Independent bookkeepers often charge between $30 and $60 per hour. Whether you do the bookkeeping yourself or hire someone to do it, certain elements are fundamental to properly maintaining the books. Some of these elements are done more regularly than others to ensure that the books are always up to date.
- Whether you need a full time or part time employee will greatly impact how you calculate labor cost.
- There is no magic number to know when you’re ready to take on a bookkeeper for additional support.
- Fixed-fee pricing allows you to increase profit as you increase efficiency—the more efficiently you can work, the greater the profit margin.
- When you do it yourself, you may miss things or make costly errors.
- Hopefully, you now have a better idea of what bookkeeping services you can afford and which services come with a lower or higher bookkeeper cost.
You’ll know the work is accurate, and your numbers will be in balance when your bookkeeper takes care of it. The bookkeeper’s exact services will also impact the cost, along with how experienced the bookkeeper is and their reputation. Bundling services together in set packages is a good way to implement fixed-fee pricing. A common way to do this is by building a tiered system for different levels of service.
Types of services you offer
Companies will often choose to train an existing employee or office manager to take on the extra responsibilities of a part-time bookkeeper. While this may be a lucrative option on paper, any oversight or error in the sheets will come at your company’s expense. The average salary for a bookkeeper in the United States in 2018 is around $14-$17 per hour (per Indeed) which is about $2,400 to $3,000 per month. The average annual salary for bookkeepers is between $37,000 to $47,000 (per Salary.com). In addition to the hourly charges, state & federal laws will also likely require you to pay for the employee’s benefits such as health insurance and vacation time. These benefits add a significant amount to the annual cost of an in-house bookkeeper.
Outsourcing bookkeeping is a good option when you could use a hand hiring a bookkeeper for keeping track of a part of your financial management. Average monthly fees for this type of activity include from $500 to $2,500. One of the main benefits of such an approach is that you can customize the services you want the bookkeeper to provide. Based on the average salary of a bookkeeper, you should be paying roughly $3,516 a month for bookkeeping if you choose to hire a bookkeeper. Keep in mind that this bookkeeping cost per month depends on your bookkeeping needs, where you run your business, and if you decide to hire an in-house bookkeeper or use online bookkeeping services.
Finding the Right Bookkeeping for Your Business
There is a fine line between overcharging and undercharging, but the sweet spot does exist and you’ll know when you find it, because your clients will be happy, and so will you. Most people don’t want the most expensive option, but they also feel dissatisfied with selecting the base option because it lacks certain features. Asking yourself these questions is vital to knowing the right bookkeeping pricing for you. Location plays an important factor in pricing, although less-so since the pandemic and the rise of remote work and cloud accounting.
- Please see the chart below with data pulled directly from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics 2022 data to learn more about the average salary and hourly rate for bookkeeping.
- That can mean tens of thousands of dollars in insurance, paid time off, and other employee benefits you’ll have to pay for.
- This would cost less than hiring a full-time bookkeeper, but you should also expect fewer services.
- Bookkeeping is the process of tracking income and expenses in your business.
- For example, you might process a certain number of transactions for one cost, but going over that incurs a different fee.
Business owners or accountants can then use these statements to gain insight into the business’s financial health. Whether you’re hiring in-house or outsourcing your bookkeeping, finding someone that has the right software tools to make finance management easy is important. The average hourly wage for a bookkeeper in the United States is $20, but bookkeeper rates can vary from $18 to $23 per hour, dependent on education, experience, and additional skill set. Whether you need a full time or part time employee will greatly impact how you calculate labor cost. Employee costs like benefits, training, and time-off are important to think about when comparing an in-house bookkeeper and a financial management company.
Accurate books you can count on
According to Salary.com, the average bookkeeper salary in the United States is $45,816. It also assumes the bookkeeper is entry-level with no specialized experience or qualifications. ”, you may be surprised to find them considerably higher than a bookkeeper. We support thousands of small businesses with their financial needs to help set them up for success. So if you’re ready to wave the white flag on handling your red and black margins, let one of BELAY’s experienced remote bookkeepers help. Now that you have a better idea of what you’re looking for, here are five questions to ask to make sure you hire the right bookkeeper for your business.
You can take into account the client, the job type, your experience, along with many other factors to give a fair quote. By definition, fixed-fee pricing is inflexible, and in a complex industry, inflexibility can cost you money. In any industry, experience is influential in pricing decisions, and bookkeeping is no different. how much does bookkeeping cost It means quality of service, efficiency, calmness, problem-solving, and confidence. Still, from state-to-state in the US, there are significant differences. For example, in Massachusetts, in-house bookkeepers earn 20% more than the national average, whereas in Kentucky, they earn 22% less than the national average.
