 lives on Upwork — third-party hosted, timestamped, unedited. We don't control the platform, we can't curate the reviews, and we can't delete the ones we don't like.

Why this matters for your firm

You're about to hand offshore staff direct access to your clients' books, returns, and PII. Before you do, you should be able to independently verify we are who we say we are — without taking a 30-min sales call or signing an NDA first.

That's what Upwork does for us. 164 verified reviews from real US/Canadian businesses, including CPA firms and bookkeeping practices that hired us as their offshore arm. Visit our profile, scroll, read the messy ones, read the glowing ones. Decide for yourself before you ever email us.

  • 164 verified engagements — bookkeeping, tax prep, audit support, CFO advisory
  • 8,800+ hours of billable work delivered to US/Canadian clients since 2024
  • 4.9/5 average rating, 100% job success score, Top Rated Plus status
  • Public & permanent — we can't edit, delete, or filter reviews on Upwork

The difference vs. typical offshore firms

Most of our competitors pitch you with carefully curated testimonials hosted on their own marketing site. They control the wording, the screenshots, even the names. You have no way to verify any of it.

Crisp's track record is on a platform we don't own. If a client thought we were terrible, that review is sitting there next to all the great ones — permanently. Out of 164 engagements, we've earned 96% five-star reviews. The remaining 4% gave us notes we took seriously. You'll see all of it.

Open our Upwork profile in a new tab →

Why Crisp

The five things other India outsourcing firms won't show you.

Built for CPA partners who've already been pitched a dozen times. We chose the wedge points where the typical offshore play is weakest — and made them our standard.

 
Typical India outsourcingWhat you usually get
Crisp AdvisorsWhat you get with us
Public client reviews
None / curated on their own site
164 verified, third-party hosted on Upwork
Risk-free trial
Paid pilot, weeks of onboarding first
Free sample work, 5 business days
Onboarding time
6–8 weeks to productive
2 weeks to first deliverable
Pricing transparency
"Quote on request" — sales calls required
Published per-FTE: $1,295 / $1,795 / $2,495
Sensitive-return data residency
Often offshore servers, vague answers
US-hosted VDIs for 1040s, never downloaded
Contract lock-in
12-month minimums, setup fees, exit penalties
30-day notice. No setup fee. No penalty.
Reviewer credentials
"We have CAs" — no names, no proof
CA-credentialed partner reviews every deliverable
The cost side, on one page

What it actually costs to deliver a bookkeeping client.

Your firm already bills $2,500–$5,000/month per bookkeeping client. The variable in your P&L isn't the price — it's the delivery cost. Here's the side-by-side, per FTE.

If you hire in-house
$5,500/mo
Fully loaded mid-level US bookkeeper, per FTE
  • $4,000 base salary (BLS median, US bookkeeper)
  • $1,100 benefits + payroll tax
  • $300 software + workspace + tools
  • $100 amortized recruiting + training
  • PTO, sick days, ramp time on top
Total cost: $5,500/mo · $66,000/yr
If you outsource to Crisp
$1,295/FTE/mo
One dedicated CA-credentialed FTE
  • Up to 30 client engagements per FTE
  • Software access included (QBO, Xero, NetSuite)
  • Productive by week 2 — no 73-day hiring lag
  • Scale up Feb–Apr, down May–Dec (30-day notice)
  • No benefits, no PTO, no recruiting overhead
Total cost: $1,295/mo · $15,540/yr
The delivery-cost delta
~$50K/yr
Per FTE, freed up in your P&L
  • ~$50,000/year per FTE in delivery cost
  • 3 FTEs ≈ $150K/year freed up
  • 5 FTEs ≈ $250K/year freed up
  • Same client invoices. Same partner sign-off.
  • Same Chartered Accountant rigor delivered.
Per-FTE delivery saving: ~$50K/yr

The labor delta is only part of it. Partners we work with usually say the bigger win is the partner hours reclaimed from reviewing routine bookkeeping — time that shifts back to advisory at $300–$500/hour. That's where the math really compounds, but we keep this page to the part you can verify on a spreadsheet today.

How it works

From first call to first deliverable in 14 days.

No 60-day RFP. No 6-month onboarding cycle. We're set up to start in two weeks — because that's what busy season actually demands.

01

Discovery call

30 minutes with our partner. We map your service mix, software stack, and where the actual bottleneck is — bookkeeping, 1040s, audit prep, or some combination.

Day 0
02

Free sample work

Send us one tax return you'd like a second set of eyes on, or one month of bookkeeping for one of your clients. We deliver it free in 5 business days so you see the quality before signing anything.

Days 1–5
03

Dedicated FTE assigned

You get a named CA-credentialed team member working US-hours overlap. NDA signed, IRC §7216 consent in place, secure VPN provisioned, your tools mirrored on our end.

Days 7–10
04

White-label delivery

Work product ships under your firm's name and branding. Your client never sees us. Daily standups during busy season, weekly otherwise. Slack, Teams, or email — your call.

Day 14+
Tools & partners

We work in the software your firm already runs.

8+ years across the US accounting tech stack. Our team is trained on the platforms below — no learning curve, no "we'll figure it out as we go," no asking you to switch tools to fit our workflow.

BOOKKEEPING & CLOSE
QuickBooks Online QuickBooks Desktop Xero NetSuite Sage Intacct FreshBooks Bill.com Ramp
TAX PREPARATION
UltraTax CS CCH Axcess ProSystem fx Drake Tax Lacerte TaxAct Professional TurboTax Business Avalara · TaxJar
AUDIT & ASSURANCE
CaseWare Working Papers ProSystem fx Engagement Thomson Reuters AdvanceFlow TeamMate Audit Confirmation.com SafeSend Returns
PRACTICE & WORKFLOW
Karbon Canopy TaxDome Liscio SmartVault ShareFile Gusto · ADP · Paychex A2X · Synder · Zapier

Not seeing your stack? Tell us on the discovery call — we've almost certainly worked in it, and if not, we can be productive within a week.

What we deliver

The work your staff doesn't want to do.

Routine, time-intensive, schedule-bound work that destroys partner margins when done in-house. We do it at half the cost, with the same Chartered Accountant rigor your local hires would bring.

BOOKKEEPING & CAS

Monthly close, reconciliations, AR/AP

Full-cycle bookkeeping in QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, or FreshBooks. We handle the categorization, the reconciliation, the monthly close package — your team handles the client conversation.

  • Monthly P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow
  • Bank + credit card reconciliation
  • AR/AP processing, vendor management
  • Sales tax filing (multi-state)
  • QBO/Xero cleanup + catch-up bookkeeping
TAX PREP & FILING

1040, 1065, 1120, 1120S — busy season overflow

Federal + state returns prepared by tax-trained CAs, reviewed by a senior before handoff. You sign off and file. Built for the Jan–April crunch when your team can't hire fast enough.

  • Individual (1040) — including K-1 schedules
  • Partnership (1065) + multi-state allocations
  • C-Corp (1120) + S-Corp (1120S)
  • Multi-state nexus + apportionment
  • Sales tax, payroll tax, estimated quarterly
AUDIT & ASSURANCE

Workpaper prep, testing, confirmations

You stay client-facing; we handle the prep work that consumes 60% of audit hours. PCAOB-aware procedures, US GAAP-trained, CaseWare and ProSystem fx proficient.

  • Audit workpaper preparation
  • Substantive testing & sampling
  • Bank + AR confirmations
  • Review engagement support
  • Compilation engagement support
Security & Compliance

The reason your data security officer will sign off.

We've been on the receiving end of "is offshore safe?" enough times to know what your IT and risk people need to see. So we built for them, not just for you.

IRC §7216 consent workflow

Every taxpayer engagement includes IRS-compliant written consent before any taxpayer data crosses borders. We provide template language and track consent in our PM system.

Encrypted at rest + in transit

AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit. No client data on personal devices. Secure file exchange via SmartVault, ShareFile, or your firm's preferred portal — we adapt to your stack.

Zero offshore residency for sensitive returns

For 1040s and any return with sensitive PII, we use US-hosted virtual desktops — work happens via secure RDP, no data downloads to India. Industry-standard approach for the cautious firm.

NDA + background checks on every team member

Standard NDA signed before hire, criminal background check, ongoing confidentiality training. Each engagement layered with a client-specific NDA at your discretion.

SOC 2-aligned internal controls

Formal SOC 2 Type 2 audit underway (target completion Q3 2026). Until then, we operate under SOC 2-aligned controls and can share our internal control matrix on request.

4–6 hours of US daytime overlap

Our delivery team works split shifts to give you 4–6 hours of overlap with EST business hours daily. Daily standup at 8 AM EST during busy season. Slack, Teams, or email.

Try us with one real piece of work. Free.

Send us one tax return you'd like a second set of eyes on, or one month of bookkeeping for one of your clients. We'll deliver it free in 5 business days so you see the quality firsthand — before you commit to anything. No catch, no auto-billing, no fine print.

Book a call
No credit card Mutual NDA in 1 page 5-day turnaround
Pricing

Three ways to engage us. Pick what fits your firm.

Test us hourly with zero commitment. Lock in an FTE for 22–32% off the hourly rate. Or hand us specific returns for a flat fee. All three models share the same Chartered Accountant talent — only the contract differs.

Bookkeeper
Day-to-day bookkeeping, AR/AP, reconciliations
$12 /hour
No minimum hours. Cancel anytime.
  • Billed in 15-minute increments
  • QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct
  • Bank + credit card reconciliation
  • AR/AP processing, vendor mgmt
  • Sales tax filing (multi-state)
  • Daily Slack/Teams check-in
  • Weekly time log for transparency
Try us hourly
FOR SPECIFIC PROJECTS Senior Tax / Audit
Tax prep, audit support, complex work
$15 /hour
No minimum hours. Tax-trained CAs.
  • 1040 / 1065 / 1120 / 1120S preparation
  • Multi-state nexus + apportionment
  • Audit workpaper prep + testing
  • Tax research + IRS notice drafting
  • Review & compilation engagements
  • Reviewed by CA partner before handoff
  • Direct Slack/Teams access to lead
Try us hourly
CA Partner
Advisory, complex tax, CFO-grade work
$20 /hour
Partner-to-partner conversations.
  • 10+ years CA-credentialed experience
  • Complex multi-entity tax structures
  • International tax (FBAR, FATCA, treaty)
  • M&A diligence, valuations
  • CFO advisory & financial modeling
  • Same-day response, US business hours
  • Direct partner-to-partner contact
Try us hourly

Best for: solo CPAs, small firms (1–5 staff), one-off projects, ad-hoc overflow, "let me test their quality first" engagements. Once you cross ~80 hours/month with us, the FTE plan saves you 22–32%. We'll proactively flag the upgrade when it makes sense.

Bookkeeper
Day-to-day bookkeeping & monthly close
From $1,295 /FTE/mo
vs. $12/hr hourly — save 32%
  • ~160 productive hours/month included
  • Full-cycle bookkeeping (QBO, Xero, NetSuite)
  • Up to 30 client engagements per FTE
  • Bank + credit card reconciliation
  • Monthly P&L, BS, Cash Flow package
  • AR/AP processing, sales tax filing
  • Daily Slack/Teams check-in
Lock in an FTE
MOST POPULAR Senior Tax / Audit
Tax prep, audit support, complex work
From $1,795 /FTE/mo
vs. $15/hr hourly — save 25%
  • ~160 productive hours/month included
  • 1040 / 1065 / 1120 / 1120S preparation
  • Multi-state nexus + apportionment
  • Audit workpaper prep + testing
  • Review & compilation engagements
  • Tax research + IRS notice drafting
  • Reviewed by CA partner before handoff
Lock in an FTE
CA Partner
Advisory, complex tax, CFO-grade work
From $2,495 /FTE/mo
vs. $20/hr hourly — save 22%
  • ~160 productive hours/month included
  • 10+ years CA-credentialed experience
  • Complex multi-entity tax structures
  • International tax (FBAR, FATCA, treaty)
  • M&A diligence, valuations
  • CFO advisory & financial modeling
  • Same-day response in US business hours
Lock in an FTE

Best for: mid-size firms (10–50 staff) thinking in headcount terms ("we need one more bookkeeper"). Predictable monthly cost, dedicated FTE, 22–32% cheaper than hourly. 30-day notice to cancel or scale. No setup fees, no annual lock-in.

Individual returns
1040s — from simple to multi-state
From $185 /return
Flat fee. CA-reviewed before delivery.
  • 1040 basic: $185
  • 1040 + K-1 schedules: $285
  • 1040 multi-state: $425
  • Up to 3 W-2s, 5 1099s, standard schedules
  • 5-day turnaround during off-peak
  • 7–10 days during Mar–Apr peak
  • UltraTax, CCH Axcess, Drake-compatible
Get a quote
BUSY SEASON FAVORITE Business returns
1065, 1120, 1120S — partnerships, C-Corps, S-Corps
From $450 /return
Flat fee. Predictable for batch volume.
  • 1065 partnership: $450
  • 1120 C-Corp: $500
  • 1120S S-Corp: $500
  • Complex multi-entity: up to $1,200
  • K-1s generated, multi-state allocations
  • State returns: $75/state add-on
  • Sign-off prep package for your CPA
Get a quote
Bookkeeping & audit prep
Per-client or per-engagement flat fees
From $245 /client/mo
Monthly close packages, audit prep engagements.
  • Monthly bookkeeping: $245/client/mo (≤100 txns)
  • Catch-up bookkeeping: $145/month-of-cleanup
  • Audit workpaper prep: from $850/engagement
  • Bank confirmations: $75 each
  • Sales tax filing: $75/state/month
  • 1099 batch filing: $12/form
  • Scope reviewed + quoted before engagement
Get a quote

Best for: Jan–April tax overflow, one-off projects, firms that don't want an ongoing FTE commitment. Pay per deliverable. No FTE lock-in, no hourly clock-watching. Same Chartered Accountant talent, just a different contract structure.

Questions CPA firms ask

What firms actually want to know.

What's the actual cost saving versus a US hire?

A fully loaded mid-level US bookkeeper runs roughly $5,500/month ($4,000 base + benefits + software + amortized recruiting). One dedicated Crisp FTE is $1,295/month. That's roughly $50,000/year per FTE freed up on the delivery side. For a firm running 3 dedicated FTEs, that's around $150,000/year back in the P&L. Your invoices to clients don't change. Your partner sign-off doesn't change. The Chartered Accountant rigor doesn't change. Only the cost side does.

The second-order win we don't headline: partners we work with usually say the bigger ROI is the partner hours reclaimed from reviewing routine bookkeeping. That time shifts back to client advisory at $300–$500/hour billable, but we'd rather you size the deal on the labor delta you can verify on a spreadsheet today.

How do I verify your 164 Upwork reviews are legitimate?

Open upwork.com/agencies/1887850372220028022 in your browser — that's our public agency profile. Upwork is independently operated, doesn't allow review editing, and timestamps every engagement. You'll see job titles, durations, hours billed, and the exact words our clients wrote when they closed each contract. We can't filter or delete what's there. If a review says we missed a deadline, it's still public. Scroll, read, decide.

How do you handle taxpayer data security and IRS §7216 compliance?

Every engagement involving taxpayer data begins with IRS Form §7216 written consent, collected by your firm from your client before any data crosses borders. We provide template consent language. For 1040 work, our team operates on US-hosted virtual desktops — taxpayer data never resides on servers in India. All file exchange happens via your firm's preferred secure portal (SmartVault, ShareFile, Citrix ShareFile, your own SFTP). NDAs are standard, MFA is enforced on every system, internal controls are SOC 2-aligned with a formal SOC 2 Type 2 audit underway (target Q3 2026).

How is this different from offshore "body shops" that just rent us a junior?

Every FTE we assign is a Chartered Accountant or CA-track senior — the international equivalent of a US CPA. They've trained on US GAAP, US federal + state tax code, and the actual software your firm uses (QBO, Xero, ProSystem fx, UltraTax, CCH Axcess, CaseWare). Work is reviewed by a CA partner before it reaches you. You're not getting a junior with a laptop; you're getting a credentialed accountant operating as a senior associate inside your firm. The 164 verified Upwork reviews back this up — read the work-quality comments specifically.

What happens during busy season? Can you scale up fast?

Yes — that's specifically what most firms hire us for. We maintain a bench of CAs who can spin up on your stack within 5–7 business days during peak season (Jan–April for tax, Mar–Jun for audit). Most firms add 2–4 additional FTEs from Feb 1 through April 30, then scale back down. You only pay for the months you use them. No minimum annual commitment, 30-day notice to scale up or down.

How does communication work across time zones?

We staff split shifts so you get 4–6 hours of overlap with EST business hours every day. Daily standup at 8 AM EST during busy season, weekly otherwise. We work in your Slack, Teams, or Asana — whichever your firm runs. Same-day response in US business hours is standard for Senior and Partner tier; Bookkeeper tier responds within 24 business hours. No "you'll hear back tomorrow" lag.

Will my client know they're working with an offshore team?

Only if you want them to. Standard delivery is fully white-labeled: workpapers, tax returns, monthly close packages, and client communication go out under your firm's name and branding. Email signatures, response templates, document headers all reflect your firm. Many of our partner firms have used us for 18+ months with zero client awareness of offshore involvement. We can also operate in co-branded mode if your firm prefers transparency — your call.

What happens when I request a free sample?

Pick one of two options: (a) one tax return you'd like a second set of eyes on (1040, 1065, 1120, 1120S — your call), or (b) one month of bookkeeping for one of your clients. We sign a one-page mutual NDA, you grant us read-only access (or send a sanitized copy), and within 5 business days we return the completed work product. You review, you decide. No credit card, no auto-billing, no follow-up sales pressure. If you like the quality, we talk pricing. If you don't, we both walk away professionally.

Hourly vs FTE vs per-return — which pricing model should we pick?

Pay-per-hour ($12/$15/$20) is the easiest entry. No commitment, no minimum, 15-minute billing. Best for solo CPAs, small firms (1–5 staff), one-off projects, or "let me test their quality first" engagements. The downside: hourly is the most expensive per-hour rate. Most firms graduate off this within 60 days.

Per-FTE monthly ($1,295–$2,495) is what most established firms pick. Predictable monthly cost, dedicated team member, 22–32% cheaper than the hourly rate. Best for mid-size firms (10–50 staff) who already think in headcount terms ("I need one more bookkeeper") and have steady work. 30-day notice to scale or cancel — no annual lock-in.

Per-return flat fee is built for tax season overflow. Send us 50 1040s at $185 each, get them back in 5–7 days, sign off, file. Best for Jan–April peak, audit-season prep, or firms that want zero ongoing commitment. Same talent, just paid per deliverable instead of per hour or per month.

Most firms end up using two models in parallel: an FTE for ongoing bookkeeping, plus per-return pricing for busy season tax overflow. We're happy to mix-and-match — just tell us what makes sense on the discovery call.

What's the minimum commitment? Can I cancel anytime?

30-day notice to cancel or scale down on FTE plans. Hourly and per-return are zero-commitment — pay for what you use, done. No multi-year contracts, no setup fees, no penalty clauses. We don't bill for onboarding, we don't charge for the sample work, and the first month is functionally a trial — if it's not working, you walk with no termination fee. Firms who like the work stay 3+ years; firms who don't fit usually self-select out in the first 30 days, and we'd rather lose them at day 30 than at month 6.

Who's behind Crisp Advisors?

Crisp Advisors LLP is led by Indian Chartered Accountants with 8+ years of US accounting experience. We've delivered 164+ verified engagements on Upwork (Top Rated Plus status) across bookkeeping, tax prep, and CFO advisory, with US/Canadian businesses ranging from solo founders to $20M revenue firms. The CPA Partners practice is a direct B2B2B extension — we work with firm owners as peers, not as a faceless vendor. Founder contact and references available on the discovery call.

Ready to talk?

One free sample. Five business days. No catch.

If the quality clears your internal review bar, we'll build a proposal for your firm. If it doesn't, you've lost nothing but five days. Most firms know within the first piece of work.

Book a call
Reply in 24 business hours Mutual NDA in 1 page Direct partner contact