How Much Does a Bookkeeper Cost? A Small Business Guide

The three ways bookkeepers charge

Almost every bookkeeper uses one of these models:

• Hourly: you pay for time spent. Simple to understand, but your bill swings month to month and you’re never sure what a question will cost.
• Flat monthly fee: one agreed price for a defined scope (categorizing, reconciling, reports). Predictable, and it rewards the bookkeeper for being efficient rather than slow.
• Per-transaction or project pricing: common for one-time work like catch-up or cleanup, where the job size is measured by the number of transactions to fix.

What actually drives the price

Two businesses with the same revenue can have very different bookkeeping bills. The real drivers are:

• Transaction volume — the number of bank and credit card transactions each month
• Number of accounts to reconcile (checking, savings, credit cards, loans, merchant accounts)
• Add-ons like payroll, sales tax filing and year-end 1099s
• How clean the books are today — messy books need a [cleanup](/glossary#bookkeeping-cleanup) before monthly work can start
• Industry complexity, such as job costing for contractors or inventory

Outsourced bookkeeper vs. hiring in-house

An employee bookkeeper costs a salary plus payroll taxes, benefits and software. The median annual pay for bookkeeping clerks is shown on our statistics page — well above what most small businesses need to spend for a few hours of work each month.

For most businesses with fewer than a few hundred transactions a month, an outsourced bookkeeper on a flat fee is the more economical choice. You pay for the work your books actually need, not a full-time position.

What catch-up bookkeeping costs

If you’re months or years behind, expect a one-time catch-up charge before monthly service begins. It’s usually priced per transaction or per month of history, because that reflects the real amount of work. At Tejas Bookkeeping, cleanup and catch-up is quoted at $3+ per transaction — see bookkeeping cleanup for details.

Tejas Bookkeeping pricing, for reference

Monthly bookkeeping starts at $400/mo, and Bookkeeping Plus — which adds payroll, sales tax and 1099s — starts at $600/mo. Both scale with transaction volume, and you get a firm quote before any work begins. No hourly meters. Details are on the monthly bookkeeping page.

How to compare bookkeeping quotes

A low price means little if the scope is vague. Ask every bookkeeper the same questions:

• Which accounts will you reconcile every month — all of them?
• What reports do I get, and by what day of the month?
• Are payroll, sales tax and 1099s included or extra?
• What happens if my transaction volume grows?
• Is a cleanup required first, and what will it cost?
• Are you QuickBooks certified, and who actually does the work?

The bottom line

Good bookkeeping is priced on volume and scope, and a clear flat fee is the easiest way to know what you’ll pay. Tejas Bookkeeping doesn’t prepare or file tax returns, but clean monthly books make your CPA’s work faster — which often lowers that bill, too. Not sure whether you need a bookkeeper or an accountant? Read bookkeeper vs. accountant.