How much does bookkeeping cost for a consulting firm per month?

Key takeaways

• Most small consulting firms pay between 300 and 800 dollars a month for bookkeeping, with the figure tracking headcount rather than revenue.

• A solo consultant sits at the bottom of the range and a thirty-person firm with project accounting sits well above it.

• Numetix publishes 499, 999 and 2,499 dollars a month, which places it in the upper half of each comparable band.

• Payroll, invoicing and accounts receivable chasing are usually quoted outside the monthly fee, so compare scope before comparing price.

• Consulting adds work a generic package does not cover: utilization, project profitability and revenue earned against revenue invoiced.

Quick answer

• Between 300 and 800 dollars a month covers most small consulting firms with straightforward activity, moving with headcount and transaction volume rather than fee income.

• A solo practitioner can expect the low end; a firm past fifteen people with project reporting should budget four figures.

• Confirm what sits outside the fee before comparing quotes, because payroll and receivables chasing are the two items most often excluded.

For a small consulting firm with straightforward activity, bookkeeping runs roughly 300 to 800 dollars a month. The number is driven by how many people you employ and how many transactions they generate, not by what you bill, which is why two firms with identical revenue can be quoted very differently.

Numetix works with professional services firms and publishes its prices, which are used below as one worked example rather than as a market rate. Our model is simple to state: AI-powered. Experts in the Loop. Figures are current as of October 2026 and market ranges are indicative rather than surveyed.

What consulting firms pay, by size

Read the last column honestly and it says two different things. A solo consultant pays less elsewhere, and should. A firm of twenty with project reporting pays less here than the market range suggests, because the work at that size is mostly structure rather than volume. Neither of those is a sales point; they are just where the arithmetic lands.

What a 400 to 600 dollar package actually includes

At the middle of the market, the monthly fee normally buys transaction categorization, bank and card reconciliation, recording of client payments received, operating expenses kept current, and a profit and loss statement with a balance sheet at the monthly close.

Three things commonly sit outside it, and they are the three that most often turn a comparison upside down. Payroll processing is usually separate. Raising and sending client invoices is usually separate. Chasing unpaid invoices is almost always separate, and for a consulting firm living on retainers and milestone billing, that is the one that matters most.

Ask for the exclusions in writing before you compare two quotes. A 400 dollar fee with three exclusions is more expensive than a 600 dollar fee without them.

What consulting adds that a generic package does not

A consulting firm sells time, which creates three accounting problems a product business never has.

Revenue earned is not revenue invoiced. Retainers are often collected before the work happens and fixed-fee projects are often delivered before they are billed. Recording cash as revenue when it arrives overstates good months and understates the rest, which is covered in our note on revenue recognition errors in consulting firms.

Profitability lives at project level, not firm level. A firm can be profitable overall while a third of its engagements lose money, and nothing in a standard profit and loss statement will show it.

Utilization is a finance number that most firms treat as an operations number. Billable hours against available hours determines whether the firm can afford its next hire, and it belongs in the monthly reporting pack rather than in a spreadsheet somebody updates occasionally.

Providers differ on whether any of this is included. A generic package at 400 dollars will not do it. Ask directly, because it changes what the fee is worth rather than what it costs.

How it compares with hiring somebody

The honest comparator for any monthly fee is the in-house alternative. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the median annual wage for bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks at 50,670 dollars in May 2025, and for accountants and auditors at 83,680 dollars.

Those are base wages before payroll costs, benefits, software, recruitment and cover during absence. A firm paying 999 dollars a month is spending just under 12,000 dollars a year, which is a fraction of one clerk, and the clerk does not produce the project reporting without somebody more senior behind them. That trade-off is worked through properly in our in-house against outsourced comparison for consulting firms.

The point at which hiring genuinely wins is volume and immediacy: enough daily transactions to fill a role, and a need for somebody physically present. Below that, the monthly fee is usually the cheaper and more reliable option, which is the same conclusion our comparison of national providers against a specialist firm reaches from the other direction.

Common questions

Why is bookkeeping priced on headcount rather than revenue?

Because the work is transactions, not income. A two-person firm billing a million dollars on four large retainers generates less bookkeeping than a ten-person firm billing the same across sixty invoices with expenses and payroll. Headcount is a rough proxy for transaction volume, which is what actually takes time.

Is utilization reporting normally included?

Rarely at the entry tiers, and this is worth checking rather than assuming. Utilization requires time data to be connected to the ledger, which is extra setup and extra monthly work. If it matters to your hiring decisions, make it an explicit line in the scope rather than hoping it appears.

Does the price change if we are behind on the books?

Yes. Catch-up and cleanup are priced separately from the monthly fee, usually per month of records being corrected, and most providers will not start a monthly engagement until the historical position is sound. Expect that quote to arrive before the recurring one.

Published pricing for professional services firms

Numetix runs daily bookkeeping, the monthly close and reporting for consulting firms from 499 dollars a month, with no hourly billing and experienced people reviewing the exceptions.

See professional services accounting or monthly bookkeeping.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute formal legal or tax advice. Always consult a qualified professional regarding your specific situation. Market ranges are indicative budgeting bands rather than surveyed industry averages. Numetix pricing is correct as published in October 2026 and tax preparation is quoted separately.