What a CPA firm charges for bookkeeping, payroll and taxes, and what moves the fee

The short answer on what it costs

There is no single price, because the fee follows the work: how many transactions run through your accounts each month, how clean the books are when we start, how many people you pay and how often, and how complex your business and personal returns are. At Malnory, McNeal & Company, we set a fee after we review your business and your records, and I would be wary of anyone who quotes a firm number before seeing either. What I can give you is the list of factors that move the number, so you can predict it, compare quotes fairly and keep it down.

I work in the firm's audit and assurance practice, which means I spend a lot of my time looking at books other people kept. That vantage point shapes this guide. The cheapest bookkeeping arrangement is often the most expensive one by the time a lender, a buyer or the IRS looks at the numbers, and the reverse is true too: a business that pays for services it does not need is wasting money every month.

The factors that set the monthly number

When we scope ongoing accounting work for a small business, these are the questions that decide the fee. None of them is about revenue alone. A high-revenue company with simple operations can cost less to support than a smaller one with messy, high-volume activity.

It also helps to separate recurring work from one-time work. Monthly bookkeeping and payroll repeat on a schedule, so they can be priced as a steady fee. Tax returns arrive once a year. Projects such as a QuickBooks setup, a loan package for the bank or a business valuation are priced on their own. Mixing all of it into one number is how owners end up comparing quotes that do not cover the same things.

• Transaction volume: the number of bank and credit card accounts, deposits, bills and invoices that need to be recorded and reconciled each month.
• Condition of the books: whether accounts are reconciled, whether the chart of accounts makes sense, and whether last year's balances can be trusted as a starting point.
• Payroll: how many employees, how often you run payroll, and what third-party withholdings such as insurance need to be paid.
• Tax complexity: the type of entity, the number of owners, activity in other states, and whether the owners' personal, estate or trust returns are part of the engagement.
• Reporting needs: whether you need monthly statements for a lender, a cash flow projection, or only what is required to file the return.
• Advice: how often you want to talk through decisions, from year-end planning to a part-time CFO arrangement.

Why the state of your books matters more than your revenue

The biggest swing in what a small business pays is the starting point. If the bank and credit card accounts have been reconciled every month, the books tie to the last tax return, and receivables and payables live in the system rather than in someone's inbox, ongoing work is predictable. If they have not, there is a cleanup project first, and that cleanup is billed separately or folded into the first months.

Cleanup is not busywork. Before anyone can prepare an accurate return or a reliable financial statement, the beginning balances have to be right, duplicate and miscategorized transactions have to be fixed, and accounts nobody can explain have to be traced. When we set up QuickBooks for a client, part of the job is printing a trial balance as of the starting date and comparing it with the old system so both agree. That is slow, careful work, and it is why I tell owners that the cheapest month of accounting help is the one where the books were already in order.

If you are months or a year behind, the honest first quote may be for catch-up work, followed by a lower recurring fee. A bookkeeper who focuses on catch-up, like the process described in this guide to catching up books before a tax deadline, or a CPA firm can handle that stage. What matters is that it happens before the tax return, not after.

Payroll fees follow headcount, frequency and the extras

Payroll is easier to price than bookkeeping because the inputs are countable. The number of employees and the pay frequency drive most of it; weekly payroll for twenty people is more work than monthly payroll for five. Direct deposit, printed checks, reporting by employee or department, and paying third-party withholdings each add something. Year-end forms, including W-2s, W-3s and 1099s, are part of the cycle.

What you are really paying for is compliance. Our payroll service gives each client a dedicated payroll specialist, handles payroll tax filings and payments, and tracks the legislation that changes the rules. The cost of getting this wrong is far higher than the cost of the service, because the IRS treats unpaid payroll taxes more seriously than almost any other tax debt. I cover the specific traps in the payroll tax mistakes I see most often.

Getting quotes you can actually compare

Two quotes for bookkeeping and tax work can look very different simply because they cover different things. Before you compare prices, make sure each firm is pricing the same scope: the same number of accounts, the same payroll frequency, the same returns and the same reporting. Ask whether the fee is hourly, a fixed monthly amount or by project, what happens when your volume grows, and what is excluded. Ask who will actually do the work and who you call when you have a question.

Then ask what the firm needs to see before it can quote with confidence. A firm that wants to look at your last return, a recent bank reconciliation and your current file before naming a number is not being difficult; it is trying to avoid a surprise invoice in month three. If you would rather start with a conversation about scope, that is exactly what a first call is for.

Where owners overspend without noticing

The most common overspend I see is paying for the same work twice: a low-cost bookkeeping arrangement all year, then a large bill in spring when the tax preparer has to correct the books before the return can be filed. The second is penalties. Late payroll deposits, missed filings and estimated tax payments that were never made all cost money that no fee comparison captures.

The third is the do-it-yourself file that drifted. Many owners set up QuickBooks on their own, which is perfectly reasonable, but early choices such as the starting date, the chart of accounts and how beginning balances were entered compound over time. If you are weighing that route, read whether to keep your own books in QuickBooks before you commit. The fourth is buying more than you need: monthly statements nobody reads, or a level of financial statement assurance no lender asked for.

The last one is quieter: skipping planning to save a fee. A return prepared in March can only report what already happened. The conversation in the fall, about the timing of purchases, estimated payments and how the owners are paid, is where decisions can still change the outcome, and it usually costs far less than the problems it heads off.

One firm for everything, or separate providers

Some owners use a bookkeeper, a payroll company and a tax preparer who never talk to each other. That can work, and it can look cheaper line by line. The hidden cost is reconciliation: payroll reports that do not match the books, a tax return built on numbers that changed afterward, and an owner acting as the go-between.

At Malnory, McNeal & Company, bookkeeping, payroll, QuickBooks support, tax preparation and planning, and assurance work sit under one roof across our Dallas and Paris, Texas offices. The value is consistency: the books, the payroll reports and the return agree, and when a bank later asks for reviewed or audited statements, the groundwork is already there. Independence rules do limit what an audit firm can do for its own audit clients, so if you expect to need an audit, raise it early and we will explain where the line falls. If your bank has already asked, what audited financials involve walks through the three levels.

Ways to lower the bill without cutting corners

Most of the savings are in your hands, and every one of them also makes your numbers more reliable. None of these requires accounting training, only habits.

• Keep business and personal spending in separate accounts, and connect bank and card feeds to your accounting file.
• Send documents monthly through the client portal instead of in one box at year-end.
• Answer your accountant's questions quickly; open items stretch hours.
• Keep receipts and supporting documents organized as transactions happen.
• Decide which reports you actually use, and stop paying for the ones you do not.
• Tell your accountant about big changes, such as a new hire, a new location or a major equipment purchase, before they happen.

What to send for a first look

If you want a realistic fee, bring three things to the first conversation: your most recent business tax return, a recent month of bank statements alongside your books for the same month, and a short description of how many people you pay and how often. If there are personal, estate or trust returns you want handled too, mention them. We exchange documents through a secure client portal, so nothing sensitive needs to travel by email.

From there we can tell you whether there is cleanup to do first, what the recurring work looks like, and which services you can skip. Our Dallas office works with businesses across the Dallas–Fort Worth area. The goal is a fee you understand, books you can rely on, and a CPA you can reach when the numbers raise a question.

Questions people ask me