What Small Business Bookkeeping Actually Costs You (And When to Outsource It)

The real monthly cost of bookkeeping and how to know when outsourcing saves you time, money, and mistakes.

Most small business owners accept that bookkeeping has to get done, but very few enjoy doing it themselves.

You might already be inside QuickBooks or spreadsheets every month, trying to keep up with invoices, payroll, and taxes, and still feel unsure if you are handling it in the most cost effective way.

When small business owners ask how much bookkeeping should cost, the most common answer they hear is “it depends.” Technically that is true, but it is not useful when you are trying to set a budget or compare options.

One guide will quote a typical small business bookkeeping cost of around 300 dollars per month, while another shows hourly rates from 40 to 100 dollars and retainers up to several thousand dollars for complex businesses.

For some providers, bookkeeping can mean basic transaction categorization and simple reconciliations. For others, the same word includes accounts payable and accounts receivable management, payroll, sales tax filings, inventory tracking, and regular management reports. If you do not know exactly what is included in a quote, you cannot meaningfully compare bookkeeping prices for your small business across different firms or models.

Another issue is that most cost comparisons ignore your own time. DIY bookkeeping with cloud accounting software looks cheap on paper because you only see a 25 to 100 dollar monthly subscription. In reality, if you spend 5 to 10 hours per month inside your books and your time is worth 75 dollars per hour, your “cheap” setup is costing hundreds of dollars in owner time, plus the risk of errors and late adjustments.

Some bookkeepers charge by the hour. Others use flat monthly bookkeeping packages. Some offer separate catch-up bookkeeping pricing for cleaning up months of backlogged data. On top of that, your transaction volume, number of accounts and payment processors, payroll, multi-channel sales, and reporting needs all change where in the range you land. The result is that two businesses of similar size can legitimately see quotes that differ by a factor of three, and both can be correct once the scope is clear.

This article will make those moving parts explicit. We will start with an at a glance summary of typical monthly bookkeeping costs for small businesses in 2026, then unpack the main cost drivers so you can see why one company pays around 300 dollars a month while another pays closer to 2,000 dollars. From there, you will be in a position to decide whether DIY, hiring, or outsourcing is the right fit for your current stage.

Overview of Small Business Bookkeeping Costs in 2026

If you only want one answer, it is this: for most small businesses, bookkeeping cost per month usually falls somewhere between 300 and 1,500 dollars, depending on complexity and how you staff it. 

Some owners push that number down with DIY bookkeeping, but pay in time and risk. Others pay more for in-house or outsourced help to get cleaner books and fewer surprises.

The table below summarizes typical small business bookkeeping costs in 2026. These are market based ranges, not quotes, and they assume a small business with modest but real activity:

Model	What it looks like	Typical direct cost per month	What it really costs you
DIY with accounting software	You handle the books in QuickBooks, Xero, or similar	Software: about 25 to 100 dollars	5 to 10 hours of your time per month. If your time is worth 75 dollars per hour, that is 375 to 750 plus software.
Freelance or part-time bookkeeper	Independent bookkeeper billing hourly or on a small retainer	Hourly rates: about 40 to 100 dollars per hour	Simple businesses often spend 300 to 800 dollars per month. More complex needs can reach 1,000 to 2,000 dollars.
In-house bookkeeper (employee)	Part-time or full-time staff member on payroll	Salary often 45,000 to 70,000 dollars per year	Once you add benefits, payroll taxes, software, and overhead, real cost can be about 4,500 to 7,500 dollars per month.
Outsourced or virtual bookkeeping	Fixed monthly package with a bookkeeping firm or virtual service	Entry level packages: about 250 to 500 dollars	Typical small businesses land near 600 to 1,200 dollars per month. High complexity can reach 1,500 to 3,000 plus.

Put differently, the “average cost of a bookkeeper for a small business” is not one number. A very simple business using DIY bookkeeping might spend under 100 dollars in cash each month and several hours of owner time. A growing business with employees, multiple accounts, and accounts receivable and accounts payable processes can easily justify 600 to 1,500 dollars per month for reliable outsourced bookkeeping, because the cost of mistakes or distraction is much higher.

The 7 Main Factors That Drive Small Business Bookkeeping Prices

Two businesses with similar revenue can see bookkeeping quotes that differ by a factor of three. The difference usually comes down to a handful of concrete factors. Once you know what they are, those ranges of 300 to 2,000 dollars per month stop looking random and start making sense.

1. Transaction volume

The more transactions your bookkeeper has to process, the more time your books take. Each incoming payment, outgoing bill, bank transfer, refund, and payroll entry needs to be categorized, checked, and reconciled.

A service business with 80 to 100 transactions per month is much simpler than an online retailer pushing through several hundred or more. Higher transaction volume does not just add a few minutes. It multiplies the chance of errors, duplicate entries, and mismatches between your bank feed and your accounting software, which is why providers often use transaction tiers when setting bookkeeping prices for small business clients.

2. Number of accounts and payment processors

Bookkeeping is built around reconciling each financial account every month. The more separate accounts you have, the more reconciliation work there is.

Key drivers here include:

• Separate checking and savings accounts
• Multiple business credit card
• Payment processors like Stripe, PayPal, Square, or merchant accounts
• Marketplace payouts from platforms like Amazon or Etsy

Each bank feed or payment processor usually comes with its own quirks and timing. A business with one checking account and one card is cheaper to handle than one with four bank accounts, three cards, and multiple processors feeding data into the books.

3. Payroll and number of employees

Payroll adds complexity even when you use a modern payroll app. Every payroll run affects wages, taxes, benefits, and sometimes accruals such as vacation or bonuses. The bookkeeper needs to ensure those entries land in the correct accounts and match the cash movement in your bank.

A solo owner taking simple draws from the business is at the low-end of the complexity spectrum. Once you have employees, your bookkeeping cost per month almost always rises, and it rises further when you have:

• Frequent payroll cycles
• Multiple pay rates or roles
• Overtime, commissions, or tips
• Multi-state payroll obligations

This is one reason many providers ask about headcount right away. It is a simple proxy for the level of bookkeeping effort tied to payroll.

4. Accounts receivable and accounts payable workload

There is a big difference between coding a few card transactions and actively managing accounts receivable (A/R) and accounts payable (A/P).

If your bookkeeper is simply recording customer payments and vendor bills that you handle yourself, the workload is relatively light. If they are:

• Issuing invoices
• Tracking overdue accounts and sending reminders
• Entering and scheduling vendor bills
• Managing approval flows
• Matching payments to specific invoices and bills

then the time commitment rises quickly. That is why some monthly bookkeeping packages distinguish between basic coding and full A/R and A/P management. The latter often pushes a small business into the mid or upper-end of the 600 to 1,500 dollars per month range.

5. Inventory, cost of goods sold, and multi-channel sales

If you sell products rather than pure services, inventory and cost of goods sold (COGS) become major cost drivers. Your bookkeeper has to keep quantities, unit costs, and valuation methods aligned with your sales records and purchasing activity.

The cost impact grows when you:

• Sell through multiple channels (online store, physical POS, marketplaces)
• Use different payment processors by channel
• Carry a large number of SKUs
• Have frequent price changes or promotions

Multi-channel sales mean money flows through several systems before it lands in your bank account, and each of those systems has to tie back to your general ledger. That extra complexity is one of the reasons e-commerce businesses often see bookkeeping prices toward the higher-end of the published ranges.

6. State of your existing books: Ongoing vs Catch Up

Providers price clean, current books very differently from messy, behind schedule books. If your bookkeeping is up-to-date and your prior year was handled properly, a new bookkeeper can often step into an ongoing cadence at a predictable monthly rate.

If your books are several months behind, contain uncategorized transactions, or have not been reconciled in a long time, you are in “catch-up bookkeeping” territory. Catch up work often carries separate cleanup fees, either:

• A fixed price per historical month, or
• A project quote based on the amount of data and issues to resolve

This can temporarily push your bookkeeping cost above normal levels while the backlog is cleared. Once the books are clean and current, your ongoing monthly cost typically falls back into a more standard range.

7. Industry, reporting, and compliance complexity

Finally, your industry and reporting requirements shape what “good bookkeeping” looks like. A straightforward local service provider has different needs from a healthcare practice, a construction company with job costing, or a nonprofit subject to specific reporting rules.

Bookkeepers may charge more when they must:

• Track project or job-level profitability
• Comply with industry specific rules or grant reporting
• Prepare detailed management reports for lenders or investors
• Coordinate with external accountants on complex tax positions

If your business operates in a regulated environment or expects regular scrutiny from banks, investors, or agencies, you are paying not just for data entry but for a higher standard of accuracy and documentation. That premium is often justified, but it does explain why two businesses with similar revenue might see very different quotes.

Taken together, these factors explain where you land inside the typical 300 to 1,500 dollars per month range for small business bookkeeping. They also explain why catch up bookkeeping and cleanup pricing can spike temporarily before settling back into an ongoing monthly package.

Is It Cheaper To Hire A Bookkeeper Or Outsource?

The real question is not just “Which option has the lowest price tag?” but “Which option gives me reliable books at the lowest total cost when I factor in time, risk, and flexibility?” For most small businesses, there is a tipping point where outsourced bookkeeping cost is lower and safer than either hiring too early or stretching DIY bookkeeping too far.

At a high level, you are usually choosing between three models:

• Hiring an in-house bookkeeper
• Working with a freelance individual
• Using an outsourced or virtual bookkeeping service on a monthly package

In-house vs Outsourced Bookkeeping: Cost Comparison

If you look strictly at cash leaving your bank account, a part-time or full-time in-house bookkeeper is often the most expensive option. A full-time role usually translates into a salary of 4,500 to 7,500 dollars per month. In comparison, a substantial outsourced bookkeeping package for a complex small business usually lands between 1,500 and 3,000 dollars per month.

For smaller or simpler businesses, outsourced bookkeeping cost tends to sit closer to 600 to 1,200 dollars per month. Freelance bookkeepers may be a bit cheaper on paper at lower transaction volumes, but the difference narrows once you factor in the time you spend coordinating work, chasing deadlines, and covering for them during vacations or busy seasons.

A simple way to see the tradeoffs is to compare the models side by side:

Option	Typical monthly cost range (small business)	Your time involvement	Flexibility and scalability	Risk profile
In-house bookkeeper	About 4,500 to 7,500 dollars all in	Low: Day-to-day, higher time for hiring and oversight	Medium: Adding capacity requires hiring and training	Lower continuity risk If you retain staff, but higher HR and IT risk
Freelance individual	Roughly 300 to 1,500 dollars depending on hours	Moderate: You coordinate, review, and cover gaps	Medium: Can adjust hours, but capacity and coverage are limited	Depends on the individual, higher key person risk
Outsourced or virtual bookkeeping service	Around 250 to 500 dollars for micro, 600 to 1,200 dollars for typical, 1,500 to 3,000 plus for complex	Low to moderate: Mainly reviews and decisions	High: Firms can add staff, tools, and coverage as you grow	Lower key person risk, more structure and controls

In many cases, outsourced bookkeeping is cheaper than hiring until you reach a size where a full-time bookkeeper is fully utilized with higher-level tasks as well.

Virtual Bookkeeping vs Hiring an In-person Bookkeeper: Why the Cost Usually Favors Outsourcing

Virtual bookkeeping pricing is built for small business realities. Packages are usually tiered by transaction volume, number of accounts and payment processors, payroll complexity, and whether you need active accounts receivable and accounts payable management. Because an outsourced firm spreads staff and software across many clients, you effectively rent part of a bookkeeping team instead of paying for a full in-house bookkeeper.

Option	Typical monthly cost (small business)	What you get	Key tradeoffs
Virtual / outsourced bookkeeping	About 600 to 1,200 dollars per month for a typical small business with a few hundred transactions and simple payroll	Professional bookkeeping, reconciliations, basic A/R and A/P, standard reports	Lower outsourced bookkeeping cost, predictable monthly packages, minimal HR overhead
In-person / in-house bookkeeper	Often 4,500 to 7,500 dollars per month fully loaded (salary, taxes, benefits, overhead)	Dedicated employee who can also handle admin and other finance tasks	Higher fixed cost, hiring and training risk, more IT and management overhead

For most owner-managed businesses with 1 to 50 employees, virtual bookkeeping is the cheaper and safer answer to “Is it cheaper to hire a bookkeeper or outsource?” until you are large enough to justify a full internal finance team or a controller.

Example: Impact of Choosing The Right Bookkeeping Option for a Small Business

To make the numbers concrete, consider a realistic small service business:

• Annual revenue: About 1,000,000 dollars
• Transaction volume: Roughly 200 to 300 transactions per month across bank and card accounts
• Team size: 8 employees with simple payroll
• Systems: 2 bank accounts, 1 credit card, 1 payroll service, 1 primary payment processor

This is the point where bookkeeping is no longer a side task. The owner needs accurate monthly financials, clean books for tax planning, and enough visibility to manage cash flow and staffing. Here is how the actual cost of bookkeeping looks under three different models.

Option 1: Owner Opts for DIY Bookkeeping

Assumptions:

• The business uses QuickBooks Online at about 70 dollars per month on a mid-tier plan
• The owner spends 8 hours per month inside the books (coding transactions, reconciling accounts, fixing mistakes)
• The owner’s time is worth 100 dollars per hour based on what they could earn doing billable work or sales

Monthly cost (Approximate Figures):

• Software: 70 dollars
• Owner’s Time Spent: 8 hours × 100 dollars = 800 dollars
• Total effective bookkeeping cost per month: About 870 dollars

On paper, DIY bookkeeping looks cheap because you only see 70 dollars leaving the bank for software. In reality, you are paying close to 900 dollars when you value the owner’s time at market rates. You also carry higher risk of missed deductions, misclassified expenses, and books that fall behind during busy months.

Option 2: Part-time In-house Bookkeeper

Assumptions:

• The owner hires a part-time bookkeeper for 20 hours per week at 25 dollars per hour
• Effective monthly hours: Approximately 80 hours
• Employer payroll taxes and other costs add roughly 20 percent on top of wages

Monthly cost (Approximate Figures):

• Wages: 80 hours × 25 dollars = 2,000 dollars
• Payroll taxes and related costs: 400 dollars
• Software and tools: 70 dollars (same QuickBooks subscription)
• Total in-house bookkeeping cost per month: 2,470 dollars

In this scenario, the owner’s direct time on bookkeeping drops significantly, maybe to 1 or 2 hours per month for review and approvals. The books are likely cleaner and more current, while the part-time bookkeeper can also help with administration tasks. The tradeoff is a much higher fixed monthly cost and exposure to HR risk if that person leaves or is unavailable during critical periods.

Option 3: Outsourced or virtual bookkeeping service

Assumptions:

• The business opts for a reputable outsourced bookkeeping firm on a monthly package
• Scope includes transaction coding, bank and credit card reconciliations, basic A/R and A/P tracking, payroll sync, and standard monthly reports
• Pricing for this profile lands in the mid range for outsourced bookkeeping cost, based on typical market data

Monthly cost (Approximate Figures):

• Outsourced bookkeeping package: 900 to 1,200 dollars per month, given the transaction volume and payroll
• Accounting software license: Often wrapped into the package or billed separately at a similar 50 to 100 dollars range

If we take the midpoint, the total bookkeeping cost per month is around 1,100 to 1,300 dollars. The owner’s time commitment usually drops to 1 or 2 hours per month reviewing reports, answering occasional questions, and making decisions based on the numbers.

Comparing Money Invested, Time Taken, and Risk Endured Side-by-side

For this one-million-dollar business, the three options line up roughly as follows:

Model	Cash cost per month (approximate)	Owner time on bookkeeping per month	Comments on risk and control
DIY bookkeeping	About 70 dollars out of pocket, 870 dollars effective including owner’s time	Around 8 hours	Lower cash cost, higher risk of errors and delays, books depend on owner availability.
Part-time in-house bookkeeper	Around 2,400 to 2,500 dollars	Around 1 to 2 hours	Highest fixed cost, strong control if you hire well, exposure to HR and coverage gaps.
Outsourced bookkeeping	Around 1,100 to 1,300 dollars	Around 1 to 2 hours	Mid-range cash cost, low owner time, structured process, firm handles coverage and training.

In pure cash terms, DIY bookkeeping seems the cheapest. Once you price the owner’s time, DIY is effectively in the same cost band as a solid outsourced bookkeeping package, with more risk and distraction. In-house bookkeeping offers more direct control and potentially broader admin support, but at roughly twice the monthly cash cost of a typical outsourced solution for this size and complexity.

This example is not meant to push one answer for everyone. It shows how the numbers usually tilt once you account for both money and time. If your revenue and complexity look anything like this scenario, it is rational to ask whether you should still handle DIY bookkeeping or move toward outsourcing.

When Should A Small Business Outsource Bookkeeping?

A common question is, “When should a small business outsource bookkeeping instead of keeping it in-house or doing it themselves?”

There is no single revenue threshold, but there are clear patterns. Once bookkeeping starts crowding out work that actually grows the business, or the risk of mistakes becomes meaningful, outsourcing stops being a luxury and starts being a practical safeguard.

You can think of the decision as a simple checklist. If two or more of the following are true, you are probably past the DIY or ad hoc stage and should seriously consider outsourced bookkeeping:

1. You Spend More Than 5 to 8 Hours per Month on Bookkeeping

If you regularly lose evenings or weekends to QuickBooks, that time is already costing you hundreds of dollars in effective value every month. At that point, outsourcing often costs less than what you give up in sales or delivery work.

2. Your Books Are More Than One Month Behind

When reconciliations and reports lag by several weeks, cash flow decisions and tax planning are based on old information. Catch up bookkeeping will be necessary anyway. Putting an outsourced bookkeeper in place turns a recurring problem into a one-time project followed by a stable monthly process.

3. You Have Employees and Payroll

Payroll introduces recurring, deadline-driven complexity. If you are manually posting payroll entries, adjusting for taxes and benefits, and fixing payroll related errors, the cost of getting something wrong (late filings, penalties, unhappy staff) is usually higher than the cost of a professional handling it.

4. You Use Multiple Sales Channels or Payment Processors

If money flows through an online store, a physical POS, and one or more processors such as Stripe or PayPal, your accounts will not line up cleanly without deliberate effort. Outsourced bookkeeping services are set up to handle multi-channel sales, accounts receivable, and accounts payable workflows in a way that DIY systems often are not.

5. You Are Preparing for Lending, Investors, or Closer Tax Scrutiny

If you plan to apply for a loan, talk to investors, or you know your industry has a higher chance of audit, messy books become a direct financial risk. Clean, consistent financials prepared by a professional bookkeeper make those conversations easier and reduce the cost of last minute cleanup.

6. Your Accountant is Spending Billable Time Fixing Basic Bookkeeping

When your CPA has to repair reconciliations, reclassify expenses, or redo prior months before they can give advice or file returns, you are paying high hourly rates for problems a bookkeeper could have prevented. Outsourcing bookkeeping often frees your accountant to focus on higher value work.

7. You Are Guarding Your Own Health and Focus

If bookkeeping feels like a constant source of stress, and you keep pushing it to the end of your to-do list, that is a warning sign. You may technically be saving money, but you are paying with attention, sleep, and decision fatigue.

You do not need to wait until all seven apply. If you recognize yourself in at least two or three of these, it is sensible to get quotes for outsourced bookkeeping and compare them to what you are effectively paying now.

For some businesses, outsourcing bookkeeping is also part of a broader move toward accounting outsourcing, where more of the monthly financial work shifts from the owner to a coordinated external team. If you are starting to think about that bigger picture, a dedicated guide to accounting outsourcing can help you see how bookkeeping fits into your overall finance strategy and which responsibilities stay with your CPA.

The Hidden Costs: Risk, Security, And Your Tech Stack

So far we have focused on visible bookkeeping prices: hourly rates, monthly packages, and salaries. There is another layer that does not show up on a bookkeeping invoice at all: where your accounting data lives, how it is protected, and what happens when systems fail at the wrong moment. Those choices can quietly add thousands of dollars in risk and IT spend over time.

Where Your Accounting Data Lives (And Why It Matters)

Every bookkeeping setup has an underlying stack: devices, networks, applications, and backups. If you or your bookkeeper run everything from a single office computer with basic backups, your cash cost may be low, but you are carrying higher risk in the background.

Key questions that affect the true cost of your bookkeeping environment include:

• Is your accounting system on one local PC, a basic cloud app, or a secure cloud accounting platform with dedicated resources?
• Are backups automatic, encrypted, and regularly tested, or based on occasional manual exports?
• Who can remotely access your books, and is that access protected with modern controls like multi-factor authentication?

Regulators and professional bodies are placing more emphasis on data security. For accountants and bookkeepers, expectations increasingly reference frameworks such as SOC 2 (a standard for security and availability controls), the FTC Safeguards Rule for protecting customer information, IRS Publication 4557 for safeguarding taxpayer data, and the firm’s written information security plan (WISP). If your bookkeeping relies on ad hoc local setups and informal backups, complying with those expectations becomes harder and more expensive.

By contrast, running your accounting stack on a purpose built, secure cloud accounting software hosting environment can consolidate part of that cost into one predictable monthly line item. Instead of buying and managing servers, storage, and security tools yourself, you use a managed platform that handles isolation, encryption, backups, and uptime as part of the service. For many firms, that shift is the difference between scrambling to fix IT problems during tax season and having a stable foundation that quietly stays out of the way.

If you are already at the stage where bookkeeping cost, client data, and downtime all keep showing up on your risk list, it is reasonable to look beyond the bookkeeping invoice itself. A short conversation with a specialist managed IT provider like Verito can give you a realistic view of what it would cost to move your accounting systems into a more controlled, cloud-based environment and how that compares to your current piecemeal IT spend.

QuickBooks And Cloud Accounting Software Hosting

Even with the growth of purely browser-based tools, a large share of small businesses and accounting firms still rely on QuickBooks Desktop and related tax and accounting applications. Those tools are familiar, feature rich, and deeply entrenched in how many firms deliver bookkeeping and accounting services. The question is not whether you keep using them, but where they run.

A common pattern is that QuickBooks and other desktop software live on a single office machine or a basic on-premises server. This works until you need consistent remote access, multiple staff working in the same files, stronger security controls, or disaster recovery you can actually trust. Trying to retrofit all of that onto aging local infrastructure often turns into a slow, expensive project.

An alternative is to move those applications into a hosted environment built specifically for accounting workloads. With QuickBooks hosting on dedicated private servers, your firm can keep the same QuickBooks Desktop features while staff and clients connect through the cloud. The provider handles server maintenance, patching, backups, and uptime, while you keep control over who can access which companies and when.

For small businesses, this setup means your outsourced bookkeeper and accountant can securely work in the same QuickBooks file without relying on email attachments or screen sharing. For accounting and bookkeeping firms, it means you can standardize your tech stack across clients, reduce local IT headaches, and align more easily with security expectations from regulators and professional bodies.

The important point is that bookkeeping cost is not isolated from your IT decisions. A lower monthly fee from a bookkeeper is less attractive if you regularly lose hours to connection issues, file conflicts, or security incidents. Putting your core accounting tools on a stable, professionally managed IT platform reduces those hidden costs and lets your bookkeeper focus on what you are actually paying them for: accurate, timely books.

Infrastructure, Compliance, And IT Overhead

Regardless of how much you outsource, your firm still owns the responsibility for protecting client data. That responsibility is growing. Expectations now routinely reference:

• SOC 2 for documented security and availability controls
• The FTC Safeguards Rule for protecting customer information
• IRS Publication 4557 and similar guidance for safeguarding taxpayer data
• Your own written information security plan (WISP) and how it is actually enforced

If your bookkeeping and tax apps run on aging local servers or scattered desktops, meeting those expectations becomes an ongoing IT project. You pay in:

• Ad hoc server upgrades and replacements
• Unpredictable downtime during tax season
• Manual backup routines that are hard to test and document
• A constant stream of tickets whenever staff need remote access or new apps

Many firms have found that consolidating their environment on a secure private cloud built for accounting workloads changes that equation. Instead of running QuickBooks, tax applications, and file storage on on-premise hardware, they host those tools in a controlled environment with dedicated private servers, encrypted backups, and clear uptime commitments. Some even move further and adopt an all-in-one hosting and managed IT provider so that both infrastructure and day-to-day support are wrapped into a single, predictable monthly bill.

This is exactly where Verito fits. Verito does not provide bookkeeping services. It provides the secure, SOC 2 audited cloud platform and IT backbone that lets accounting and bookkeeping firms deliver outsourced bookkeeping without constant IT firefighting. Your staff and your outsourced partners work in the same hosted applications, your clients connect remotely in a controlled way, and your compliance story is easier to explain.

If you are still relying on a local consultant who comes in when servers break or VPN connections fail, it is worth comparing that model with dedicated outsourced IT support for solo accountants and small teams. The direct cost may be similar. The operational impact is not. A predictable, security-focused IT partner reduces the hours your team spends wrestling with connections or recovery and lets you sell and deliver more of the work that actually drives revenue.

Time, Money, And Risk: Choosing Your Mix

Bookkeeping will always cost you something. If you handle it yourself, you pay mainly with time and attention, and you carry more risk.

If you hire in-house or outsource, you pay more in direct cash, but you gain cleaner books, better visibility, and fewer surprises at tax time.

The goal is not to find a zero cost option, but to find the mix of money, time, and risk that makes sense for your size, complexity, and growth plans.

For many owner-managed businesses, the sweet spot is a reliable outsourced bookkeeping service supported by a stable, secure technology stack rather than a patchwork of local machines and improvised backups. For accounting and bookkeeping firms delivering outsourced bookkeeping at scale, the real leverage often comes from moving core applications into a secure private cloud and taking day-to-day IT firefighting off the internal team’s plate.

If you run an accounting or bookkeeping firm, or you are a growing business that works closely with one, your margins and client experience depend heavily on that IT foundation.

Hosting QuickBooks and other accounting apps in a controlled environment with strong security, encrypted backups, and high uptime lets your team and your outsourced bookkeepers focus on the work clients actually pay for. When you are ready to see what that would look like in practice, you can schedule a consultation with Verito and get a concrete view of how secure cloud hosting and outsourced IT support can fit alongside your bookkeeping model.

FAQs About Small Business Bookkeeping Costs And Outsourcing

TL;DR

• Most small businesses see total bookkeeping cost per month fall somewhere between 300 and 1,500 dollars, depending on size, complexity, and whether they use DIY, freelance, in house, or outsourced bookkeeping.
  
• DIY bookkeeping looks cheap on paper at 25 to 100 dollars per month for software, but once you value the owner’s time at typical hourly rates, the effective cost often jumps into the 400 to 900 dollars per month range.
  
• Freelance or part time bookkeepers charging 40 to 100 dollars per hour usually translate to 300 to 800 dollars per month for simple needs and 1,000 to 2,000 dollars per month for more complex books.
  
• In house bookkeepers cost significantly more, with realistic fully loaded salary bands around 4,500 to 7,500 dollars per month, which only makes sense once you have enough work and complexity to keep that person busy with higher level tasks as well.
  
• Outsourced or virtual bookkeeping packages typically start around 250 to 500 dollars per month for micro businesses, land around 600 to 1,200 dollars per month for a typical small business, and reach 1,500 to 3,000 plus when you add heavy A/R, A/P, inventory, or multi channel sales.
  
• Your place in those ranges is driven mainly by transaction volume, number of accounts and payment processors, payroll and headcount, A/R and A/P workload, inventory and multi channel sales, the state of your books, and industry reporting or compliance requirements.
  
• If you are spending more than 5 to 8 hours per month on bookkeeping, are more than one month behind, have employees and multiple sales channels, or your CPA is fixing basic errors, you are usually past the DIY stage and should look seriously at outsourced bookkeeping.
• For many owner managed businesses around 1,000,000 dollars in revenue, a solid outsourced bookkeeping package often has a lower real cost and risk profile than DIY or an early in house hire, especially when you include the value of the owner’s time.
• The “true cost” of bookkeeping also depends on your IT and security choices. Running your accounting stack on a secure cloud platform rather than a single local PC reduces downtime, security incidents, and compliance headaches that do not show up on a bookkeeping invoice but affect your bottom line.