Paro Reviews 243

Our company engaged Paro in early 2025 for fractional CFO support, not tax preparation. While our assigned expert was responsive, the work itself was consistently unproductive, hours of “analysis” were logged without any tangible financial insights, reports, or recommendations.

After months of unsubstantiated billing and limited progress, we formally canceled our engagement in June. At that time, our corporate tax filing had already been extended through Paro as a procedural step, but our existing accounting firm was responsible for actually preparing and filing our taxes.

Despite this, a month after cancellation, Paro issued a $3,000 invoice for “corporate tax preparation and filing,” a service they were never authorized to perform and never completed.

When we asked for substantiation or the supposed tax return, we were told only one individual at Paro had access to the file and that person was “on leave indefinitely.” That explanation made clear that no deliverable existed.

Instead of correcting the mistake, Paro escalated the invalid charge to a third-party collections agency, which began sending aggressive and misleading communications despite written proof that the services were never rendered.

Our taxes were ultimately prepared and filed - by our own accounting firm, not Paro.

This experience exposed serious internal and ethical failures in how Paro manages billing, deliverables, and client disputes.

If you’re considering Paro for CFO or accounting services, don’t. There are far more competent, transparent, and accountable firms available.

I’ve checked in on Paro occasionally over the past three years as “talent.” Most of the roles I saw were bottom-of-market — in the CFO segment, clients asking for executive-level work at staff accountant rates, or something like expecting a business plan in five hours. I even saw postings with $500 budgets — a complete waste of time to read, let alone pitch.

Across about 25 pitches and 5 interviews, I landed one full-time engagement (3 months) and one year-long part-time (10 hrs/month) CFO engagement. My most recent project left a bitter taste: I delivered all services under the SOW, the client praised the work and asked for a contract extension, but I declined because restructuring their debt couldn’t be done in the 5 hrs/month timeframe they wanted. After that, my final invoice went unpaid.

Paro advertises a “one-month payment guarantee,” but it isn’t honored. Their terms are confusing and one-sided: the client pays Paro, Paro only pays you if they get the money, you’re prohibited from discussing money with the client, yet you’re told you’re responsible for collections. Paro calls itself a payment processor, but provided zero transparency on collection efforts and stopped responding. The reality is you can work for 6+ weeks only to discover you won’t be paid. On top of that, their contracts shift all legal liability onto you while Paro takes a cool 100% markup. Your Statement of Work is tied to a separate Talent Terms that Paro can change when they want to.

I’ve heard some succeed on Paro by taking low-pay accounting jobs and outsourcing them overseas, but that’s not the kind of work I’m interested in.

Bottom line: For professionals, Paro is not worth the time. If you do consider it, take money upfront. The client base is chasing cheap labor, and the platform doesn’t protect you. You might find a diamond in the rough, but in my opinion time is better spent generating clients directly or just getting a regular job.

It’s a horrible company for a scrupulous professional accountant who is trying to freelance in an honest way. The “clients” get to post their “jobs” and the Paro employees who are tasked with checking if the jobs are legit and not fraud are basically non-existent. “Job” after “job” posting and push notification has been for people seeking someone to sign a fake tax return or flub their books to illegally repatriate income to evade taxes or commit fraud with banks or investors.

This platform is basically the dark web for fraudsters looking for people with credentials to get behind as human shields. The only success I have had was many years ago. Lately the company is a cesspool. If you have scruples, stay away. If you enjoy helping people cheat for pennies, this is the place for you.

For those of you considering Paro as an outsourced bookkeeping service, stay away. We used their service for four (4) months for The Family Pet, and found their "accountants/ bookkeepers" are essentially incompetent, and their customer support is atrocious. All for the ridiculous price of $750/month.

If you're considering outsourcing your bookkeeping, stay away from this company

Lester worked with us to reconcile books that hadn't been accurately done in several years. He took time to explain findings and help us create new procedures to not have these problems in the future.

When I think of what made the whole experience with Paro work there is a single name that comes to mind. Sarah. Sarah went out of her way to ensure that we found the best fractional CFO possible for our company. She followed up with me regularly, was very patient, and took the extra time necessary to help us make the right decision. I can honestly say that she is the reason that went forward with Paro. Had it not been for her I think we would have abandoned the idea of a fractional CFO all together.

I lost hundreds of thousands of dollars due to poor qualifications from the accountant Paro assigned to me, and lack of enforcement on mandatory accountant insurance on the Paro side. Paro also took minimal responsibility for the event.
Since then, we have had a much better accountant that I would rate highly as an individual professional. But as far as Paro is concerned, what they cost me and their lack of accountability is not forgotten.

We've been happy with the Paro team. They ensure the proper candidate fits our needs and have monthly check-ins.

Great service from start to finish. From the account reps to the pros that we have engaged with, Paro provides a top-notch service.

Working with Paro has been great! They have been clear and delightful to work with. They were patient as we interviewed a couple of people until our company found the person we needed.

Paro paired us with an awesome accountant that always goes above and beyond for us.

Enjoyed working with their team -- had great support until we scaled to the point of needing to bring on someone full-time.

We collaborated with Cam and Alex to secure additional support during our busy season. They connected us with Shefali, and it was an excellent match. They are always responsive to our questions and provide assistance whenever we need it, making our experience truly positive.

PARO provides the best results and the best value of any staff recruiting company we’ve used. Great customer service combined with a true desire to help your business succeed!

Great to collaborate with, able to understand us and how we work and identify the right people to work with us.

The team at Paro has made resourcing so easy. I look forward to working with them each year.

Great folks to work with and good bench of knowledgable resources.

Overall, it was a good experience, I have had timely & good responses to my inquiries & the team meetings are scheduled consistently.
Things that can be better: pricing structure was a little too high for staff level associates, and more importantly - there should be monitoring & adherence for staff to keep their QuickBooks Online's certification active and not lapse. The annual recertification process was not being kept up, rendering staffs' QuickBooks Online certifications inactive and not on par with competitors like Intuit & Books Time.

I have been working with Renee and Chance at Paro for a few years now. They have a process that makes it easy to work with them. I have contracted with the same tax preparer for the past 3 years. It has worked seamlessly.

Our relationship with Paro has truly been a catalyst for the success our firm has experienced in the audit industry! Our management was able to focus on true business development and outsource technical review to Paro's high level professionals that were hand selected for our needs. Cannot recommend this company enough!