Paro

What is Paro?

Paro is a marketplace that aims to connect freelance accountants, bookkeepers and other finance professionals with clients that need help. And, it provides tools to run your accounting business online.

How it works

If you want to sign up, you’ll provide the site with background information about you and your experience. The site will throughly screen you, checking your resume and even asking you to take assessment exams. You’ll be interviewed and background checked.

Assuming all that goes well, you’ll be invited to join the network. From there, the site will give you information about how to find clients and tools through the network.

Paro review

Reviews of independent accountants who work through the site, say Paro is highly effective at delivering prospects.

However, the site appears to charge an astonishing 50% of your billings in exchange for those introductions and the site’s tools. (No one from the site would confirm the percentage, that was mentioned by accountants recruited by the company.)

And if you want to take a client off the network, you’ll pay dearly.

Buy-out fee

Specifically, Paro’s “buy-out fee” amounts to 25% of the freelancer’s annualized marketplace pay rate. (For example, if the freelancers rate was $100 per hour, the buyout fee would be $100 * 2,000 (billable hours in calendar year) *.25 = $50,000.) This fee is applicable within 12 months of the last completed “Statement of Work” and due within 30 days of taking the client.

On the bright side, you negotiate your rates with the client. So, you can raise your rates to accommodate the site’s steep fees. But, in a free marketplace, there may be a limit to your pricing power.

Want to try Paro?

Here’s a direct link to where you can sign up at the Paro site.

Recommendations

If you’re looking for a small amount of supplemental earnings — perhaps to keep busy during slow periods — it may make sense to work with Paro. However, there are a number of other sites likely to deliver clients for less cost. Robert Half, for example, specializes in finding full and part-time work for financial professionals and the site only charges clients, not freelancers.

You can also set your own prices for accounting services on Fiverr, and only pay a 20% fee to the platform.

Other good sites to consider: Accountingdepartment.com, Bookminders, Acuity, WAHVE, FreeUp and Gerson Lehrman. 

What their users say (from TrustPilot:

“Process to get hired went quickly and smoothly. Communication was great. Everyone was very professional and friendly to work with.”

“I’ve been really pleased with Paro. I’m a new freelancer with them and, within days of starting, they had connected me to six new clients and every one of those clients has been terrific to work with. They find the client, they handle all the paperwork, they take care of billing and collections. Basically, they’re an off-site marketing and back-office company for financial professionals. For me, that works really well.”

Huge help

“Great platform! Helpful and engaged team provided support throughout the process. Generating a lot of interesting prospects for my independent consulting business.”

“They make client acquisition extremely easy and support not only the client but myself as well throughout projects.”

Paro has been a huge help during these slow times. When I find myself looking for clients I go right to Paro to find any opportunities that suit my skill set. I’ve been paired with several quality clients without having to invest in expensive marketing tools. Paro has been great for my business growth.”

And bad…

“This might be a good idea if you are unemployed and desperate, or looking for some side hustle income to supplement a full-time job. But the hoops they want applicants to jump through are unrealistic and will certainly not attract “the top 2% of finance professionals” (their words). Really just looks a lot like Upwork. but instead of taking a 20% cut forever, I was informed they take closer to a 50% cut of revenue. No thanks.”

“I’m a CPA and Advanced Quickbooks Certified. So first they gave me a multiple choice test to do, which took me about 30 min to complete. And they sent me another one — a simulation of a QB data import. It was going to take about 4 hours…Then, after a Skype interview, they rejected me. But said I should reapply in six months. If my credentials and 10 years of experience are not enough for a freelance bookkeeping service, then I don’t know who they accept. I wish I hadn’t wasted my time on them.”

From Glassdoor

I like that I can work as many hours as I want and take on multiple clients. If there is a problem with the engagement, Paro stands by their experts. But there are tines when there is a lot of work available and times when there is not as much available, but that is like any other company.

Updated 1/14/2024