The average accounting firm loses 30% of its billable capacity to administrative tasks that do not require a CPA license, an accounting degree, or even a desk in the office.
Every hour a senior accountant spends chasing a missing receipt or formatting a report is an hour that cannot be billed at $150-$400. A virtual assistant trained in accounting workflows handles the operational backbone of your firm while your licensed staff focuses on advisory and compliance work.
Below are 50 specific tasks an accounting firm VA can own, organized across 7 functional areas.
Client Communication and Intake (1-8)
These tasks represent the first and most frequent touchpoints with your clients. They are essential for client retention but rarely require technical accounting knowledge.
1. Client onboarding coordination - Your VA manages the entire new-client intake process: sending engagement letters, collecting signed documents, setting up client folders, and scheduling kickoff calls.
2. Document request follow-up - During tax season and quarterly reviews, your VA sends document request checklists, tracks what has been received, and follows up on outstanding items so your accountants never wait on paperwork.
3. Appointment scheduling and rescheduling - Managing calendars for multiple accountants across tax prep meetings, advisory sessions, and quarterly reviews using tools like Calendly, Acuity, or your practice management software.
4. Client email triage and response - Your VA monitors firm inboxes, responds to routine questions, routes technical inquiries to the right team member, and ensures no client email sits unanswered for more than 24 hours.
5. Meeting preparation and briefing - Before every client meeting, your VA pulls the relevant financials, prior-year returns, open items, and notes into a brief so your accountant walks in fully prepared.
6. Post-meeting follow-up - Sending summary emails to clients with action items, deadlines, and next steps documented - so nothing discussed in a meeting falls through the cracks.
7. Client satisfaction surveys - Distributing and collecting feedback surveys after key service milestones like tax filing completion, audit wrap-up, or advisory engagements.
8. Referral program management - Tracking referral sources, sending thank-you communications, and maintaining your referral pipeline so your best growth channel stays active year-round.
Data Entry and Bookkeeping Support (9-18)
These tasks keep client books clean and your workflows moving. A VA with bookkeeping training can handle all of them under the supervision of your licensed staff.
Did You Know? Firms that delegate data entry and bookkeeping support to trained VAs report reclaiming 12-15 hours per week per accountant during peak season. - Journal of Accountancy
9. Transaction categorization - Importing and categorizing bank and credit card transactions in QuickBooks, Xero, or FreshBooks according to each client's chart of accounts.
10. Bank and credit card reconciliation - Matching transactions against bank statements monthly to ensure accuracy and flag discrepancies before they compound.
11. Accounts payable processing - Recording vendor invoices, verifying amounts against purchase orders, scheduling payments, and maintaining AP aging reports for clients.
12. Accounts receivable tracking - Generating invoices on behalf of clients, recording payments received, and following up on overdue balances.
13. Receipt and expense organization - Collecting, digitizing, and categorizing receipts from clients using tools like Dext, Hubdoc, or Receipt Bank so every expense is documented and audit-ready.
14. Payroll data preparation - Gathering timesheets, verifying hours, confirming pay rates, and preparing payroll data for processing through Gusto, ADP, or Paychex.
15. Journal entry preparation - Drafting standard journal entries for recurring items like depreciation, prepaid expenses, and accruals - ready for your CPA to review and post.
16. Monthly close checklist execution - Running through your firm's standardized month-end close process for each client: reconciliations, accruals, reclassifications, and report generation.
17. 1099 data compilation - Collecting vendor information, verifying TINs, and compiling payment totals for 1099 preparation well before filing deadlines.
18. Sales tax data aggregation - Pulling sales data, organizing by jurisdiction, and preparing the supporting schedules your accountants need to file sales tax returns.
Tax Season Support (19-26)
19. Tax organizer distribution and tracking - Sending client tax organizers in January, tracking completion status, and following up with clients who have not returned theirs.
20. Document portal management - Uploading documents to client portals like SmartVault, Sharefile, or Canopy, organizing files by return type, and ensuring clients can access their completed returns.
21. Extension filing preparation - Preparing extension forms, tracking extension deadlines, and confirming filing acknowledgments so no client misses a deadline.
22. E-file status monitoring - Tracking the acceptance or rejection status of every e-filed return and flagging rejections for immediate accountant attention.
23. Prior-year return retrieval - Pulling prior-year returns, K-1s, and carryforward schedules from your document management system so preparers have everything they need in one place.
24. Client status tracking - Maintaining a master status tracker showing where every client stands in the preparation pipeline: documents received, in preparation, in review, ready to file, filed.
25. Estimated tax payment reminders - Sending quarterly estimated payment reminders to clients with payment amounts, due dates, and vouchers attached.
26. Amended return coordination - When changes are needed, your VA manages the communication loop: notifying the client, collecting additional documents, and tracking the amended return through completion.
Administrative and Office Operations (27-36)
27. Practice management software updates - Keeping your CRM and practice management tools like Canopy, Karbon, or Practice Ignition current with client contact details, engagement statuses, and workflow stages.
28. Time and billing entry - Recording billable time entries from handwritten notes or verbal summaries, ensuring every billable hour is captured before invoicing.
29. Invoice generation and delivery - Creating and sending client invoices based on time entries, fixed-fee agreements, or project milestones.
30. Accounts receivable follow-up for the firm - Following up on the firm's own unpaid invoices with polite but consistent reminders to maintain healthy cash flow.
31. Vendor and subscription management - Tracking software licenses, renewal dates, and vendor contracts so nothing lapses unexpectedly.
32. Staff calendar coordination - Managing PTO requests, scheduling coverage, and coordinating team meetings across multiple accountants and support staff.
33. Continuing education tracking - Monitoring CPE credit requirements for each licensed team member, logging completed courses, and sending reminders before renewal deadlines.
34. Office supply and technology ordering - Handling procurement for office supplies, printer toner, and technology accessories to keep operations running smoothly.
35. Standard operating procedure documentation - Creating and updating process documents for recurring firm workflows so every task has a clear, repeatable playbook.
36. New hire onboarding support - Preparing onboarding packets, setting up software accounts, and coordinating training schedules when new team members join.
Marketing and Business Development (37-42)
37. Social media content scheduling - Creating and scheduling posts about tax tips, regulatory updates, and firm news across LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
38. Email newsletter management - Drafting, formatting, and sending monthly or quarterly newsletters with tax deadlines, regulatory changes, and firm updates using Mailchimp or Constant Contact.
39. Blog content support - Researching topics, drafting outlines, and formatting published posts for the firm's website to support SEO and thought leadership.
40. Online review management - Monitoring Google Business, Yelp, and industry-specific review sites, responding to reviews, and requesting testimonials from satisfied clients.
41. Webinar and event coordination - Handling registration pages, attendee communications, presentation logistics, and post-event follow-up for firm-hosted events.
42. Prospect research and CRM updates - Identifying potential clients, researching their businesses, and adding qualified leads to your CRM with relevant notes for partner outreach.
Compliance and Regulatory Support (43-47)
Compliance tasks are non-negotiable and deadline-driven. A VA ensures nothing falls through the cracks.
43. Filing deadline calendar maintenance - Managing a master calendar of federal, state, and local filing deadlines for every client engagement across tax, payroll, and regulatory filings.
44. Regulatory update monitoring - Tracking IRS updates, state tax law changes, and regulatory announcements, then summarizing key changes for your team.
45. FBAR and FATCA filing support - Collecting foreign account information from applicable clients and preparing supporting documentation for international compliance filings.
46. Business license and registration tracking - Monitoring renewal dates for client business licenses, state registrations, and annual report filings.
47. Engagement letter management - Drafting, sending, tracking, and filing signed engagement letters for every client relationship.
Reporting and Analysis Support (48-50)
These tasks help your firm deliver more value to clients without consuming additional CPA time.
48. Financial report formatting - Taking raw financial data and formatting it into clean, client-ready reports with consistent branding, charts, and executive summaries.
49. KPI dashboard updates - Maintaining client KPI dashboards in Excel, Google Sheets, or visualization tools like Fathom or Spotlight Reporting.
50. Benchmarking data compilation - Pulling industry benchmarking data so your accountants can provide context and comparison when presenting financial results to clients.
Summary: 50 Tasks by Category
| Category | Tasks | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Client Communication & Intake | 1-8 | Onboarding, document follow-up, scheduling |
| Data Entry & Bookkeeping Support | 9-18 | Reconciliation, AP/AR, receipt organization |
| Tax Season Support | 19-26 | Tax organizers, e-file tracking, extensions |
| Administrative & Office Operations | 27-36 | Billing, CPE tracking, SOP documentation |
| Marketing & Business Development | 37-42 | Social media, newsletters, review management |
| Compliance & Regulatory Support | 43-47 | Deadline tracking, regulatory updates, FBAR |
| Reporting & Analysis Support | 48-50 | Report formatting, KPI dashboards, benchmarking |
How to Start Delegating at Your Firm
Do not try to hand off all 50 tasks on day one. Start with the category that creates the most bottleneck - for most firms, that is tax season support and client communication. These two categories alone can free up 15-20 hours per week per accountant during busy season.
From there, expand into data entry, then administrative operations. Within 60-90 days, your VA can be running the operational backbone of your firm. If you are new to working with VAs, learn what a virtual assistant is first.
Get Your Firm's Time Back
You now have a complete list of 50 tasks that a trained accounting firm VA can handle - from client onboarding to financial reporting. Every task on this list is one your licensed professionals should not be spending time on.
Stealth Agents provides accounting firms with trained virtual assistants who understand accounting workflows, tax season demands, and client communication standards. Whether you need part-time tax season support or a full-time operational VA, we match you with someone who fits your firm's needs from day one.
Book a free consultation with Stealth Agents to discuss your firm's delegation plan and start reclaiming your team's billable hours.