Small business bookkeeping commonly runs $250–750 per month at traditional bookkeeping and CPA firms (based on published plan pricing from national online bookkeeping services and local firms reviewed in September 2026), though scoped, capped-transaction plans can price meaningfully lower without cutting corners. The exact number tracks closely with transaction volume, number of accounts, and whether payroll or sales tax work is bundled in — not an arbitrary rate card.
What drives the price?
Three factors do most of the work in any bookkeeping quote:
- Transaction volume — how many bank and credit card transactions run through the business each month.
- Number of accounts — a business with one checking account is simpler to reconcile than one with three bank accounts, two credit cards, and a merchant processor feed.
- Filing complexity — whether the business also needs payroll tax or multi-state sales tax handled alongside the core bookkeeping.
A single-owner service business with one bank account and a few dozen transactions a month is a very different job from a multi-location retailer with employees and inventory.
What’s a typical starting range?
Traditional bookkeeping and CPA firms commonly start around $250–750 per month for a small business, scaling up from there as volume and account count increase. Providers that cap the scope of a plan — a defined transaction limit and account count, rather than open-ended hours — can price meaningfully below that without doing less thorough work; the discipline is in the boundary, not the corner-cutting. See RazaPro’s pricing page for an example of how a scoped plan breaks down by transaction volume and bundled services.
How do I know if a quote is reasonable?
Ask what’s actually included. A bookkeeping quote should specify:
- How many accounts are being reconciled
- How often books are reconciled and delivered (monthly is standard)
- Whether cleanup of existing backlog is included or billed separately
- Whether the price includes payroll or sales tax work, or only core bookkeeping
A quote that’s dramatically cheaper than everything else you’ve seen is worth asking hard questions about — either the scope is narrower than it looks, or the reconciliation isn’t happening as thoroughly as it should.
In-house vs. outsourced: which is cheaper?
Hiring a part-time or full-time in-house bookkeeper carries costs beyond salary — payroll taxes, benefits if applicable, software licenses, and the time spent managing that person’s work. For scale, the median annual wage for US bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks was $50,670 in May 2025, before any of those extra costs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For most businesses below a certain transaction volume, outsourced bookkeeping ends up cheaper than an in-house hire, while for larger, high-volume operations an in-house hire can eventually make more sense. The crossover point depends on your specific volume and complexity.
What about a one-time cleanup instead of ongoing service?
If your books have fallen behind — a common situation heading into tax season — a one-time catch-up project is usually priced separately from an ongoing monthly engagement, based on how many months need to be reconciled and how disorganized the existing records are.
If you’re trying to figure out what your specific situation would cost, book a free consultation — every new engagement starts with a trial period so you can see the work before committing to anything ongoing.