Guide
What Small Business Bookkeeping and Accounting Cost
Quotes for bookkeeping and accounting vary widely for the same-sounding business, and the reason is almost always scope rather than value. Two providers quoting the same monthly fee can be describing very different work.
This explains what drives the number, what is usually excluded, and how to write a short scope description that makes competing quotes comparable.
Drivers
What actually sets the price
Fees track effort and risk, not company size in the abstract. A $2M business with two bank accounts and clean processes can cost less to support than a $600K business with three entities and a backlog.
- Transaction volume, and how much of it arrives already coded from a feed
- Number of bank, credit card, loan and merchant accounts to reconcile
- Number of legal entities, and whether they need consolidating
- Payroll: headcount, pay frequency, and how many states are involved
- Inventory, job costing, or project-level reporting requirements
- Whether accrual accounting is required, or cash basis is enough
- Depth of reporting: statements only, or management reporting and commentary
- How firm the close deadline is, and who is waiting on it
- Condition of the existing records, and how much backlog has to be cleared first
- Who else touches the file, and how much coordination that requires
If you would rather not run this yourself, bookkeeping services for small businesses is the service that covers it.
Scope
Bookkeeping, monthly accounting, and CFO work are different purchases
Bookkeeping keeps the record accurate and current: coding, reconciliations, payables and receivables, and a profit and loss and balance sheet each month.
Monthly accounting adds a real close on top of that. Accruals, prepaids, fixed assets, loan splits, a close checklist, a consistent close date, and reviewed statements with commentary. It costs more because judgement and review time are involved, not because there are more transactions.
Fractional CFO work is not an extension of either. It is forecasting, scenario and pricing analysis, and lender, investor or board reporting, priced on senior time rather than volume.
Our own published starting points for each level are on the pricing page, and every engagement is confirmed in writing after a scoping call.
Exclusions
What monthly fees usually do not include
These are the items that most often turn a fixed monthly quote into a larger invoice. Ask about each one before comparing prices.
- Catch-up work or cleanup of prior periods, which is normally scoped as a separate project
- Business or personal tax return preparation and filing
- Payroll processing itself, as opposed to recording it
- Sales tax registration, filing and nexus review
- Audit support, lender packages, or diligence requests for a raise
- Software subscriptions and app fees, which the business usually pays directly
- System migration or a new chart of accounts implementation
How to compare
Getting quotes that can actually be compared
01
State the volumes
Monthly transaction count, number of accounts to reconcile, number of entities, headcount on payroll and states involved.
02
State the basis and the deliverable
Cash or accrual, which statements you need, whether you need commentary, and whether anyone outside the business reads them.
03
State the deadline
The date you need the close by, and what depends on it. A firm early close costs more than a flexible one.
04
Disclose the backlog
Say honestly how current the books are. A quote given without that will be revised, and the revision is where relationships sour.
05
Ask what is excluded
Ask each provider to list what falls outside the monthly fee and how out-of-scope work is priced. Compare the exclusions, not just the headline number.
06
Ask who does the work
Who codes, who reviews, and who you speak to when something is wrong. This is usually the largest quality difference between similar quotes.
Value
Where the spend usually pays for itself
Clean, current books reduce the work anyone downstream has to redo — the tax preparer, the lender's analyst, an auditor, or a buyer's diligence team. Handing over a reconciled file with supporting schedules is cheaper than paying professional rates to reconstruct one.
The second return is timing. Numbers that arrive two weeks after month-end can still change a pricing, hiring or spending decision. Numbers that arrive at year-end can only explain one.
FAQ
Questions we get asked about this
Related
Where to go next
Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping Services for Small Businesses
Online bookkeeping services for U.S. small businesses. Accurate coding, monthly reconciliations, and books that stay current instead of falling behind.
Monthly close
Monthly Accounting and Month-End Close
Outsourced monthly accounting and month-end close for U.S. small businesses: reconciled accounts, accruals, reviewed statements, and a fixed close date.
Cleanup
Catch-Up Bookkeeping Services
Catch-up bookkeeping for small businesses that are months or years behind. We rebuild the record, reconcile every account, and get you current.
Next step
Want a scoped number rather than a range?
Tell us your volumes, entities and deadline. We will come back with what the work involves and what it costs.