How many FTEs are Actually Needed for Accounting/Financial Reporting at a Small CRE Office?

A few weeks ago I started at a fairly small family office, and, having never worked at a small shop before, I’ve been surprised by the headcount demanded for accounting and reporting-related tasks (as well as the time in general it takes them to complete them). Not only that, but having been pulled in to assist with reports a few times, it feels that a substantial portion of their workload is just due to terribly outdated practices (i.e. spending incredible amounts of time manually compiling/formatting data, tracking down files, etc.).

So I suppose my question is this: What is a “normal” amount of manpower / effort for a company this size to dedicate to these areas? Because I honestly can’t shake the feeling that our back-office team is just throwing money away by hiring more and more bodies instead of opting to outsource certain elements / invest in better technical solutions.