How Much Does a Bookkeeper Cost?
It depends. And any bookkeeper who gives you a firm price before they have seen your books is guessing.
What you actually pay depends on the size of your business, the state of your records, how many transactions you process each month, whether you need payroll, BAS lodgement, job costing, or just basic reconciliation. Every business is different.
Here is what we can tell you about how bookkeeping is typically priced — and how we do it at Accounts Advantage.
Hourly Rate vs Fixed Monthly Fee
Most bookkeeping services charge either an hourly rate or a fixed monthly fee. Sometimes both, depending on where you are in the relationship.
Hourly rate
Hourly rates for qualified bookkeepers in Queensland typically range from around $60 to $120 or more per hour, depending on experience and qualifications. A registered BAS Agent with a CPA-qualified managing director is going to sit at the higher end of that range. You are paying for expertise, not just data entry.
The hourly rate is useful at the start of a relationship, when neither party knows exactly how long your books will take each month.
Fixed monthly fee
Once a bookkeeper understands your business — the volume, the complexity, the systems — a fixed monthly fee makes more sense for everyone. You know what you are paying. The bookkeeper knows what they are doing. No surprises.
Most small businesses on a fixed monthly bookkeeping arrangement pay somewhere between a few hundred and a few thousand dollars per month, depending on what is included.
How We Price at Accounts Advantage
We do not publish a fixed price list because we do not think it serves you well. A tradie with 3 employees and 80 transactions a month has completely different needs to a builder running 12 jobs simultaneously with subcontractors, retention tracking, and TPAR obligations.
Here is how our pricing works.
For most businesses — hourly for the first 3 months, then fixed
We start new clients on an hourly rate for the first three months. This gives us time to review your file properly, understand what your books actually involve each month, and catch up anything that is behind.
Most new clients find the first couple of months take more hours than ongoing. That is normal. The books usually need tidying up, and there is setup work involved in configuring Xero correctly for your business.
By month three, we know exactly how long your books take. We set a fixed monthly price from there. Once things are clean and running smoothly, the hours drop and your fixed price reflects that.
For childcare centres — fixed fee from day one
Childcare bookkeeping is a different engagement. We know the scope well. We have worked with over 70 childcare centres across Australia and we understand exactly what the job involves.
For childcare clients we offer a fixed monthly fee from the very first month. The fee is based on your centre’s enrolments and the services included. Larger centres with more enrolments and more complexity pay more. Smaller centres pay less. We assess each centre individually and give you a fixed price before we start.
What Affects the Price?
These are the main factors that drive bookkeeping costs up or down.
Volume of transactions. A business processing 500 bank transactions a month takes longer to reconcile than one processing 80. More transactions mean more time.
State of the records. If your books are behind, messy, or have never been set up properly in Xero, the first few months will take more time. That is catch-up work, and it has to happen before we can settle into a clean monthly rhythm.
Payroll complexity. A business with 2 employees on simple salaries is straightforward. A construction business with 15 site workers, allowances, overtime, and super is a different matter entirely.
BAS lodgement. We are registered BAS agents and we include BAS preparation and lodgement for all ongoing clients. This is not an add-on. It is part of the service.
Industry. Some industries have more complexity than others. Construction has job costing, progress claims, retention, TPAR, and trust account obligations. Childcare has CCS, Xero Payroll under a complex award, and specific reporting requirements. These take longer than a simple retail or service business.
Xero setup. If you are not already on Xero or your Xero has not been set up correctly, there is initial configuration work involved. We do this as part of onboarding.
Why Cheap Bookkeeping Costs More in the Long Run
We hear this regularly. A business owner switched to a cheaper bookkeeper to save a few hundred dollars a month. Twelve months later they came to us with two years of books to fix, a BAS debt, a TPAR they had never lodged, and payroll that had been processed incorrectly for most of that time.
The cost of fixing it was significantly more than the saving.
A qualified bookkeeper who charges appropriately is not a cost. They are the person who keeps your ATO obligations current, your job margins visible, your payroll compliant, and your cash flow readable. Getting that wrong is expensive.
What You Get With Accounts Advantage
At Accounts Advantage, our Managing Director is CPA qualified and all our team members hold a Certificate IV in Bookkeeping. Many of our team members are registered BAS Agents in their own right, in addition to the firm itself being a registered BAS Agent. That means you get qualified, accountable professionals handling your books. Not just someone who learned on the job.
We work exclusively through Xero. We are a Xero Gold Partner. We specialise in construction, childcare, and small business across Queensland.
Common Questions
Why do some bookkeepers charge so much less?
Qualifications, experience, and accountability vary enormously in this industry. Anyone can call themselves a bookkeeper. Not everyone is a registered BAS Agent. Not everyone has a CPA-qualified director reviewing their work. Not everyone understands your industry. Price reflects all of that.
Do you charge for the initial consultation?
No. We offer a complimentary get-to-know-you conversation before we quote. We want to understand your business properly before we give you a number.
Can I just pay for BAS lodgement only?
We do not offer BAS lodgement as a standalone service. To lodge your BAS accurately we need to be across your books. We do not put our name on a BAS lodgement without confidence the underlying numbers are correct.
What if my books are a mess?
That is fine. We do catch-up bookkeeping regularly. We go through your records, sort out what is behind, and bring everything up to date. Then we move you to a clean ongoing service. The catch-up work is priced separately and we will give you a clear scope before we start.
What does a bookkeeper actually do?
A good bookkeeper keeps your records current, reconciles your accounts, processes payroll, prepares and lodges your BAS, tracks what you owe and what is owed to you, and gives you financial visibility over your business. A specialist bookkeeper does all of that within the context of your industry — whether that is construction, childcare, or trades.
Ready to talk about what it would cost for your business?
We do not believe in quoting blind. Tell us about your business and we will give you an honest answer.
Call our Loganholme office on 07 3209 8266 or 1300 400 105