Bookkeeper Hourly Rates: A State-by-State Breakout 2024

Any business owner recognizes the importance of bookkeeping to accelerate growth. It is one of the core requirements for keeping the company steady. In order to ensure long-term success, it is crucial to understand the bookkeeping service options business owners have. One of the more important factors is budget so in this article, we will take a look at the average how much do bookkeepers charge on an hourly basis. 

Bookkeeping vs Accounting 

To evaluate your company’s demands, we must first comprehend the distinction between bookkeeping and accounting before discussing the costs of bookkeeping services. Early on, compliance—which involves paying bills, getting paid, recording transactions, guaranteeing payroll accuracy, and conforming to state and federal regulations—takes precedence for many small enterprises. You’ll highlight the need for timely, accurate financial reporting and intelligence once your business reaches a particular stage. You’ll need more complex bookkeeping, accrual-based accounting, and management or managerial accounting when making data-driven decisions.

In light of this, you must decide whether your company requires basic bookkeeping or advanced accounting. Each of these services calls for varied levels of experience and effort and it goes without saying that accounting costs much more than basic bookkeeping. Small businesses can get by with just bookkeeping while bigger firms require more hands on deck. 

Scope of bookkeeping services 

A  bookkeeper is responsible for a number of fundamental tasks. They are responsible for maintaining your financial records up to date by monitoring your receipts and expenses. Data entry into accounting software like QuickBooks is used to do this. In essence, their role is to keep track of financial transactions and compile data into a basic financial report that business leaders can use to advise their financial decisions and advance a company’s profitability and growth.

Reconciling bank and credit card accounts, creating monthly financial reports, and monitoring every facet of accounts payable and receivable are all part of bookkeeping services. Bookkeepers may also be required to perform other, more minor tasks on a daily basis. They consist of:

• Input of data
• Paying bills
• Managing inventory
• Invoicing
• Balancing the books (bank accounts & credit cards)
• Keeping track of customer and vendor lists (accounts payable and accounts receivable)
• Arranging and preparing important financial paperwork
• Getting back unpaid debts

Apart from these basic responsibilities, the bookkeeper also assists the CFO by preparing documents such as account analysis, scanning documents required for tax and audit support, reports for end-of-the-month closing and audit support, among other duties. Depending on what the company requires, bookkeeper prices will fluctuate. 

Factors influencing bookkeeper cost 

While most businesses start off by doing their own bookkeeping, as the company branches out, the demand for an outsourced bookkeeper will increase. The cost of the same will depend on many factors. Some of these are listed below. 

• The experience level of the bookkeeper 
• Whether they will be a part-time or full-time employee or an outsourced service
• The number of hours of work required on a daily or monthly basis 
• The nature of their duties on a daily basis 
• The firm’s capability of supporting a bookkeeping service 

Depending on the workload, the business can employ either a part-time or full-time worker. While small businesses do not deal with large volumes of work, an established firm will carry out hundreds of transactions in a day. Several businesses now outsource their bookkeeping requirements to a third party due to the related expenses of doing it in-house. Compared to in-house bookkeepers, the costs are significantly cheaper, and they increase when more complicated and extensive services are used.

State by State breakout 

Given below is a table containing an estimate of the mean bookkeeper hourly rate across the country. The rates are subject to change depending on several factors. 

Now that you are aware of the bookkeeper hourly rates, you can assess your budget for the same and find a bookkeeper that fits all your requirements. Whether you have a small business or a large enterprise, hiring the right bookkeeper is essential for the long-term success of your company. Due to this, researching the hourly rate for bookkeepers is more crucial.