Updated October 21, 2026
How much should a bookkeeper charge is really two questions: what hourly rate does your practice need to be worth running, and how many hours will each client actually take? Answer the first from your own numbers and the second from the client's transaction volume, and fixed monthly fees become easy to set.
Quick answer: Divide your target income plus overhead by the hours you can realistically bill in a year to get your required hourly rate. Estimate each client's monthly hours from transactions, accounts to reconcile, payroll and reporting, multiply, and round into a fixed monthly tier. Price catch-up and clean-up work separately, per month of backlog.
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Bookkeepers who price by "what others charge" often discover they are working full time for less than an employee. Start from your own numbers instead. Example with stated assumptions:
| Line | Assumption | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Target owner income | $80,000 | — |
| Overhead | software, insurance, continuing education, marketing, office: $15,000 | — |
| Billable hours | 1,200/year (admin, sales and learning take the rest) | — |
| Required rate | ($80,000 + $15,000) ÷ 1,200 | $79.17, use $80 |
| Model | Works well when | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly | Clean-up projects, unpredictable advisory work | Clients avoid calling you; efficiency lowers your income |
| Fixed monthly fee | Recurring monthly bookkeeping with known scope | Scope creep if the scope is not written down |
| Tiered packages | You serve many similar small businesses | Tiers set too low for messy clients |
Copy this into a spreadsheet and fill in one column per prospect.
Worked example: 150 transactions (150 minutes), 3 accounts (60), 2 payroll runs (30), quarterly sales tax averaged (15), monthly reports and a short call (30), communication (45). That is 330 minutes, or 5.5 hours × $80 = $440, which might fall into a $450 tier.
Price backlog work per month of records to catch up, at your hourly rate times an estimate of hours per month (usually more than a current month, because records are missing). Take a deposit, and set the monthly fee to start only once the books are current.
Your engagement letter should list what is in the fee (accounts, transaction ceiling, reports, response time) and what is extra (tax returns, audits, extra entities, payroll in new states). Review every client's volume once a year and reprice the ones that grew.
Cash-flow forecasts, budgeting sessions, payroll setup and help with a lender or tax preparer are worth more to clients than routine categorizing. Price them separately, either as a higher monthly tier that includes a set amount of advisory time or as hourly projects, so that the value of that work is not hidden inside a basic bookkeeping fee.
Clients grow. A client who had 80 transactions a month when you signed them may have 200 now, on the same fee. Once a year, rerun the worksheet for every client using the past year's actual volume and time. Send a short note explaining the new fee, what the volume change was, and when it takes effect. Most clients accept a change that is explained with their own numbers.
Chasing missing statements and receipts is the part of a monthly fee that quietly balloons. Unmanually is a 24/7 AI Office Manager: tell it "chase the Lopez account for September statements and two missing receipts," and it emails and texts the client, follows up and tells you when the documents land. It asks before anything that spends money, and accounting judgment stays with you. See what it does for accountants and bookkeepers, or run the calculator to see how many hours of chasing and admin turn into minutes of talking.
What the AI Office Manager does for accounting and bookkeeping firms, from calls to invoices.
Bookkeeping business software for the month-end document chase.
A fixed monthly fee suits recurring work with a written scope; hourly suits clean-up and unpredictable advisory work. Build either from the hourly rate your practice needs.
Count monthly transactions, accounts to reconcile, payroll runs, filings and reporting, assign minutes to each from your own experience, and add time for communication and document chasing.
Per month of backlog at your hourly rate, with a deposit, and start the recurring monthly fee only when the books are current.
Owners spend about 11 to 16 hours/week on admin, and a lead reached within an hour is nearly 7 times more likely to turn into a real conversation (HBR). Knowing what to do is the easy part; the money leaks out in the calls you can't take, the follow-ups nobody sends and the invoices that sit unpaid. Unmanually is a 24/7 AI Office Manager for bookkeepers that you run by voice from your phone:
Sources: admin hours, Time etc / Censuswide 2023 and Amex SME Barometer 2026; speed to lead, HBR audit of 2,241 US companies (2011).
Unmanually is an AI Office Manager that works 24/7 and that you run by voice from your phone. Leave your mobile number and the AI Office Manager calls you right away, the same way it would call back one of your customers. That call is the demo: it answers, books you a 15-minute time with the founder and follows up.
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