How much does an accountant charge a small business per year?

Key takeaways

• Expect 2,000 to 10,000 dollars a year across accounting and tax work, with most straightforward businesses landing between 3,000 and 6,000.

• Annual totals are the only fair comparison, because monthly fees and once-a-year tax engagements are quoted on completely different cycles.

• The four bands are tax filing alone, bookkeeping alone, bookkeeping with returns, and full service including payroll and planning.

• Numetix annualizes to 5,988, 11,988 and 29,988 dollars, with tax preparation quoted on top rather than bundled in.

• The number nobody quotes is cleanup, and it is the most common reason a first-year total exceeds the estimate.

Quick answer

• Between 2,000 and 10,000 dollars a year for most small businesses, depending entirely on whether the engagement is filing only or year-round.

• One owner, a few employees and nothing unusual puts a realistic starting budget at 3,000 to 6,000 dollars annually.

• Add any first-year cleanup on top of that, since bringing historical records back into order is quoted as a separate project and never sits inside an annual fee.

Across accounting and tax work together, a small business should expect to spend 2,000 to 10,000 dollars a year. For one owner, a handful of employees and no unusual complexity, 3,000 to 6,000 dollars is a realistic starting budget.

The reason the range looks unhelpful is that it covers two different purchases: a return filed once a year, and a finance function running every month. Numetix sells the second and publishes its prices, running an AI-powered. Experts in the Loop. model. Figures are current as of October 2026.

The four annual bands

These are indicative budgeting ranges rather than published fee schedules. The useful move is to work out which row you are actually in before comparing anything, because most disputes about whether an accountant is expensive turn out to be disagreements about which row the engagement belongs to.

Annualizing a monthly fee

Monthly providers rarely quote a yearly figure, so do the multiplication yourself before comparing. Numetix publishes 499, 999 and 2,499 dollars a month, which annualizes to 5,988, 11,988 and 29,988 dollars.

Place those against the table and the entry tier sits inside the bookkeeping-only band, the middle tier spans the bookkeeping-with-returns band, and the top tier sits in the full-service band. Tax preparation is quoted separately at Numetix rather than included, so the honest comparison against a bundled quote means adding your own tax engagement to the annual figure first.

That comparison is the whole point of looking at annual totals. A 350 dollar monthly fee and a 1,500 dollar tax engagement is 5,700 dollars a year, which may or may not beat a single 5,000 dollar quote covering both, and you cannot tell from the monthly number alone. Our breakdown of what virtual bookkeeping costs per month covers the recurring half in detail.

The line item nobody includes

First-year totals overrun for one reason more than any other: the books needed work before anything else could start.

Cleanup is quoted as a project, usually by the number of months being corrected, and it sits outside every band in the table. The IRS guidance on what kind of records a small business should keep is the standard worth measuring your current position against before asking for a quote. A business arriving with two years of unreconciled records is buying a project and an annual engagement, not just an annual engagement, and a provider who does not mention this at the quote stage is the one to be wary of rather than the one who does.

The cheapest version of this problem is not having it. A reliable monthly close through the year means the filing engagement is preparation rather than reconstruction, and reconstruction is billed at the preparer's rate. What that handover should contain is set out in our note on what your accountant needs from you to file.

What drives you up a band

• Entity type and count. More than one entity means more than one set of books and more than one return.

• Employees. Payroll adds recurring work and year-end reporting that a contractor-only business does not generate.

• States. Operating or employing people in more than one state multiplies the filing obligations rather than adding to them.

• Rules from outside the business. Client money held in trust, restricted funds or third-party settled revenue change the work itself, as in our nonprofit accounting engagements.

• Whether you want advice. Planning and forecasting are a different purchase from compliance, and they are what separates the third band from the fourth.

For context on what the work is worth, the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median annual wage for accountants and auditors at 83,680 dollars in May 2025. An annual engagement in the third band costs roughly what that professional earns in a month, which is the arithmetic that makes outsourcing work at this scale.

If the question underneath this one is really which role you need, our comparison of a bookkeeper against a CPA takes it directly.

Common questions

Is it cheaper to pay annually or monthly?

Neither is reliably cheaper; they buy different things. An annual tax engagement costs less and does less. A monthly arrangement costs more across the year and keeps the records current, which usually makes the tax work cheaper in turn. Compare total annual spend against what each actually covers.

Why did my accountant charge more than the quote?

Most often because the records needed work the quote assumed would not be needed, or because something changed during the year such as a new state or entity. Ask for the assumptions behind any quote in writing, and tell your accountant about structural changes when they happen rather than at filing time.

Can I just use software and skip the annual fee?

For a very simple business, sometimes. The calculation changes once you have employees, more than one entity, or activity in several states, because the cost of getting one of those wrong usually exceeds the fee you avoided. Take advice once and decide with the facts.

An annual figure you can work out in advance

Numetix publishes monthly pricing from 499 dollars, so the yearly total is multiplication rather than an estimate, with tax preparation quoted separately and stated up front.

See accounting services or monthly bookkeeping.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute formal legal or tax advice. Always consult a qualified tax professional regarding your specific situation. Annual ranges are indicative budgeting bands rather than published fee schedules, and were compiled in October 2026. Numetix pricing is correct as published and tax preparation is quoted separately from the monthly tiers.