A bookkeeper in Canada usually charges in one of three ways: by the hour, a flat monthly fee, or by the number of transactions. What you actually pay depends on how much activity runs through your books each month, how many accounts and employees you have, how often you file GST/HST, and how tidy your records are. At Salty Sea, monthly packages start from $150 a month, plus applicable taxes, and the final fee follows a look at your real records.
The three ways bookkeepers charge
Before you compare quotes, check that you are comparing the same thing. Two bookkeepers can quote very different numbers simply because they price differently.
Hourly
You pay for the time spent. This is common for one-off jobs, irregular work and catch-up projects.
- Good for: very small businesses with light, uneven activity, or a defined project like bringing old books up to date.
- Watch for: bills that vary month to month, and no clear ceiling. Ask for an estimate of hours and what happens if the work runs over.
Flat monthly fee
You pay the same amount each month for a defined scope of work, often set by tiers based on transactions, accounts and services.
- Good for: businesses with steady monthly activity that want a predictable cost and a bookkeeper who closes the books every month.
- Watch for: what the scope covers and what triggers a move to a higher tier. A low monthly price with a tight transaction limit can cost more than it looks.
Per transaction
You pay according to how many transactions are recorded. Some bookkeepers use this directly; more often it is built into monthly tiers as a transaction limit.
- Good for: businesses whose volume is the main thing that changes.
- Watch for: how a “transaction” is counted. One deposit with ten invoices behind it can be counted as one or as ten.
None of these is the right model for everyone. The useful question is which one matches how your business actually runs.
What drives the price of bookkeeping
Whatever the model, the same handful of things decide how much work your books take.
Transaction volume
Every sale, purchase, transfer and fee has to be recorded, categorized and reconciled. More transactions means more work. This is the single biggest driver for most small businesses.
Number of bank and credit card accounts
Each account has to be reconciled to its statement every month. Three accounts is less work than ten, even with the same total number of transactions, because each one is its own reconciliation.
Payroll
Running payroll means calculating pay, deductions and remittances on schedule, and producing year-end slips. Each employee adds work, so payroll adds to the fee.
GST/HST filing frequency
If you are registered for GST/HST, how often you file affects the cost, because each return has to be prepared from reconciled books.
The CRA assigns a reporting period based on your annual taxable supplies. According to the CRA’s page on changing your GST/HST account:
- $1,500,000 or less: annual
- More than $1,500,000 up to $6,000,000: quarterly
- More than $6,000,000: monthly
A business assigned an annual or quarterly period can elect to file more often. Filing monthly means twelve returns a year instead of one, and the bookkeeping fee reflects that. For more on registering and filing, see our guide to GST/HST registration and filing.
Catch-up work
If your books are months or years behind, someone has to work through the backlog before regular monthly bookkeeping can start. That is usually quoted separately, and often by the hour, because nobody knows how long it will take until they have seen the records.
How messy the records are
This is the factor people underestimate. Missing statements, personal and business spending mixed in one account, a file that was set up wrong, or months of uncategorized transactions all add time. Two businesses with the same volume can cost very different amounts to keep, purely because of the state of the records.
A worked example: Salty Sea’s monthly packages
Here is how those factors turn into real prices, using our own packages. All prices are “from”, plus applicable taxes.
| Package | From | Accounts | Transactions/month | GST/HST | Payroll |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Micro Business Essentials | $150 | 1 | 50 | add-on | add-on |
| Essential | $350 | up to 3 | 150 | annual or quarterly | add-on |
| Steady | $650 | up to 5 | 250 | quarterly remittances | add-on |
| Growth | $1,000 | up to 5 | 350 | quarterly | up to 5 employees |
| Complete Care | $2,000 | up to 10 | 750 | monthly or as needed | up to 15 employees |
Every package includes reporting, delivered before the 15th of every month. Micro Business Essentials and Essential include monthly reports, Steady adds monthly insights, Growth includes month-end reporting, and Complete Care adds remittances, T4 and ROE preparation and an optional quarterly review call.
Payroll is an add-on, quoted with your package based on your payroll.
Look at how the table follows the drivers above:
- Transactions climb from 50 to 750 a month as you move up.
- Accounts go from 1 to 10.
- GST/HST moves from an add-on, to an annual or quarterly filing, to monthly.
- Payroll goes from an add-on to included for up to 15 employees.
So a freelancer with one bank account, a few dozen transactions a month, no employees and no GST/HST registration would likely start at Micro Business Essentials. A sole proprietor with two accounts, around 100 transactions a month and an annual GST/HST return would likely start at Essential. A business with eight employees, seven accounts and monthly GST/HST filing would be looking at Complete Care.
Those are starting points, not quotes. Your final fee follows a review of your actual records and a signed engagement agreement. Our pricing page has the full package details, and our monthly bookkeeping page explains what happens each month.
What catch-up costs
If your books are behind, that work comes before any monthly package. Catch-up bookkeeping is quoted per project, with no fixed price, package price or minimum. Every catch-up is different, so before we start we review your records and give you a quote with the expected hours, cost and timeline, so you know the cost before you commit.
What is usually not in a bookkeeper’s price
A bookkeeping quote covers the bookkeeping. Some things sit outside it, and it helps to know which before you compare.
At Salty Sea, these are not part of our packages:
- Corporate tax returns. These go through the accountant the business keeps on retainer and are quoted separately.
- Financial statement audits, reviews, compilations and other assurance engagements. These need a CPA licence, and we do not offer them.
- Trust accounting. Not offered.
- Extensive CRA audits and disputes. We act as your authorized CRA representative, and routine bookkeeping-related CRA letters and questions are generally part of monthly service. A comprehensive audit or a complex objection is assessed on its own and may be quoted separately.
Other bookkeepers draw the line in different places. When you compare quotes, ask each one for a list of what is included and what is not. A cheaper quote that leaves out GST/HST filing or payroll is not cheaper. If you are unsure where bookkeeping ends and accounting begins, our guide to bookkeeper vs accountant covers it.
How to keep your bookkeeping costs down
You have more control over the price than you might think. Most of it comes down to making the work easier.
- Keep business and personal spending in separate accounts. Untangling them is slow, billable work.
- Close accounts you no longer use. Each open account is another monthly reconciliation.
- Send receipts and statements as they arrive. Chasing them later costs time.
- Use cloud software. When your books live in a cloud file, such as QuickBooks Online or Xero, your bookkeeper works in the same file you do, with no files to send back and forth.
- Catch up once, then stay current. A monthly rhythm costs less over a year than repeated rescue jobs.
How to get a real number
National averages tell you little about your own business, because the factors above vary so much. The fastest way to a real figure is to count what you actually have:
- How many bank and credit card accounts do you use for the business?
- Roughly how many transactions go through them in a typical month?
- How many people are on payroll?
- How often do you file GST/HST?
- Are your books current, or behind?
With those five answers, our online estimate takes about three minutes and points you to the package that fits. From there, a review of your records confirms the fee before anything is signed.