A finance team in-house costs about $250,000 a year.
Bookkeeper, AP/AR specialist, payroll admin, fractional controller. Each one's a real salary — plus benefits, software, oversight, and the slow drag of managing a team. Saturn replaces that entire function — with CFO-level reporting included — from $1,500/mo. Here's the honest math.
~90% cost savings · Same accountability · No HR overhead · Onboarded in 30 days
Credentialed by the people who set the rules
QuickBooks ProAdvisors
Xero Advisors
Certified Bookkeepers
Where Saturn pulls ahead of In-House.
$18K–$60K/year
Saturn
$220K–$340K+/year
In-House
Same coverage, including CFO-level reporting. Up to 90% less annual cost.
CFO reporting bundled
Saturn
Separate hire ($60–120K/yr)
In-House
KPI dashboard, weekly cash position, 13-week forecast, monthly commentary — in every Saturn plan. In-house = another role to recruit.
Firm continuity
Saturn
Turnover risk
In-House
Your bookkeeper doesn't quit. The firm shows up every Monday, vacation-proof.
The honest math.
| Feature | Saturn BPO | In-House Team |
|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeper | Included | $60–80K/yr salary |
| AP / AR specialist | Included | $55–75K/yr salary |
| Payroll administrator | Included | $45–65K/yr salary |
| Fractional controller / part-time CFO | Included (KPI dashboard, weekly cash, 13-week forecast, monthly commentary) | $60–120K/yr |
| Benefits + payroll taxes (~25% loading) | Included | $55–85K/yr |
| Software stack (QBO, Bill.com, Gusto, etc.) | Included | $5–15K/yr |
| Tax filing (federal + state) | Included via tax partner | Hire a CPA separately ($3–10K/yr+) |
| Management time | Zero | 5–10 hrs/week |
| Turnover risk | Zero (firm continuity) | Hire / retain / replace cycle |
| Vacation coverage | Built-in | You scramble |
| Total annual cost | $18K – $60K typical | $220K – $340K+ |
| Scale up or down | Same month — change tier | Hire / fire cycle |
Which one is right for you?
We'd rather you pick the right partner than the wrong one. Here's where each genuinely wins.
Pick Saturn BPO when...
- You don't have a finance team yet and can't justify hiring 3-4 people
- You want CFO-level reporting without paying for a separate fractional CFO hire
- Your current bookkeeper left and you don't want to recruit again
- You're scaling fast and need finance capacity that flexes with you
- You want predictable monthly cost instead of fixed payroll overhead
- You'd rather spend management bandwidth on growth, not on running a finance team
Hire in-house when...
- You're a $20M+ business where a dedicated team is unambiguously the right model
- You already have a CFO who specifically wants their own team reporting to them
- Your industry is so niche that no outsourced firm has the playbook
- You're acquisitive and need finance people in the deal room daily
- Confidentiality requires every detail stay inside the building (rare, but valid)
Hiring in-house is around $250K a year.
Saturn replaces the whole function from $1,500/mo. Use the calculator to size your exact savings by industry and revenue — instantly.
See exactly what Saturn saves you.
Pick what you'd hire — bookkeeper, bookkeeper + AP/AR, or full team. Set your industry and revenue. See your year-one and 3-year savings instantly.
- Year-one + 3-year cumulative savings
- Industry-tuned (6 verticals)
- Honest US salary benchmarks
- No email required to use
Sample result · Ecommerce · $80K/mo
In-house
$168K/ year
Saturn
$42K/ year
You save
$126,000in year one
$400K+ over 3 years
Illustrative. Run yours in the calculator →
A modern finance team. Not a part-time bookkeeper with a backlog.
Always-on accuracy
Reconciled weekly, not at month-end.
Nothing slips through
Follow-ups and deadlines handled in the background.
Real-time visibility
Weekly summary. Monthly report. No black box.
Books + tax, one roof
Federal & state filing via our partner. No CPA shuffle.
Run the math on your specific business.
Thirty minutes. We'll size what Saturn would cost for your operation — including CFO-level reporting — and you can compare it apples-to-apples against the in-house hire you've been considering. If in-house genuinely wins for your stage, we'll tell you so.
Run the math on my businessNo contract. No high-pressure follow-up. If we're not a fit we'll say so.