How Much Does Bookkeeping Cost for a Small Business?

By Jake McKenna, FounderPublished 2026-10-17Last reviewed 2026-10-19

How much do bookkeeping services charge?

There is no single price, and a quote given without asking about your books is an estimate. The most useful published numbers come from editorial guides, not firms, and they are estimates, not quotes.

According to NerdWallet's 2026 bookkeeping pricing guide, bookkeeping typically costs around $300 a month. The same guide says most subscription or outsourced packages range from around $200 a month to $700 and up. It breaks that into rough tiers:

NerdWallet says the monthly bill depends on the complexity of the business. It also lists freelancers by the hour: it reports that Upwork lists the average rate for bookkeeping at $43 an hour, with some bookkeepers charging $80 or more.

The figures above are published market estimates from third parties. They are not English Oak's prices.

What drives the price of bookkeeping?

Four things move the number most.

Transaction volume. A business with a few dozen transactions a month and a business with thousands do not cost the same to keep. Volume is one of the biggest drivers.

How many accounts. Each bank account, credit card, loan and payment processor must be reconciled. See how to reconcile a bank account for what that involves.

Complexity. Inventory, multiple entities, job costing, payroll coordination and sales tax support all add work. NerdWallet makes the same point: the monthly bill depends on the complexity of the business.

The state of the books. Clean, current books are cheap to maintain. Books that are months behind need a cleanup first. That is a different job with its own price.

Other factors are smaller: how fast you answer questions, whether receipts arrive organized, and how much reporting you want on top of the basics.

How much does catch-up bookkeeping cost?

Catch-up work is usually priced by how far behind you are and how messy the records are. SDO CPA, a firm that sells this service, publishes a guide that shows the arithmetic. It gives per-month backlog rates of $150 to $300 for low-complexity books, $300 to $600 for medium and $600 to $1,200 or more for high complexity, then multiplies by the months behind. The guide attributes these rates to a third-party pricing guide, and it describes them as industry ranges, not quotes.

So a medium-complexity backlog of three months works out, on that arithmetic, to three times the medium monthly range. Treat that as a way to sense scale. It is vendor-published, and your own books may price quite differently.

English Oak quotes catch-up separately, by the condition of the books and the complexity of the work. See catch-up bookkeeping and how to catch up on bookkeeping.

Hourly, flat monthly or per project?

You will meet three pricing models.

• Hourly. You pay for time. Good when the work is small or irregular. The risk is a bill that varies and a reluctance to ask questions.
• Flat monthly. One fee for a defined scope. Easier to budget. Check what is inside it, because scope is where surprises hide.
• Per project. Used for cleanups and setups. The price is agreed up front for a defined job.

English Oak uses one fixed monthly fee, custom to the business, that includes all the work required.

What should be inside the monthly price?

Ask any provider to list, in writing, what the fee covers. A reasonable bookkeeping scope for a small business includes:

• Transaction coding and categorization
• Bank and credit-card reconciliation
• Accounts payable and accounts receivable upkeep
• Month-end statements
• Support with QuickBooks or Xero
• Payroll coordination and sales tax support, if relevant

English Oak's bookkeeping includes reconciliation, accounts payable and receivable, month-end statements, QuickBooks and Xero support, payroll coordination and sales tax support. It does not prepare tax returns, audit or give investment advice, and it works alongside your CPA or tax professional. For the full task list see what a bookkeeper does.

What English Oak Financial charges

English Oak Financial starts bookkeeping from $500 a month, the fractional controller from $1,500 and the fractional CFO from $2,500. Pricing is custom to your business and charged as one fixed monthly fee that includes all the work required. The first consultation is free. The bookkeeping service page and the pricing page have the detail.

Example: how the arithmetic can look

Illustrative example only, with invented numbers. A landscaping business has one business bank account, one credit card and about 120 transactions a month. A second business has four accounts, a payment processor and about 900 transactions a month. Same industry, same software. The second business needs roughly seven or eight times the transaction handling and two to two and a half times the reconciliation work, so its quote would sit in a higher tier.

The lesson is not the invented figures. Price follows work, and work follows volume, accounts and complexity.

When bookkeeping is not worth paying for

• You have a handful of transactions a month and enjoy the work. Doing it yourself in good software may cost you less than any outside service.
• You are not going to read the output. Books nobody uses are an expensive filing cabinet. If you will not look at a monthly statement, fix that first.
• Your only need is a tax return. That is a tax professional's job, not a bookkeeper's.
• The business is too new to have a pattern. For a brand-new business, a spreadsheet and a separate business bank account may be enough to start, and you can move to proper books later.

Bookkeeping starts to earn its fee when your time is worth more elsewhere, when you cannot answer "how did we do last month," or when mistakes start costing you in late payments, missed invoices or messy tax time.

What about hiring in-house?

NerdWallet's guide says in-house bookkeepers are usually the most expensive option. See in-house vs outsourced bookkeeping for the trade-offs, and what it costs to outsource accounting if you want more than bookkeeping. If you are weighing titles, bookkeeper vs accountant vs CPA sorts out who does what.

How do you get an accurate quote?

Bring the facts a provider needs to price the work. Without them, any number is a guess.

1. A list of every bank account, credit card, loan and payment processor.
2. A rough idea of monthly transaction volume: a few dozen, a few hundred or thousands.
3. Your software, QuickBooks or Xero, or none yet.
4. How far behind the books are, if at all, and the date of the last reconciliation.
5. Any extras: payroll coordination, sales tax support, accounts payable runs, inventory.
6. What you want out at the end of each month, such as a profit and loss statement and balance sheet.

With those, a provider can quote a fixed monthly fee instead of an hourly range. English Oak's first consultation is free, and its fee is custom.

What should you ask before you sign?

• What exactly is inside the monthly fee, and what is billed on top?
• Who does the work, and who do I speak to when something looks wrong?
• What do I need to send you each month, and by when?
• What reports will I get, and in what format?
• What happens if my books are behind when we start?
• What is not included, such as tax returns or audit work?

A good provider answers these plainly. A vague answer on scope can be the source of a surprise bill later.

Related pages

• What Does a Bookkeeper Do?
• Bookkeeper vs Accountant vs CPA: What's the Difference?
• In-House vs Outsourced Bookkeeping
• How Much Does It Cost to Outsource Accounting?

Sources

• Bookkeeping Prices for Small Business: What to Expect in 2026. Accessed 2026-10-17. Published by NerdWallet, updated Mar 13, 2026. Third-party editorial estimate, not a quote from any firm.
• Catch-Up Bookkeeping Cost Guide. Accessed 2026-10-17. Vendor-published figure. Published by SDO CPA, a firm that sells this service; the page attributes its per-month rates to a third-party pricing guide.