How To Price Bookkeeping Services

How To Price Bookkeeping Services To Maximize Profit In 2024!

Have you been wondering how to price bookkeeping services so that you can maximize your profits as a bookkeeper?

When I wanted to become a bookkeeper, I had hundreds of questions and I had no idea where to find the answers. 

“How much should I charge for my bookkeeping services?”

“How much does a bookkeeper cost for a small business?”

“How much do bookkeepers charge per month?”

If you have also asked yourself these questions then you know how overwhelming it can be to figure out how much to charge for bookkeeping when you are starting a freelance bookkeeping career. 

How To Price Bookkeeping Services

Many factors need to be considered and it is important to know how much a bookkeeper costs, so that your prices are competitive while still helping you to maximize your profit.

I hope that I can help anyone who wants to be a bookkeeper feel less overwhelmed and feel like they can take that first step to becoming a bookkeeper. It is a really satisfying and rewarding job!

By the end of this article, you will know everything that you need about how much a bookkeeper should charge. You will be ready to kick off that bookkeeping business of yours and start earning huge profits from it.

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Some of the links on here are affiliate links and I may earn if you click on them, AT NO EXTRA cost to you. Hope you find the information here useful! Thanks.

Before we jump into the ins and outs of bookkeeping, I want to tell you about my favorite bookkeeping course and why I love it so much. 

I recommend this mega bookkeeping course even to my friends and family as it means so much to me! 

Not only do they give you in-depth details on how to start your own bookkeeping business, but they also offer multiple courses on how to promote and market your business as well.

They have something for you, no matter what stage of your bookkeeping business you are in. 

They have detailed guides whether you are starting, growing, or scaling.

While most of their courses need to be paid for, they have an extremely popular free course run by Ben Robinson, the founder of Bookkeepers.com. (If it is FREE, it’s for me!).

This free course gives you all the basic knowledge you need to become the boss of your own bookkeeping business.

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How To Price Bookkeeping Services?

A lot of people often wonder how much to charge for bookkeeping services. One of the best ways to price bookkeeping services is based on client size. 

For smaller clients, you can charge $250 a month while mid-sized clients can be charged $500 a month, and large clients could be charged $1000 a month. 

You may be saying, “Aisha, I don’t even know how to know if a client is small, mid-sized, or large!”

Don’t worry about it now, I’ll share more info about that in a bit. 

Deciding on exactly how to price accounting services for your clients will depend on various factors that I will explain more about later in the article.

How to price bookkeeping services

Factors To Consider When Pricing Your Bookkeeping Services

Several factors are important for you to consider when you are deciding how to price your bookkeeping services. By factoring in all the relevant factors, you will be able to decide what to charge for bookkeeping services as you get started.

Overall, you are trying to determine how much bookkeepers charge per hour among other bookkeeping businesses like yours so that you are competitive in the market. In this way, you are earning a suitable amount for your time and effort while still being able to get clients.

Client Size

An easy way to think about client size is to group them into three main categories:

  • Small clients 
    • May just require 1-2 services
    • Services needed are usually pretty basic
    • The time that needs to be spent on each client can be quite minimal
  • Mid-sized clients
    • Will usually require more services
    • Some services that are needed are basic but some may be more required
    • More time will need to be spent to ensure that client needs are met
  • Large clients 
    • Require many different types of services
    • The services required may be more complex
    • You will probably need to spend a significant amount of time on each client

You can group clients based on the size of the business as well as the services that they need and the amount of time that you will need to spend on providing these services to them.

While you may be asking yourself “How much should I charge to do bookkeeping?”, clients are asking themselves “How much does a bookkeeper cost?”

It’s very important that the amount that you are charging matches what a client can pay. This will ensure that your services are competitive with other bookkeepers and that clients can afford to pay for the services that you are offering. 

I’ve made the mistake of charging small clients too much and large clients too little.

I ended up not getting a lot of small clients and not really earning a profit from large clients for all the work that I was putting in. 

Tip: You can research what other bookkeepers are charging and read their reviews to see if are clients finding their prices suitable.

Bookkeeping costs for a small business are generally going to be lower than costs for mid-sized and larger businesses. Larger businesses will be able to afford more bookkeeping services compared to small businesses. 

Businesses are asking themselves “How much should you pay a bookkeeper?” and they budget accordingly because they know what services they need based on their business size and requirements.

If you have large clients, you will be able to earn more money from a single client but the work may be more complex.

You need to decide whether you prefer working for many small or medium-sized clients or just a few large clients based on the type of work that you want to do. 

When I first started as a bookkeeper, I chose to work with multiple small clients because I felt more confident that I could deliver the services that they needed.

Now that I have more experience, I prefer to work with a few large clients as it usually means I don’t have to split my focus as much.

There isn’t a right or wrong way to do this. You should choose what works best for you.

Bookkeeper Services That Are Offered

As a bookkeeper, you need to decide what services you are going to offer and adjust how much you charge for those services based on the complexity of the tasks as well as how much time you will need to spend on the task.

Here are some common services that are offered by bookkeepers:

  • Tracking daily transactions for the business
  • Monitor cash flow
  • Maintaining up-to-date records
  • Manage payments for the client
  • Invoicing and payment collection
  • Managing payroll
  • Inventory management
  • Ensuring that records and transactions meet legal requirements
  • Tax preparations
How to price bookkeeping services

Decide which services you can perform effectively and start by offering those services to clients. As you continue to learn and upskill, you can increase the number of services.

Some clients may have specific internal processes or needs.

If your client has the potential to be a long-term client, it can be extremely beneficial for you to learn these so that you can provide more value to the client and earn more as a result.

Frequency Of Services

Knowing how often you will need to provide these services for a client is another important factor to consider when you are asking yourself “How do I price my bookkeeping services?”

Some services will need to be done on a daily or weekly basis while others only need to be done once every few months or once a year.

Tip: Make sure you plan out the timing of services for different clients ahead of time. 

If you’re not careful, you might find that one or two months of the year are too full of tasks that you need to do and you don’t have enough time to do them all. Tax season anyone?

I have a trusty yearly calendar that I use to plot out all the important timelines for my different clients and it helps me not overbook. Plus I get to whip out the color pens and give each client a different color so my calendar looks pretty! 

The services that need to be done more frequently are usually easier and take less time while the less frequent ones are more complicated and take more time. 

You need to consider all this ahead of time when you are pricing your bookkeeping services.

Experience

The more experience that you have, the easier it will be for you to find clients who are willing to hire you, and the more that you can charge for the services that you are offering.

This does not mean that you will not be able to find clients if you are just starting. There are a lot of businesses out there, especially small businesses, that need the services that you are experienced in. 

I started by offering 3 basic services: tracking daily transactions, monitoring cash flow, and updating records. 

I was so surprised with the number of clients that I was able to get. It gave me so much confidence to keep going as a new bookkeeper.

One way that you can increase your rate is by providing more value to your clients by upskilling and getting more experience.

After a few months with my 3 services, I started learning another skill so that I could offer more services and increase my rate. 

There are a lot of bookkeeping services that you could offer and it can be overwhelming to know which one to invest your time and effort in.

I asked some of my existing clients what additional services they would be interested in and started learning those. 

And once I had mastered those, I repeated the process. Rinse and repeat!

Software

How much do bookkeeping services charge when accounting software is involved?

There are some common accounting software that some clients, especially large ones, may use. If you know how to use the software, you will be able to offer additional services to your clients and charge accordingly.

These are some of the popular accounting software that are used by businesses:

How to price bookkeeping services

QuickBooks is one of the most well-known accounting software. A question you may get from a client regarding your services is “How much is QuickBooks bookkeeping?” 

This could be an opportunity for you to charge a higher rate for this service as not everyone may have experience using accounting software like QuickBooks.

While it varies based on your available time and experience, you could learn how to use QuickBooks anywhere from a few weeks to a few months! I think that’s such a good investment for the additional money that you could earn from it.

Common Bookkeeping Pricing Options

Two main pricing options are used by bookkeepers when they are trying to determine how much bookkeeping services cost for their business.

Fixed Pricing

When you use the fixed pricing approach to decide how much it cost for bookkeeping services, you are essentially setting a fixed price for each service that you offer and charging your clients based on that price list.

While this may seem more straightforward and consistent, it may not take into account that the actual time needed to perform each task may be different depending on the client’s size and needs. 

Some people may choose to utilize this approach when they are starting as it can be a lot easier to price your services and provide quotations to clients. 

Value Pricing

The value pricing approach when deciding how much a small business bookkeeper cost differentiates pricing for each client based on the needs of the client and the corresponding time and effort that will be needed.

Value pricing may be an easier way for you to decide how much per hour for bookkeeping services you offer since it matches the amount of time you need to spend on the service for the specific client.

By creating a unique package of services for each client, you can better cater to their needs and budget. While it can take more time to decide on the right price to quote to clients, it generally helps you earn a more suitable profit from each client.

Value pricing also demonstrates to your clients that you are confident that you will be able to deliver the agreed-upon output.

A lot of clients are also looking for value pricing options as they can often get all their bookkeeping needs met by one person as opposed to having to hire multiple bookkeepers.

This helps when you are trying to decide how to price bookkeeping services

How to price bookkeeping services

Benefits Of Bookkeeping Pricing Packages

There are many benefits to packaging your bookkeeping services both for you and for the client.

Meets Clients Needs 

Depending on the client’s size and nature of business, each client is going to have slightly different needs. If you can identify the needs and package your services accordingly, you will save your client from having to figure out which service they need.

If you’re not sure what services clients need, you can ask them and some of them will be more than willing to tell you.

Focus On Value

Packaging bookkeeping services allow you to shift the focus away from how much do bookkeeping services cost and focus on the value that the package offers instead.

While cost is an important factor for clients, they are going to be more willing to engage your services when they can recognize the value that you are adding and it is much easier to highlight the value through packages than it is through individual services.

I always try to focus on value and this has resulted in a lot of long-term clients which provides more security and means I don’t always have to be looking for new clients.

Provides Opportunities To Upsell

By having different packages at different price points, your clients will have the option to select a higher-tier package if they need it. 

Since they are already familiar with the service that you are providing, they are more likely to trust you to provide additional services that they need compared to seeking out a new bookkeeper.

I don’t think you’ll be complaining about the extra money that you’ll be earning. I know I wouldn’t!

Easier To Plan

Packaging bookkeeping services make it easier for you and the client to plan income and expenses throughout the given time. You will have a more consistent income especially if you choose to go with monthly packages.

The workload will also be easier to manage and plan as you will know how to use your time over an extended period. You will also have a better idea of your capacity to take on new clients. 

How To Package Your Bookkeeping Services

If you’re ready to package your bookkeeping services but don’t know how to get started, follow my tried and tested step-by-step guide to package your bookkeeping services:

1. List Out All The Services You Offer

Start by listing out all the bookkeeping services that you offer so you have a clear picture. There may be some services that you may not have offered in the past that may be useful to include.

2. Group Services In A Way That Makes Sense 

Once you have a clear idea of what services you can offer, start grouping your services in a way that makes sense both for you and the client. 

Focus on what value you can provide to clients that others cannot.

Ask yourself what kind of services would specific types of clients need and start grouping services accordingly.

If you’re not sure how to go about it, start by using client size and creating packages for small, mid-size, and large clients.

3. Decide Your Pricing

When you are deciding your pricing, you need to decide whether you are going to charge a one-time fee or monthly charges.

If you are going to charge a monthly fee to your clients, take into account how much time and effort you will need to spend to ensure that all the services that are agreed upon are delivered when you decide how much is bookkeeping per month.

Keep in mind that some months (e.g. tax season) may be busier than others and you need to factor that in when you decide how much to charge for monthly bookkeeping.

How to price bookkeeping services

4. Be Clear On The Outcome

Instead of just listing out the services in a package, focus on the pain points that your packages will provide a solution for so that the client can see the value of the outcome.

Make sure that you and the client are on the same page regarding the outcome so that they are satisfied with your services, re-hire you, and even recommend you to others.

5. Offer A Variety Of Packages

Always offer a variety of packages with different services and price points so that there is something for each client.

When you are starting, have at least 3 packages that you can present to clients so that they can choose the one that meets their needs best.

6. Review Your Offerings 

After having some experience with a few clients, take some time to review your packages and see if they need to be tweaked to be more effective. 

You may have noticed that some clients are asking for additional services or are not wanting certain services. You may be able to adjust your packages to provide more value to your clients. 

Mistakes to Avoid When Pricing Your Bookkeeping Services

Failing To Account For All Your Costs

Running your own bookkeeping business, even virtually, has costs that are tied to it. If you fail to account for all your costs, you may end up undercharging for your services and this will cause you to lose out on profits in the long run.

Keep these costs in mind to avoid making this mistake:

  • Overhead costs
  • Marketing costs
  • Software subscriptions
  • Staff salaries

Failing To Consider The Value Of Your Time

How much does a bookkeeper charge per hour? 

You must decide on an hourly rate that is reflective of your value so that you can charge clients accordingly.

It can be common for bookkeepers to underestimate how much time and effort they are going to spend on the tasks that they are performing for clients when they are trying to decide how much do small business bookkeepers charge.

To avoid making this mistake, you can charge for more time and effort than you think you will need and negotiate with the client to get to a point that accurately reflects the amount of time you are spending on tasks.

Some clients value bookkeepers who are putting in the effort to ensure that tasks are done well and are willing to pay the cost associated with it.

Not Charging What You’re Worth

If you are always undercharging to remain competitive, you may not be able to sustain your small bookkeeping business for a long time.

I have done this and it wasn’t pretty. I almost gave up on bookkeeping because I couldn’t afford to pay all my bills each month. 

A better way to ensure that you can be sustainable is by charging what you are worth, while also ensuring that you are providing value to your clients. 

A lot of clients will pay more for high-value services so try to demonstrate the additional value that you provide from the beginning. 

FAQs On How To Price Bookkeeping Services

What Is A Good Rate To Charge For Bookkeeping?

A good rate to charge for bookkeeping is to follow an industry standard and base it on the client’s income. 1-3% of your client’s gross income is the recommended rate. 

This is an amount that is suitable for the client to spend on their bookkeeping costs and is also profitable to you.

What Basic Bookkeeping Services To Offer?

You may be wondering what basic bookkeeping services you should offer to clients. Here are services that you should consider including.

  • Managing payroll functions
  • Helping with collections of overdue invoices
  • Account reconciliation for various business accounts
  • Updating transactions for credit cards
  • Managing bills and payments for vendor transactions
  • Oversee customer invoicing and recording payment 

What Is Value Pricing Bookkeeping?

In value pricing bookkeeping, you are grouping services into bundles for which you charge a set amount. This is a newer practice for bookkeeping but is common elsewhere. 

It can be easier for you and the client as the price is fixed upfront and each party knows what they will be paying and receiving.

How Much Does A Self-Employed Bookkeeper Charge?

The self-employed bookkeeper charges an average hourly rate from $26.91 to $43.57. The amount will depend on various factors such as the geographic location, services that are offered, frequency of services, your level of experience, certifications that you have, software that you can use, as well as client size. 

How to price bookkeeping services

Now you should know how to price bookkeeping services

Deciding how much does a small business bookkeeper cost and how much is monthly bookkeeping can feel very overwhelming when you start trying to earn a profit from your bookkeeping services.

I know because I’ve been there and I spent a long time wondering if I could ever become a bookkeeper.

I’m glad I stuck to it and found the answers to these questions. I hope you’ll give it a shot too! 

By taking into account the various factors involved and considering taking a value pricing approach, you can decide how much does a bookkeeper charge per month for the services that you want to offer. 

I hope that you now have a better idea how to price bookkeeping services to maximize profit and can get started on your journey today!

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