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Pricing & profit / Bookkeeping Pricing Calculator

Bookkeeping Pricing Calculator

Price a bookkeeping client with a flat monthly fee, built from their transactions, the accounts you reconcile, month-end work, a buffer for questions, your hourly rate and any software you pay for.

Whole number, 0–100000

Bank and card lines to categorize. Check a recent month of statements.

Enter a number from 0 to 60

Time your own work. Bank rules and clean feeds bring it down; receipts to chase push it up.

Whole number, 0–100

Bank accounts, credit cards, loans and payment processors.

Whole number, 0–600

h

Enter a number from 0 to 200

Month-end close, reports, payroll entries, sales tax prep and client questions.

%

Enter a number from 0 to 100%

$

Enter a number of at least 0

What your time needs to earn. The hourly rate calculator works it out from your income goal.

$

Enter a number of at least 0

Accounting or receipt app subscriptions you pay for the client. 0 if the client pays them.

Monthly fee
$478.50
7 h 59 minof work a month
$3.19per transaction
$5,742.00a year
Categorizing transactions · 150 × 1.5 min3 h 45 min
Reconciliations · 3 × 30 min1 h 30 min
Close, reports and questions2 h 00 min
Buffer · 10% of 7 h 15 min+0 h 44 min
Hours per month7 h 59 min
Your time · 7 h 59 min × $60.00$478.50
Software passed on+$0.00
Monthly fee$478.50

Quote a flat monthly fee and list what it covers. Catch-up or clean-up work on past months is priced separately, by the hours it takes.

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A one-page PDF for your customer, filled in from the numbers above. Your markup isn't shown.

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How the bookkeeping pricing calculation works

  1. Time the transactions

    150 transactions a month at 1.5 minutes each is 3 hours 45 minutes of categorizing.

  2. Add reconciliations and month-end

    3 accounts at 30 minutes each is 1 hour 30 minutes; close, reports and client questions add 2 hours.

  3. Add a buffer

    A 10% buffer for corrections and missing receipts brings it to about 8 hours a month.

  4. Multiply by your rate

    At $60 an hour the monthly fee is $478.50, about $3.19 per transaction and $5,742 a year.

Worked example. A client with 150 transactions a month, 3 accounts to reconcile and 2 hours of month-end work takes about 7.98 hours a month with a 10% buffer. At $60 an hour, quote $478.50 a month.

Bookkeeping Pricing FAQ

How much should I charge for bookkeeping?

Estimate the hours each client takes a month (transactions, reconciliations, close and questions), multiply by your hourly rate and add any software you pay for. Quote it as a flat monthly fee.

Should bookkeepers charge hourly or a flat fee?

Flat monthly fees are common because clients know the cost in advance. Build the fee from the hours, as here, so it still pays your rate. Review it when the client's volume changes.

How do I price by number of transactions?

Time how long a transaction takes you on average. The calculator turns that into hours and shows the fee per transaction, which you can use to set volume tiers.

How do I price catch-up bookkeeping?

Price it separately from the monthly fee. Estimate the hours for each past month, which usually take longer than current ones, and multiply by your rate.

What hourly rate should a bookkeeper use?

Work it out from the income you want and the hours you can bill with the hourly rate calculator, then compare it with bookkeepers offering similar services. The $60 default is an example input, not a market rate.

How much does a bookkeeper cost per month?

It depends on the hours the books take. At an example rate of $60 an hour with a 10% buffer, a client with 50 transactions, 2 accounts and 1 hour of month-end work comes to $214.50 a month; 150 transactions, 3 accounts and 2 hours comes to $478.50; 300 transactions, 5 accounts and 3 hours comes to $858.

How do I set bookkeeping packages or tiers?

Run the calculator for a small, medium and large client and round each fee into a package with a transaction limit. The fee per transaction falls as volume grows, from $4.29 at 50 transactions to $2.57 at 500 transactions with 6 accounts and 4 hours of month-end work in the example above, because reconciliations and month-end work are spread over more lines.

Is a bookkeeper's wage the same as a freelance bookkeeping rate?

No. Wage surveys measure what employers pay employees. A freelance or firm rate also has to cover unbilled time, software, insurance, self-employment tax and time off, so it is usually higher than the employee wage for the same work.

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