In outsourced accounting, FTE means Full-Time Equivalent—work measured as the output of a full-time role. One FTE is about 160 hours per month. That capacity can be delivered by one dedicated accountant or a small team whose combined hours add up to the same total.

Think of FTE as capacity, not headcount. You're contracting for a fixed block of work time each month. Your provider chooses the staffing mix; from your side, it operates like having a consistent, full-time team member embedded in your finance function.

For restaurant operators, that clarity matters. A defined FTE lets you schedule recurring work—daily sales reconciliations, A/P, month-end close, and management reporting—on a predictable cadence. It reduces the variance of hourly billing and the availability gaps of ad-hoc help, so you can plan workload and cost with far fewer surprises.

Think of FTE as capacity, not headcount. You're contracting for a fixed block of work time each month. Your provider chooses the staffing mix; from your side, it operates like having a consistent, full-time team member embedded in your finance function.

For restaurant operators, that clarity matters. A defined FTE lets you schedule recurring work—daily sales reconciliations, A/P, month-end close, and management reporting—on a predictable cadence. It reduces the variance of hourly billing and the availability gaps of ad-hoc help, so you can plan workload and cost with far fewer surprises.

Brief History and Evolution

FTE didn't start in accounting. It began in HR and public-sector workforce planning as a consistent way to measure labor.

Instead of counting heads, organizations totaled work hours and expressed them as the equivalent of full-time roles. That made it easier to compare workloads, plan budgets, and set staffing limits—whether a team had ten part-timers or five full-timers. Using FTE also improved headcount analysis and staffing levels, allowing human resources departments to optimize staffing capacity and needs. FTE calculations help organizations with resource allocation, aligning workforce planning with business objectives, and ensuring compliance with legal requirements and labor regulations related to full-time employment.

As outsourcing grew in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the FTE metric moved beyond HR. Business process outsourcing firms—finance and accounting included—used FTEs to structure contracts and align capacity with recurring work.

Hourly billing often produced unpredictable costs and uneven output. By committing to a set number of FTEs, clients received dedicated capacity, and providers could focus on continuity, quality, and process improvements instead of tracking every minute.

In accounting, this shift solved common issues with hour-based engagements: rotating staff, lost context, and inconsistent deliverables. Starting in the mid-2000s, firms began assigning dedicated teams to specific clients, which proved especially effective for high-volume, repeatable tasks like bookkeeping, accounts payable, and month-end close.

Restaurants amplified that need. Multi-unit brands generate large volumes of daily transactional data, strict reporting cadences, and non-negotiable compliance requirements. The FTE model fits that profile: standardized processes, predictable capacity, and steady familiarity with each brand's systems and vendor cycles. Over time, it has become one of the most practical ways for restaurant operators to keep transactional work accurate and on schedule—without expanding internal headcount.

How FTE Calculation Works in Outsourced Accounting

After you agree on FTE capacity, your provider assigns specific team members to your account. They work on your schedule, follow your SOPs, and operate in your systems—Restaurant365 or QuickBooks, your POS, chart of accounts, and approval flows.

The scope covers repeatable work: daily sales reconciliations, accounts payable and receivable, tip allocations, bank reconciliations, month-end close, and management reporting.

For multi-location brands, standardized playbooks—think uniform closing checklists and vendor payment schedules—keep every unit aligned on timing and controls.

Continuity is the payoff. A fixed team builds context over time—your reporting pack, seasonal swings, and vendor cycles—and documents it in runbooks. With clear SLAs, a close calendar, and weekly standups, cycle times drop and errors fall versus a rotating staff model.

Why It's a Fit for Multi-Unit Restaurants

High-volume need

For groups with dozens or hundreds of locations, the accounting workload never stops. Each store generates daily sales data, multiple P&Ls, vendor invoices and tip reporting. To ensure accurate workload measurement and timely reporting in high-volume environments, it is essential to track the total hours worked and actual hours worked by all employees. Without dedicated capacity, small delays can snowball into larger reporting or compliance issues. The FTE model provides steady, built-in bandwidth to handle that volume.

Consistency

Because the same team works your books every day, they learn the nuances of your operations—how managers submit data, vendor timing, and the reporting formats your leadership expects. That familiarity speeds up recurring tasks, such as preparing vendor payments ahead of the weekend volume, and reduces rework compared to ramping up a new resource every month.

Case in point

In 2023, a GSS client with 600+ locations shifted transactional accounting to a dedicated FTE team. GSS assigned 20 full-time employees who took day-to-day direction from the client's leaders. The client redeployed in-house staff to analytical roles while GSS ran the back office. The result: smoother operations, no more junior-staff churn, and projected annual savings of $300,000+.

Common Misconceptions

The FTE model still draws a few misconceptions in restaurant finance. Many come from past experiences with traditional outsourcing. Here are the facts:

"It's just glorified outsourcing"

An FTE engagement uses a dedicated team tied to your account. They log into your systems, follow your calendars and SOPs, and report on the agreed SLAs. Over time, the group behaves like an embedded unit—without the overhead.

"We'll lose control"

Process ownership stays with you. You set close calendars, approval flows, report formats, and escalation paths. The FTE team executes against that playbook and takes day-to-day direction from your leaders. Visibility is built in through dashboards, check-ins, and documented runbooks.

"It's expensive"

Fully loaded internal costs stack up—recruiting, salaries, benefits, software seats, training, and turnover. An FTE contract converts that to a predictable monthly rate for a fixed block of capacity. Many multi-unit brands see equal or lower total cost, with fewer gaps in coverage.



Scale Smarter with the Right Accounting Capacity

Month-end doesn't slow down, and neither do multi-unit operations. More locations mean more transactions, reconciliations, and reporting. The real challenge isn't complexity—it's capacity.

An FTE model solves for both. It gives you dedicated accounting horsepower that works inside your systems, on your schedule, and improves with context over time. You get steadier closes, cleaner reporting, fewer staffing headaches, and a cost structure that scales with your growth.

If your team is stretched—or expansion is on the horizon—GSS can design a right-sized FTE plan with clear roles, SLAs, and start dates. Let's talk about what that could look like for your business.

Frequently Asked Questions