What are the best tax accounting outsourcing companies for a small business?

I hate having to qualify a response to a question, but that may be the case here. In my experience the right fit depends on a number of factors - the primary ones are (1) how large is your company currently (e.g. revenue, # of employees and where located - how many states) ?, (2) what jurisdictions do you operate in that have tax requirements (e.g. city, county, state, country)?, (3) who are you selling to (e.g. are you subject to multistate sales tax issues)?

Based on these intiial responses, I would venture to say that a local CPA firm can cover most, if not all of your business taxes, for a company up to approx. $2M - this if you don't have internal staff or an part-time Controller / CFO type with such capabilities at your disposal.

For more complicated taxation issues and especially if you have foreign business, you should seek out a regional, if not national audit and tax firm to consult on specific matters and/or take control of your tax compliance and strategy.

Happy to give you some pro-bono advice offline if you want to dig more into your specific details. - Paul

The best accounting outsourcing companies in the US are those run by CPA firms. You can find great client accounting services practices right here at home and have the benefit of monthly flat rates based on different service levels. The transaction initiation and approvals and approval to pay as well as the customer facing work related to billing your clients will remain with you.

The best outsourcing firms are utilizing cloud accounting services such as Quickbooks Online Plus, Xero (even better for small business), and Intacct for the larger business.

The benefit of a single ledger in the cloud is that not only is your burden of accounting for receipts minimized, you have an accountant ready to assist you based on the service level agreement you signed up for.

I don't practice tax and don't prep financial statements in my advisory practice, but you the client can allow your external tax preparer access to your system to provide those services at year end.

Everything is easier in the Cloud.

In this environment of a moving tax target, a CPA firm is where you need to be. The services are dictated by your needs -- Accounting Management; Financial Reporting, Investor Audits, Tax Preparation... The first two on the list may not require a CPA, but the last two items definitely do.

Adding on to what is mentioned above; some firms will focus on certain industries or sectors. I would check to see if one firm performs more work in your industry and target them.

I believe that Grant Thornton and RSM McGladrey will do a good job

We're a local marketing agency and we use Pacific Crest Group. (http://www.pcg-services.com). They've been our partner for a few years now, and we've always been satisfied with their services.