Bookkeeping rates?

April 25, 2007 6:08 PM

What should my wife charge for bookkeeping services?

My wife has a degree in accountancy (but is not a CPA yet). She has been performing small business accounting for friends and family for years and now she is getting referrals from people she doesn't know. The rates she has been charging are from very low to free.. so she has no idea what is a good price for these services.

We are based in Phoenix, Arizona.. and she has been doing stuff like A/R, A/P, etc..

Anyone know what she should be charging for either per hour or flat rate?

posted by cowmix to work & money (6 comments total)

More than she thinks she should. People I know who have done copy editing told me that they wished they'd set their initial rates higher because they didn't think it would have been a hinderance to getting work, but it's tough to raise rates later on. Sorry I can't answer the question specifically, but I'd find the range in your area and charge at the high end of the range.
posted by selfmedicating at 6:26 PM on April 25, 2007

Whatever the market will bear. Ask around, call some other bookkeeping services (or have a friend do it), find out the going rate in your area for the same work by someone in the same experience level. It will usually a range, say $35 to 50 an hour (I'm guessing). Pick a number somewhere in the middle and stick to it. Practice saying your hourly rate to yourself in the mirror until you can do it without looking embarrassed or averting your eyes. (That's what I had to do when I started my business. ;-) Remember, you have an important skill and you're providing a valuable business service. You deserve suitable compensation.

Self-medicating is right. You can always drop your rate if they balk, but it's really tough to increase it later on. And remember, not everyone will be able to afford you. That's OK. They're just not your customers.
posted by wordwhiz at 6:42 PM on April 25, 2007

Hey there. I would charge $20-25. I'm a Quickbookser. If you have AccounTemps in your area, they can be pretty free and easy with workers, and might let her know her billable rate. It depends somewhat on how much control she wants over her hours and workload, but here in CA I would say $20/hr is very easy to attain consistently, and more is doable as well.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 7:45 PM on April 25, 2007

Okay, just called my mom, and she says she gets $20/hr through AccounTemps, and would get about $25 freelance for doing the A/R & A/P type stuff, prepping all for the CPA. "Full charge" bookkkeepers she says rank $60/hr.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 7:50 PM on April 25, 2007

Try using the same pricing model that a consultant would. Work out how much she'd make in a full-time salaried job, then adjust for expenses, overhead, downtime and the like. This usually works out to 2-3 times the hourly rate she'd receive in a regular job. There's a link to an article I wrote on how to do this in my profile, if she needs a step-by-step model. Of course, she can also go with the rate everyone else is charging. But that might be harder to find out, at least in an accurate way.
posted by acoutu at 9:03 PM on April 25, 2007

I charge $35, and I think with your wife's degree and experience she shouldn't go any lower than that. Remember, if she's being paid as a subcontractor her tax rate will be higher. Also, she's probably not getting any benefits (vacation/sick time, retirement, health insurance, etc.), which justifies a higher per hour price.
posted by robinpME at 5:37 AM on April 26, 2007