The real cost of hiring an internal team
Australian SMEs spend $175,000 to $270,000 per year trying to build an in-house back-office. Valont delivers the same coverage, with deeper expertise and no recruitment risk, from $30,000.
$175K to $270K
Annual cost of in-house hires
$30K to $60K
Valont annual cost for same coverage
4+ roles
needed to replicate Valont's scope
0
recruitment risk with Valont
To replicate what Valont provides, you need at least four hires. Most SMEs can't afford them, and shouldn't have to manage them.
A bookkeeper to handle your finances. A payroll and HR officer to manage your people. An IT support person to keep your systems running. A marketing coordinator to drive growth. That's four separate hires, four separate salaries, four sets of recruitment costs, and you become the manager coordinating all of them.
Even if you find great people, you end up with task executors rather than strategic advisors. Nobody connects the dots between your finances, your people, your operations, and your growth. Nobody asks: “If you're hiring three people next quarter, what does that mean for your cash flow?”
What hiring in-house actually looks like:
- Weeks of recruitment per role, job ads, interviews, reference checks
- Onboarding and training before anyone is productive
- You become their manager, reviewing work, answering questions
- When someone leaves, everything they knew walks out the door
- No cross-functional visibility, each person sees only their silo
- Salary reviews, super increases, and ongoing training costs compound
What it actually costs to build an in-house back-office.
Finance Hub
$25,000, $40,000
Part-time Bookkeeper
Handles day-to-day transaction coding, bank reconciliation, accounts payable and receivable. Limited to data entry, no advisory, no forecasting, no strategic input.
People Hub
$55,000, $75,000
Payroll / HR Officer
Processes payroll and tries to stay across Award interpretation, leave management, and onboarding. Usually not qualified to advise on Fair Work compliance or HR strategy.
Operations Hub
$30,000, $50,000
IT Support (part-time)
Manages day-to-day tech issues and user support. Rarely has the strategic skills for cybersecurity, business continuity planning, or cloud architecture.
Growth Hub
$50,000, $70,000
Marketing Coordinator
Manages social media and basic content. Typically lacks the depth for SEO strategy, paid media, conversion optimisation, or data-driven growth.
All Hubs
$5,000, $15,000
Software & Licenses
Xero, MYOB, payroll platform, HR platform, antivirus, backup software, marketing tools, each with separate subscriptions, logins, and support contracts.
Overhead
$10,000, $20,000
Recruitment & Training
Advertising roles, interviewing, reference checks, onboarding, training. Repeated every time someone leaves, which happens more often in small teams.
In-house total
$175K to $270K
per year, before management time
Valont
$30K to $60K
per year, everything included
The costs that don't appear on anyone's payslip.
Management overhead
You become the manager. Reviewing work, answering questions, resolving conflicts, and coordinating across roles. That's 5 to 10 hours per week of your time as the business owner.
Single points of failure
When your bookkeeper goes on leave, gets sick, or resigns, everything stops. There's no backup, no knowledge transfer, no continuity. Your BAS deadline doesn't move.
Compliance blind spots
A part-time bookkeeper doesn't know Fair Work rules. Your IT person doesn't understand ATO data security obligations. Nobody connects the compliance dots across functions.
No strategic integration
Your bookkeeper doesn't talk to your marketing coordinator. Your IT person doesn't know about upcoming hires. Each role operates in a silo, nobody sees the whole picture.
Ongoing cost creep
Salary reviews, super increases, training needs, equipment. The $175K starting cost grows every year, and you still don't have the strategic oversight you actually need.
Limited expertise depth
One person can't be an expert bookkeeper, BAS specialist, cash flow forecaster, and financial advisor. You get task execution without the strategic insight that drives business growth.
Beyond cost: what you actually get.
| Comparison dimension | In-House Hires | With Valont |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | Depends on who you hire, gaps are inevitable | Complete coverage across finance, people, operations, and growth |
| Continuity | Single points of failure, leave, illness, resignation | Team-based delivery, no single person dependency |
| Expertise | Generalists who do a bit of everything, none deeply | Specialists in every function, coordinated by your Trusted Advisor |
| Strategic advice | Not part of the job description for most operational hires | Dedicated advisor connecting finance, people, ops, and growth strategy |
| Compliance | You're responsible for staying current across all areas | Proactive compliance monitoring and updates across all hubs |
| Scalability | Need to hire more people as you grow, more cost, more management | Service scales with you, no additional recruitment needed |
| Technology | Multiple separate tools with no integration | Integrated technology stack managed for you across all functions |
| Risk | Recruitment risk, turnover risk, compliance risk, all on you | Month-to-month engagement, no recruitment risk, compliance managed |
This comparison is for Australian SME owners who are tired of being the back-office manager.
Growing businesses (5 to 50 employees)
Big enough to need proper back-office support, but not big enough to justify a full internal operations team
Owners spending 10+ hours/week managing staff
You didn't start a business to become a people manager for your bookkeeper, IT person, and marketing coordinator
Businesses considering their next hire
Before you spend $60K+ on a single operational hire, compare what that investment could deliver through Valont
Growth-stage companies
Scaling businesses that need back-office capacity to grow with them, without the lag of recruitment cycles
One integrated team replaces four separate hires, and connects the dots between them.
When you hire individually, each person operates in a silo. With Valont, your Finance, People, Operations, and Growth hubs share data, coordinate strategy, and communicate through a single Trusted Advisor who sees your whole business.
See the numbers for yourself
FreeFree tools to compare what you're spending now versus what Valont would cost.
Back-Office Cost Calculator
Input your current staff costs, software subscriptions, and management time to see the true cost of your in-house back-office.
Try it nowFounder Time Audit
Track where your hours actually go each week and calculate the opportunity cost of doing admin instead of growing your business.
Try it nowFrequently asked questions
The short answers are here. For anything else, ask below or get in touch.
This comparison is most relevant for Australian SMEs with 5 to 50 employees, businesses large enough to need proper back-office support but not large enough to justify a full internal operations team. If you're currently spending (or thinking about spending) $150K+ on operational hires, this comparison directly applies to you.
Ready to stop hiring and start delegating?
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