Price is driven by transaction volume, the number of accounts to reconcile, whether payroll, inventory or multi-state sales tax are in scope, and the state the books are currently in. Two quotes differ mostly because they assumed different scopes, not different rates.
Ask three providers and you will get three numbers that differ by more than they should. The spread is almost never about rates.
The four variables
Transaction volume, which is the obvious one. The number of accounts requiring reconciliation, which is less obvious — five credit cards and two loans is more work than one bank account at the same volume.
Whether payroll, inventory or multi-state sales tax are in scope, each of which is effectively a separate service. And the current state of the books, because starting from a mess is a different job from continuing from order.
What should be in a monthly fee
Transactions categorized. Every account with an external statement reconciled — bank, cards, loans, merchant accounts, payroll liabilities. A close, so the period stops moving. Financial statements you can actually read.
If reconciliation is not included, you are buying categorization. That is a real service and it is not bookkeeping, because nothing has been checked against the outside world.
Questions that make quotes comparable
What transaction volume does this assume, and what happens if we exceed it. Which accounts are reconciled. Is payroll included or coordinated. Are sales tax filings included, and for how many states. Is a monthly close performed and locked.
Asked of three providers, those five questions usually explain the entire spread.
Cleanup is not the monthly fee
If the books are behind or wrong, that is a project with its own scope and price, and it should be quoted separately. A provider who folds it into a low monthly fee is either underpricing it or not doing it.
Either way you find out in a few months, usually at year end.
Where cheap gets expensive
Unreconciled books look identical to reconciled ones from the outside. The difference appears when the CPA needs a balance sheet that ties, and bills at CPA rates to produce one.
The cheapest arrangement is frequently the one that moves work to the most expensive person in the chain.
What you should be able to see
A monthly close date that is met, statements that arrive without asking, and a balance sheet with no line you cannot explain.
If those three are true, the price is probably fair. If they are not, the price is not the problem.
Common questions
- How much should monthly bookkeeping cost?
- It scales with transaction volume, account count and complexity. Ask each provider what volume and scope their quote assumes, then compare like with like.
- Why are quotes so different?
- Usually scope. One includes payroll, sales tax filings and a monthly close; another is categorization only. The rate is rarely the variable.
- Is cleanup priced separately?
- Almost always, and it should be. Cleanup is a defined project on historical periods; ongoing bookkeeping is a recurring service on current ones.
- What should be included in a monthly fee?
- Categorization, reconciliation of every account with a statement, a monthly close, and financial statements. Anything less is data entry.
- Does cheaper cost more later?
- It can. Books that are categorized but never reconciled look fine monthly and produce a cleanup engagement and a higher CPA bill at year end.
Behind on Your Books?
We handle your bookkeeping end-to-end — categorization, reconciliation, month-end close, and clean financial statements, so your books stay current and CPA-ready.