What outsourced accounting costs a small business, and what the price should include

How much does outsourced accounting cost per month?

At Next Level CPA, starting prices are $458, $833, $1,997 and $3,997 a month. Each step up buys a faster close, more meetings and more reporting. Final pricing is confirmed after we see your books, transaction volume and entities.

Here is how the four plans differ. Business and personal tax returns are included in every plan, and every plan includes the Next Level Live app.

Prices are monthly starting prices from our outsourced accounting page. Your quote can land above them if you have several entities, heavy transaction volume or payroll in multiple states.

What actually changes the price?

Three things: how often the books close, how often you get a human on a call, and what else is bundled in. Transaction count and the number of entities then move the quote within a plan.

Close frequency matters because every close means categorizing transactions, reconciling each bank and card account to its statement, and reviewing the result. Four closes a year is a fraction of the work of twelve.

Meetings matter because a planning meeting is where a CPA looks at your numbers and tells you what to do about your tax bill. That is a senior person's time, which is why it is priced separately from the close.

Bundling matters most when you compare quotes. Some firms quote the monthly close alone and charge the tax return later. We include both returns in every plan so the person looking at your numbers each month is also thinking about your tax bill.

Why is the cheapest quote often the most expensive?

Because late books cause late returns, and late returns carry penalties. Under IRC section 6651, the failure-to-file penalty is 5 percent of the unpaid tax for each month or part of a month, up to 25 percent.

The failure-to-pay penalty is a separate 0.5 percent of the unpaid tax per month. Both start from the due date, not from the day your books are finally done. If a return cannot be prepared because the year was never reconciled, you are choosing between an extension that does not extend payment and a rushed estimate.

A low monthly price with a quarterly or annual close can still be the right choice for a very simple business. For a business with payroll, sales tax or several accounts, the savings usually disappear the first time a return is filed late or an estimated payment is guessed.

How does it compare to hiring in-house?

An employee costs more than the salary on the offer letter. The employer share of Social Security and Medicare is 7.65 percent under IRC section 3111, before benefits, software, equipment, paid time off and your own time managing them.

Here is the arithmetic on a hypothetical $60,000 salary. This is an illustration, not a market wage for any role or city.

Add state unemployment tax, any health or retirement contribution, accounting software seats, and the weeks the role is vacant or covering someone else's vacation. An outsourced team does not take vacation out of your close.

The other difference is who signs the return. An in-house accounting hire usually cannot represent you before the IRS or sign a tax return. A CPA firm can, which is why the return is part of our plans.

What should be in any outsourced accounting quote?

Ask for six things in writing: what gets reconciled, the date each close is delivered, who prepares and who reviews, whether both tax returns are included, how cleanup is priced, and how you cancel.

• Reconciliation. Every bank and credit card account reconciled to the statement, not just categorized.
• Delivery date. A named day, such as the 10th, not "monthly."
• Reviewer. A CPA looks at the close before you do.
• Tax returns. Business and personal, stated as included or excluded.
• Cleanup. Old books are quoted after a diagnostic as a one-time project.
• Exit. What happens to your files and your QuickBooks access if you leave.

When is outsourced accounting not the right fit?

If you are just starting out with a handful of transactions, tax preparation alone may be enough for now. Outsourced accounting fits established businesses that want clean numbers and real tax planning.

Our new business owner path is built for that stage. You can move up when volume, payroll or hiring decisions make monthly numbers worth paying for.

If you are a contractor with jobs to track, the monthly plans have a job costing version with a work-in-progress schedule. See our contractor accounting page.

Next step

Tell us your revenue range, the state of your books and the decisions that are creating pressure. We review the actual accounts, volume and entities, then confirm scope and a fee. We work with business owners nationwide, and everything runs virtually. Read how the roles differ in our guide to fractional CFO vs controller vs outsourced accounting, or book a free discovery call.