What does bookkeeping cost?
Short answer: outsourced bookkeeping usually runs $200 to $800 a month, and most small service businesses land around $400. Here's the longer answer, with an honest breakdown of your options.
Your options, compared
Three ways to handle your books. Each one has real trade-offs.
Do it yourself
$0 – $50/moBuy a QuickBooks subscription and keep the books yourself. The software runs $30–50/month, but the real cost is your time and the learning curve.
Works if
You already know your way around accounting, you have plenty of hours every month to stay on top of it, and you never fall behind.
The catch
It's harder than it looks. Miscategorized transactions, unreconciled accounts, and months of backlog pile up fast, and by the time you notice, you're looking at a mess and no real picture of your finances.
Traditional accounting firm
$1,000 – $3,000+/moA CPA firm that handles bookkeeping, tax, and advisory under one roof.
Works if
You have complex needs (payroll, multiple entities, investors) and the budget for it.
The downside
Expensive for basic bookkeeping. You're often assigned to a junior associate and don't get much personal attention.
Outsourced bookkeeping service
Usually $200 – $800/moWhat we do
A dedicated bookkeeping service that handles your books monthly. This is what we do at SMB Help.
Works if
You want reliable, consistent bookkeeping without the overhead of a big firm. You get a real person who knows your business.
What you get
Monthly bookkeeping, reconciliation, organized records, and someone you can actually reach when you have questions.
What affects the price
No matter who you hire, a few things move the price up or down:
- • How many bank and credit card accounts
- • Transaction volume
- • Assets and equipment
- • Loans and lines of credit
- • One or multiple locations
- • Payroll and inventory
If your books are months or years behind, there's usually a one-time catch-up fee to get everything current before monthly bookkeeping starts.
Is it worth it?
Messy books cost you money. When expenses aren't categorized properly, you lose track of where the money is going and you can't make informed decisions.
Your time has a dollar value. If you bill $75 to $150 an hour and you're spending 5+ hours a month on bookkeeping, you're losing money doing it yourself.
And the big decisions get a lot easier when the books are clean. Whether to hire, whether to buy the new truck, whether last quarter was actually profitable. Without real numbers, you're guessing.
What we charge
At SMB Help, pricing usually runs $200 to $800 a month, and most clients pay around $400/month. That covers transaction categorization, bank reconciliation, and organized records. The exact price depends on your transaction volume and complexity. We'll give you a clear quote after a quick conversation.
No long-term contracts. Month-to-month. If it's not working, you can walk away.