In many small businesses, the books land with the office manager. It feels efficient: they already handle invoices and know the suppliers. But an office manager doing bookkeeping on the side often means late BAS, payroll errors and one person holding every key to your bank account. This guide compares the cost and the risks, and shows when to keep it in-house and when to use an outsourced finance team.
Published: October 2026
An office manager keeps the business running day to day: suppliers, facilities, staff admin, customer queries and often HR paperwork. A bookkeeper keeps the financial records right: reconciliations, coding, payroll, BAS preparation and month-end reports.
The two roles overlap at invoices and supplier payments, which is why one often absorbs the other. Our article on when a bookkeeper isn't enough covers the next step up.
The salary is already being paid, so the books look free. They are not. The cost is the share of the office manager's time that goes to bookkeeping, plus whatever their main job no longer gets.
Here is a floor using award minimums. A full-time Level 5 clerical employee, the highest general clerical level under the Clerks Award, must be paid at least $1,291.80 a week from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. That is $67,173.60 a year, as set out in our Clerks Award reference for 2026-27. If bookkeeping takes 1.5 days a week, or 30% of their time:
Most office managers are paid above the award, so the real figure is usually higher. Run your own numbers in the employee cost calculator.
Compare that with Scale Suite packages, which start from $1,500 per month and include review by a registered BAS agent. The money is close. What you get for it is not.
The office manager often raises bills, loads payments and sometimes approves them too. That breaks the basic rule that the person who loads a payment should not approve it. Our guide to internal controls for small business explains how to split duties.
GST coding, PAYG withholding and award interpretation need specific knowledge. Since 1 July 2026, super must also reach each employee's fund within 7 business days of every payday under Payday Super. A late BAS can attract a failure to lodge penalty for each 28 days it is overdue, up to five blocks, according to the ATO. It is $364 a block for a small entity. For a medium entity, one that withholds more than $25,000 a year in PAYG or has GST turnover or assessable income of $1 million to $20 million, it doubles to $728, up to $3,640 per statement. Most businesses with around 20 staff are in that band. Our guide to failure to lodge penalties shows how the blocks add up. An office manager who learned bookkeeping on the job may not know these rules, and nobody checks.
An employee preparing their own employer's BAS does not need to be a registered BAS agent. That is legal, but it also means no outside professional is reviewing the work. Pairing in-house staff with registered BAS agent services fixes that.
When a staff member resigns, a client complains or the printer dies, the office manager deals with it. Reconciliations slip, then month-end slips, and reports arrive weeks late or not at all.
If the office manager leaves or goes on extended leave, the knowledge goes with them. Passwords, payment routines and supplier arrangements are often undocumented.
It can work well when:
If you can tick all five, keep it in-house. If you cannot, look at a hybrid.
In a hybrid, the office manager keeps the tasks that need someone on site and the outsourced team does the rest.
The office manager keeps: collecting receipts and approvals, entering supplier invoices, first contact with suppliers and customers, and petty cash.
The outsourced team does: bank reconciliations, payroll and super, BAS preparation and lodgement, debtor follow-up, month-end close and management reports.
This frees the office manager to do their main job, puts compliance with specialists and separates the person who loads payments from the person who approves them. Payroll can sit with outsourced payroll services even if everything else stays in-house.
Ask three questions:
If the answer to the third is nobody, start there. The hire vs outsource calculator helps compare the options, and our guide to the true cost of DIY bookkeeping covers the hidden costs.
Should my office manager do the bookkeeping?
It can work for simple books with low volumes, as long as someone else approves payments and a registered BAS agent reviews the work. For anything more complex, a hybrid or outsourced model usually costs about the same and carries less risk.
Does an office manager need to be a registered BAS agent to do my BAS?
No. An employee preparing BAS for their own employer does not need to be registered. But no outside professional checks the work unless you arrange it.
What is the minimum pay for an office manager in 2026-27?
It depends on the duties. Under the Clerks Award, Level 5, the top clerical level, pays at least $1,291.80 a week from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026.
What is segregation of duties?
It means splitting tasks so that no single person can both create and approve a payment. It is one of the simplest protections against fraud and errors.
Can I outsource just payroll and BAS and keep the rest in-house?
Yes. Many businesses keep invoice entry and approvals with the office manager and outsource payroll, BAS and reporting.
How much does outsourced bookkeeping cost compared with an office manager's time?
At award minimums, 1.5 days a week of a Level 5 employee's time costs about $1,881 a month including super. Scale Suite packages start from $1,500 per month and include registered BAS agent review.
Book a 30-minute call at calendly.com/scalesuite/30min. We will map which tasks should stay in-house, which should move, and give you a fixed monthly fee.
Scale Suite is a Sydney-based provider of outsourced finance teams and fractional CFO services for Australian SMEs. We deliver weekly bookkeeping, payroll, BAS/IAS lodgement, cashflow reporting, management accounts, and strategic fractional CFO oversight, all as a fully embedded team that works inside your business.
CA-qualified, Xero Certified, and registered BAS Agents, we replace fragmented bookkeepers and once-a-year accountants with one responsive finance function at a fraction of the cost of full-time hires. We serve growing businesses across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide, with packages starting from $1,500 per month and no lock-in contracts.
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We review and check this guide periodically. At the time of writing (October 2026), all information was current. Scale Suite is a registered BAS Agent, not a licensed tax advisor or financial advisor. This content is general information only and does not constitute professional tax, financial, or legal advice. Some details may change over time.
All figures as at October 2026. Award rates are minimum adult rates for full-time employees.
Scale Suite is a Sydney-based provider of outsourced finance and HR services for Australian SMEs. We deliver bookkeeping, financial reporting, payroll processing, fractional CFO support, recruitment, employee onboarding, people and culture support, and fractional HR oversight, all as a fully embedded team that works inside your business.
Employment Hero Gold Partner, CA-qualified, and Xero Certified, we replace fragmented finance and HR processes with one responsive, senior-level function at a fraction of the cost of full-time hires. We serve growing businesses across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, with packages starting from $1,500 per month and no lock-in contracts.
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We will review your current finance setup, compare the full cost of an internal hire against our embedded team, and show you exactly what your finance function should cost at your stage of growth.
You will leave with a clear view of what is working, what is missing and where you would save.
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