The short answer: Most Hong Kong IT companies pay roughly $8,000 to $30,000 a year for outsourced accounting, which is about $700 to $2,500 a month. High-volume SaaS, app and ecommerce businesses can pay $25,000 to $60,000 or more. A good monthly service should cover bookkeeping, bank and platform reconciliation, management reports, payroll and MPF, tax support and audit coordination.
These figures are market benchmarks, not Pinetree quotes. Your price depends on transaction volume, currencies, headcount and how clean your records are.
What Hong Kong IT Companies Typically Pay
Published 2026 fee guides show clear bands by company profile:
| Company profile | Typical annual fee ($) | Usually covers |
| Dormant company | 2,500 – 5,000 | Business registration renewal, minimal filings |
| Micro-SME (under 50 transactions a month, single currency) | 8,000 – 15,000 | Bookkeeping, audit, Profits Tax, business registration renewal |
| Active trading SME (under 200 transactions a month, multi-currency) | 15,000 – 30,000 | The above, plus multi-currency reconciliation and offshore claim support |
| Ecommerce or digital services SME (high volume) | 25,000 – 60,000+ | Platform reconciliation (for example Stripe, Shopify) and foreign VAT review |
| Accounting plus company secretarial | 15,000 – 35,000 | Accounting, tax compliance, secretarial filings |
Two things push IT companies towards the higher bands. The first is revenue arriving through several payment platforms and currencies. The second is cross-border customers, which can raise indirect tax questions.
Some providers price by document volume instead. One local example is $1,000 a month for up to 180 documents a year, with turnover under $2 million. Fees then rise to $2,000 to $4,000 a month as documents and turnover grow. Other guides show small businesses starting from about $740 a month for basic bookkeeping, and growing SMEs paying $3,000 to $10,000 a month for full accounting and compliance.
Cloud-first platforms advertise entry plans from about $3,000 to $3,500 per financial year. Those plans are usually annual bookkeeping and unaudited statements only. Audit is often quoted separately, so compare like for like.
What Your Monthly Service Should Include
Use this as a checklist when reviewing any quote.
Core monthly services
- Bookkeeping: recording sales, expenses, supplier invoices and bank movements.
- Monthly bank reconciliation, not just a year-end catch-up.
- Management reports (profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow), monthly or quarterly.
- Payroll, payslips and MPF contributions.
- Year-round Profits Tax support and handling of Inland Revenue Department (IRD) queries.
- A compliance calendar for filing and record-keeping deadlines.
Annual services to confirm are included
- Annual financial statements.
- Profits Tax computation and return support.
- Employer’s Return and staff movement forms (IR56E for new hires, IR56F or IR56G for leavers).
- Audit coordination, covered in the section below.
- Business registration renewal and Companies Registry filings, if you want one provider for everything.
IT-specific extras
- Reconciliation of Stripe, PayPal, app store and marketplace payouts against your bank.
- Multi-currency handling (USD, EUR, RMB and others).
- Review of foreign VAT or sales-tax exposure where you sell digital services.
- Cloud accounting set-up that connects to payroll and your other systems.
If a quote omits platform reconciliation, you may find it billed as an “extra” later.
Why Bookkeeping Quality Matters
Hong Kong businesses must keep sufficient records of income and expenditure for at least seven years. Under the Inland Revenue Ordinance, failing to do so can lead to a fine of up to $100,000. Tidy monthly records protect you in an IRD enquiry and keep audit costs down.
Profits Tax is charged on Hong Kong-sourced profits. For corporations, the two-tier rates are 8.25% on the first $2 million of assessable profits and 16.5% above that. The lower rate applies to only one company within a group of connected entities. If you run several entities, such as a Hong Kong holding company and an operating company, plan this early.
Our accounting and bookkeeping service is built around monthly records that are ready for tax and audit.
Payroll and MPF for Tech Teams
Hong Kong has no payroll withholding tax, but employers must still run salaries accurately and remit MPF each month. Mandatory MPF is generally 5% of relevant income from both employer and employee. The contribution is capped at $1,500 a side per month once monthly income reaches $30,000.
Records must be kept for at least seven years. Developers, contractors and overseas hires can make this complicated, especially when staff join or leave mid-year. If you would rather not run payroll in-house, our outsourced payroll and HR service covers payslips, MPF and the IRD staff forms.
Audit: Plan It Into Your Monthly Service
Most Hong Kong limited companies need an annual statutory audit, carried out by an independent, qualified auditor. Your accounting provider should not do this audit for you. They should prepare year-end schedules, answer auditor queries and manage the timetable.
Pinetree does not carry out statutory audits itself. Our audit arrangement and support service coordinates the process with independent auditors, so you are not chasing documents at year-end. Always ask whether a quote includes audit coordination, the audit fee itself, or neither.
Outsourced vs In-House: A Cost Comparison
For many early-stage tech firms, outsourcing costs far less than a full-time hire:
| Cost item | Outsourced provider | In-house accountant |
| Monthly cost | $3,000 – 15,000 (scope-dependent) | $20,000 – 50,000+ salary |
| MPF contributions | Not applicable | 5%, capped at $1,500 a month |
| Benefits, leave, bonuses | Not applicable | Additional cost |
| Training and software | Usually included | Additional cost |
| Skills coverage | A team | One person |
Outsourcing also scales with your transaction volume. As you grow, you might keep tax and audit coordination outsourced and bring day-to-day finance in-house.
A Hypothetical Example
This example is illustrative only and not a Pinetree quote.
A Kwun Tong software company has six employees and sells subscriptions through Stripe in USD and HKD. It handles about 120 transactions a month. Using the benchmarks above, it sits in the active trading band of $15,000 to $30,000 a year. That is roughly $1,250 to $2,500 a month, before audit fees and any separate payroll charge. If it expanded into selling in the EU, it should expect a scope review for foreign VAT and possibly a higher fee.
How to Compare Quotes
Ask each provider these questions:
- Is the fee monthly, annual or per document, and what happens if volume rises?
- Is payroll and MPF included, and for how many employees?
- Are Stripe, PayPal or app store reconciliations included?
- Is the audit fee included, or only audit coordination?
- Are Profits Tax computation and IRD queries covered?
- Is company secretarial work included?
- Who is my contact, and how fast do they respond?
A low headline fee with several exclusions often costs more than a fuller package.
Costs Beyond Monthly Accounting
Some costs sit outside a monthly service. If you are setting up, our company formation service handles incorporation, and our company secretary service covers annual returns and director or address changes. Our tax services support Profits Tax and individual returns.
If you are bringing overseas engineers to Hong Kong, our immigration consultation can assist with documentation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does accounting cost for a small IT company in Hong Kong?
A micro-SME typically pays $8,000 to $15,000 a year, while an active multi-currency company pays about $15,000 to $30,000. Digital and ecommerce businesses can pay $25,000 to $60,000 or more.
Is audit included in a monthly accounting fee?
Often not. Many providers quote audit separately, and some include only audit coordination. Confirm this in writing.
Do I need an audit if my company made no profit?
Hong Kong limited companies generally need audited financial statements, even without profit. A dormant company may have different requirements, so check your position.
Should a startup outsource or hire an accountant?
Outsourcing usually suits startups. A provider costs roughly $3,000 to $15,000 a month, against $20,000 to $50,000 or more for an in-house hire plus MPF and benefits.
How long must I keep accounting records?
At least seven years.
Talk to Pinetree
If you want a clear, scoped quote for your IT company, contact Pinetree. Tell us your transaction volume, currencies, staff numbers and platforms, and we will recommend a monthly service that fits. Visit pinetree.hk to get in touch.
