How Much Should I Charge for Bookkeeping Services? Averages & More

But what you might not realize is that putting bookkeeping off can cost exponentially more time. In a typical modern accounting system, you’ll often have a bank account connected to import transactions automatically, leaving your bookkeeper with a list of uncategorized transactions to categorize. Accountants sometimes have on-staff bookkeepers to provide these services, usually at $30-$50 an hour. Hiring a remote bookkeeper also keeps you in line with current employment trends. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, more businesses than ever before are allowing their employees to work virtually using a range of technological tools to communicate and get work done. Working with a remote bookkeeper isn’t much different from how you may already work with existing employees.

In fact, 60% of small business owners aren’t confident in finance and accounting. These functions are essential parts of a business, and it’s vital business owners have this expertise to manage a company properly.

Saving time and money

Employee costs like benefits, training, and time-off are important to think about when comparing an in-house bookkeeper and a financial management company. Like a traditional firm, an online provider puts your books in expert hands, without requiring you to spend time on direct oversight. If you want to have your books handled by a professional with regular, predictable costs, consider working with an online provider. For businesses with more complex structures or more than a handful of monthly transactions, this can end up being significantly more cost-effective than the hourly-cost variance of a traditional firm.

Anytime you can niche down and be specialized in a specific area of bookkeeping, you’ll be able to charge more money for your services. As a contractor, the main thing that you are saving an employer–or your client in this case–is TAXES! They have to pay so much more in social security, Medicare, worker’s compensation, and unemployment taxes for an employee. When you work for a company, and they give you a W-2, they are paying a bunch of money to have you working for them. I often mention that, starting out as a bookkeeper, you can charge $40 per hour to your clients.

Understand the total hourly compensation opportunity for a Bookkeeper, hourly wage plus other pay elements

In addition, the frequency and type of services needed can impact the hourly rate. On average, outsourced bookkeeping services how much does a bookkeeper cost cost anywhere between $500 to $2,500 a month for small and medium businesses depending on the hours you need each month.

Microsoft.com lays out reasons to hand off at least some of your bookkeeping tasks to a professional. Most virtual bookkeepers use secure and reliable software systems, such as QuickBooks, that keeps your financial records both safe and accessible. Instead of inputting data into physical books in your office, your bookkeeper will enter the same information into a software program – which you can then access whenever you need to check something. Bookkeepers’ costs will vary from one business to another, just as every business has different needs. It is important to determine what kind of small business bookkeeping services you need and what your company can afford.

Put your accounting on autopilot

These industries generally provide specialized services to clients that do not employ bookkeepers internally. In 2020, they combined to account for more than 11.5% of all bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks working in the United States. A typical salary for an in-house bookkeeper in the United States runs $30,400-$39,898 according to Salary.com . The average annual pay for a bookkeeping account executive is $68,294, or $57,600 for a payroll manager, according to BookkeeperList.com. It can also be a lot of work, particularly when you run your own business.

Before bringing on a new customer, you should meet and assess their entire situation. As an industry expert, you might help them to recognize needs and opportunities. The assessment will consist of gathering information that’ll help you to determine the amount of time and level of complexity required to meet the client’s needs before you provide your quoted price to them. Remember, more specialized services can demand a higher rate of pay. Depending on the industry, you might be able to extend your services to include cost accounting for projects and jobs. Because this type of service requires a lot of industry-specific knowledge, you’ll be able to charge a higher rate than on typical bookkeeping engagements.

Your labor cost calculation will be greatly affected by whether you need to hire a full-time or part-time employee. It is important to consider employee costs, such as benefits, training, and time off, when comparing in-house bookkeeping and financial management companies. Ultimately, hiring a bookkeeper or financial management company will be different for every business and bookkeeper costs will vary. Deciding what kind of small business bookkeeping services you need, and what your business can afford is a great place to start. FinancePal offers a variety of financial services tailored to your industry and business operations.

• The average annual salary for bookkeepers is between$37,000 to $47,000(per Salary.com).
• Figure out which works for your business and start tackling the problems, or potential problems, with your books.
• Typically you will need this level of financial management not only for yourself but for your key stake holders including banks, investors and advisors.
• However accountants will tend to charge much more than bookkeepers.
• As opposed to bookkeepers who may charge $30 to $90 an hour, a CPAor accountant will charge more.