A virtual executive assistant for accountants, bookkeepers and BAS agents.
The technical work, the coding calls, the lodgements, the advice, is the part of your practice that only you can do. The trouble is the hours around it: an inbox you file at 9pm, invoices that need uploading before you can reconcile, new clients who go quiet the moment you ask for their receipts. An EA takes that layer off you so the chargeable work is not buried under admin.
Book a free discovery callWhat an EA for a bookkeeping or accounting firm actually handles
Inbox filing and sorting
The practice inbox is where everything lands and nothing gets filed. The EA reads it down, labels by client and by what it is (a bill, a query, an ID document, a lodgement reminder), saves attachments to the right place and drafts the routine replies. You open ten emails that need you instead of eighty that mostly do not.
Invoice and source-document uploads
Invoices, receipts and bank statements get renamed to your convention and uploaded into the correct client folder in Dropbox, Google Drive or Hubdoc, with the publish queue in Hubdoc or Dext kept moving so nothing sits unprocessed. Duplicates and missing pages are flagged before they reach your reconciliation.
Client onboarding and chasing
New client in? The EA runs the checklist: engagement and ID requests out, software access and bank details collected, folder and contact record set up. Then the part you dread, the polite second and third nudge for the receipts and the missing statement, runs on a cadence you set, not on your evenings.
Light Xero and MYOB data entry
Bills and invoices keyed in, the source document attached to each transaction, contacts created, coding kept consistent with how you have handled similar items before. The EA prepares the ledger to the point of review. The reconciliation sign-off, the GST call and the lodgement stay yours.
Deadline and lodgement-reminder admin
A running view of which client has which BAS quarter, payroll, super and end-of-year dates coming up, with the reminder prompts sent to you and to the client so nothing creeps up unseen. The EA keeps the calendar honest; you make the lodgement as the registered agent.
One person, building your context
Every placement is one dedicated EA serving one firm, not a shared pool. The same person every week, so by the second month they know your file naming, your coding habits and which clients need three reminders, not one. The admin gets faster as the context compounds.
Where the time goes back when the desk work leaves
Most accountants and BAS agents we speak to are not short of work, they are short of evenings. Here is the swap an EA makes, set against carrying the same hours yourself or putting on a part-time local admin:
Doing it yourself, or a local part-timer
Your billable hours, spent on admin
- The inbox, uploads and data entry land on the one person who could be doing chargeable work
- A local part-time admin carries the 12% super guarantee from hour one, plus leave and the hiring
- Quiet stretches between busy quarters still cost you a wage
- Training someone on your file convention and software falls on you
- Cover disappears the week they take leave or move on
DotVA virtual executive assistant
$18-25/hr AUD
- One hourly rate, billed only for the hours you book, from around 15 a week
- No superannuation, leave loading or payroll tax
- No recruitment fee or paid downtime between quarters
- Vetted for prior EA experience and discretion before you meet them
- Replaced at no cost inside the 30-day window if the fit is wrong
EA placements sit in our specialist tier at $18-25/hr AUD (excl GST). See the full breakdown on the pricing page, and note this is administrative support: BAS lodgement and tax advice remain the work of the registered agent.
Questions from accountants, bookkeepers and BAS agents
Can a virtual executive assistant for accountants do my BAS or give tax advice?
No, and we are deliberate about that line. The EA handles administrative support only: filing the inbox, uploading source documents, chasing missing client information and entering data into Xero or MYOB. The BAS lodgement, the GST coding decisions and any tax advice stay with you as the registered agent. Under the Tax Agent Services Act, BAS and tax services are the work of a registered agent, so the VA preps and organises the file and you make the call. Think of it as the desk work cleared off your plate, not the agent role replaced.
How does the EA handle invoice uploads and source documents to Dropbox, Google Drive or Hubdoc?
This is bread-and-butter EA work for a bookkeeping firm. The EA collects invoices, receipts and statements as they land by email or from a client portal, renames them to your file convention, and uploads them into the right client folder in Dropbox, Google Drive or Hubdoc. They keep the publish-to-ledger queue moving in Hubdoc or Dext so documents are not sitting unprocessed, and they flag anything that looks like a duplicate or a missing page before it reaches your reconciliation. You open a tidy folder instead of a shoebox.
Will the EA enter data into Xero and MYOB, and where does that stop?
Yes, light data entry into Xero and MYOB is part of the role: entering bills and invoices, attaching the source document to the transaction, setting up contacts and keeping the chart-of-accounts entries consistent with how you have coded similar items before. What the EA does not do is sign off the reconciliation, finalise the GST treatment or lodge anything. They prepare the file to the point where you, the registered agent or the senior bookkeeper, review and complete it. The judgement calls stay with you; the keystrokes do not.
Can the EA run client onboarding and chase the information clients never send?
Yes, and for most firms the chasing is the part that quietly eats the week. The EA runs the onboarding checklist for a new client: sending the engagement and ID-verification requests, collecting bank details and software access, and setting up the client folder and contact record. Then they do the follow-up, the polite second and third email for the receipts, the missing invoice, the statement you need before quarter-end, so you are not the one writing reminder emails at night. You set the script and the cadence; they keep the list moving.
Can the EA manage my lodgement and deadline reminders?
Yes, on the administrative side. The EA keeps a running view of which clients have which deadlines coming up, BAS quarters, payroll and super dates, and end-of-financial-year tasks, and sends you and the client the reminder admin so nothing creeps up unseen. They prepare the list and the prompts; you confirm the lodgement itself as the registered agent. It is the deadline housekeeping handled, with the lodgement decision left exactly where it has to be.
I am a sole BAS agent drowning in inbox and admin. Is this overkill?
No, a sole BAS agent or solo bookkeeper is the most common fit. You do not need a full-time hire to get the inbox filed, the invoices uploaded to Dropbox and the Xero or MYOB data entry off your evenings. EA placements run from around 15 hours a week, billed only for the hours you book at $18-25/hr, so a one-person practice can hand over the document wrangling and chasing without taking on a salary, super, or a desk. Start with the two or three tasks that cost you the most evenings and grow it from there.
Book a free discovery call
Thirty minutes with Jenn, DotVA's founder. Walk her through your firm, the inbox that never gets filed, the invoices waiting to go up to Dropbox or Hubdoc, the Xero and MYOB entry stacking up, and she will tell you straight which two or three tasks to hand over first and where the cost lands. No obligation, and the agent work never leaves your hands.
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