Nobody budgets for catch-up bookkeeping, and most owners only call once a lender, a tax return, or an investor makes the problem urgent. The first question is always the same: what is this going to cost? The honest answer is a range, and what lands you at the low or high end is mostly within your control.
Ranges below reflect general market pricing for U.S. small business bookkeeping and cleanup. They are meant to help you budget and compare quotes, not to represent any firm's fees. Always get a written scope before work starts.
Typical price ranges
- Hourly: roughly $50 to $150 per hour for bookkeepers, higher for CPA-led cleanup.
- Fixed project fee: commonly $1,500 to $5,000 to catch up one year for a small, straightforward business.
- Multi-year backlog: often $5,000 to $15,000 or more, depending on volume and record quality.
- Monthly rate during catch-up: some firms charge a per-month-of-backlog rate, often a few hundred dollars per month cleaned.
What pushes the price up
- 1Missing bank or credit card statements. Reconstructing them takes time and sometimes requests to the institution.
- 2High transaction volume. Ten thousand transactions cost more than five hundred.
- 3Mixed personal and business spending that has to be separated and documented.
- 4Several accounts, loans, or entities with transfers between them.
- 5Payroll, inventory, or sales tax that was handled incorrectly or not at all.
- 6A tight deadline, such as an audit, loan application, or filing due date.
What a proper catch-up includes
A real cleanup is more than data entry. It means reconciling every account to the bank and card statements, categorizing transactions consistently, fixing opening balances, resolving uncategorized and suspense items, and producing a profit and loss and balance sheet that a tax preparer can actually use. If a quote does not mention reconciliation, ask about it.
How to keep the bill down
- Download every bank, card, and loan statement before the engagement starts.
- Gather sales reports, invoices, receipts for larger purchases, and prior returns.
- Separate personal and business accounts going forward, today.
- Answer your bookkeeper's questions quickly. Delays stretch hourly work.
- Ask for a fixed fee with a clear scope so surprises are the firm's risk, not yours.
Catch up first, then keep current
The cheapest bookkeeping is the kind that never falls behind. After the cleanup, moving to ongoing monthly bookkeeping usually costs far less than another rescue project, and it keeps your tax return ready year-round. If you are behind on filings too, see our guide to unfiled business tax returns.
Want a scoped number for your situation? Reach out with how many months are behind and which accounts are involved. This article is general information, and actual prices vary by provider and circumstances.
