A small business bookkeeping service is sold as a package, and the package name tells you almost nothing about whether it fits your business. Two companies with the same revenue can be very different bookkeeping jobs: one has two accounts and no invoices, the other six accounts, a card processor, a payroll and forty invoices a month. This page is for the owner choosing between services and between a service and a bookkeeper hired direct, and it works through what to count, what to ask, and how to compare quotes on one line using the pricing calculator on this site.
Count the job before you read the packages
Bank and card transactions a month, accounts to reconcile, invoices raised, bills paid, payroll runs somebody else processes, and sales channels that settle in batches. These six numbers are the scope, and every package tier is a guess at them. Take them from your own statements and invoices before you look at a price list, and the scope sheet on this site turns them into the hours a bookkeeper will spend, which is what the fee is really buying.
What the tiers include and what they leave out
Most packages include coding and reconciliation and stop there. Invoicing, bill payment, payroll journals, sales-tax filings and catch-up months are often extras, and an owner who raises invoices and buys a reconciliation-only tier has bought half a service. Read each tier for the six lines above, and ask the provider to confirm in writing which are in the fee. The answer is the scope you will be holding them to.
A service, a firm, or a bookkeeper hired direct
A packaged service gives you a process and cover when your bookkeeper is away; a firm gives you a named person with a reviewer behind them; a freelance bookkeeper gives you someone who knows the business and usually costs less. None is right in general. What matters is that the scope is written down, the handover is agreed, and the ledger is yours whoever keeps it. Compare all three on the same counts with the pricing calculator and the difference will be visible.
The questions to ask before signing
Who does the monthly work and how many clients do they carry. What happens when they are away. What you hand over each month and by when. What comes back and by when. What is extra, and at what rate. Whether the ledger is yours and you have a login. What happens on leaving. A provider who answers all seven without hesitation has done this before; one who cannot has not.
Questions people ask about small business bookkeeping service
What does a small business bookkeeping service cost?
The hours your scope takes at the provider's rate, which is why there is no useful average. Put your counts into the pricing calculator on this site and you will see what a quote implies per hour, which is the number to judge it on.
Do I need a bookkeeping service if I use accounting software?
The software records what you tell it; the service is somebody reconciling it to the bank every month so the figures are true. Most owners who outsource already use the software. The question is who does the monthly work in it.
Should the service be in my state?
For bookkeeping, no. For sales-tax filings and anything payroll-related, state knowledge helps and some services charge extra for states they do not usually handle. Ask which states the quote covers.
Can I switch services later?
Yes, if the engagement says the ledger is yours and you keep a login. Reconciled books transfer cleanly; unreconciled ones do not, so a service that shows you the monthly reconciliation is also the one that is easy to leave.