You got a quote. $750 a month for accounting. Now you want to know whether that is normal or whether you are being overcharged.

For a full-service monthly relationship that covers bookkeeping, tax planning, tax preparation, and payroll administration, $750 a month is at the low end of a market that runs $750 to $2,000 as of 2026. Most service businesses with any real complexity end up above $900. The quote is fair if the scope is what it should be, and not fair if it is bookkeeping only dressed up as something more.

What $750 a month should actually include

Before comparing prices, the question to answer first is what the $750 covers.

At that price point, a full-service relationship should include monthly bookkeeping (every account reconciled and every transaction categorized before the month closes), plus tax planning during the year rather than a March conversation about decisions you can no longer change. Business tax preparation and filing. Payroll administration if you have employees. And some meaningful access to the firm when something comes up between filing dates, not a billing counter every time you have a question.

If the quote covers all of that, $750 is reasonable. If it is bookkeeping-only and you still need to find a tax preparer, run payroll somewhere else, and figure out advisory on your own, then $750 is on the expensive side for what it is. Standalone bookkeeping services typically run $300 to $500 a month for a small operation. The word "accounting" gets used loosely, so get a written list of what is in scope.

What you are actually comparing it to

The alternative to a $750 monthly relationship is usually some version of a part-time bookkeeper plus a separate tax preparer plus payroll administration through a third service. Running those numbers makes the comparison concrete.

A part-time bookkeeper at the Bureau of Labor Statistics median hourly rate for bookkeeping clerks (approximately $24 an hour as of May 2024) costs about $480 a month for 20 hours of work. Employer payroll taxes come on top of that: 7.65 percent for the employer share of Social Security and Medicare, plus federal and state unemployment taxes, whose cost depends on your state and your history as an employer. That gets you bookkeeping and nothing else.

Annual tax preparation for a small business typically runs $1,500 to $3,000 depending on complexity and who you hire. Spread over 12 months: $125 to $250 a month in tax prep costs on top of the bookkeeper. Then payroll, if you have employees. A basic payroll service for a small team runs $75 to $200 a month depending on frequency and headcount.

Add it up and the combined total is about $680 to $930 a month before the bookkeeper's payroll taxes, so roughly $700 to $1,000 once those are included. And you are managing three separate vendors who each have their own invoice, their own system, and their own idea of what is in scope. The bookkeeper and the tax preparer probably do not talk to each other unless you make it happen.

A $750 monthly relationship is not always cheaper, but it is often cheaper when you count everything, and the integration is worth something by itself.

If you own an optometry practice, the comparison shifts slightly because the complexity of your books tends to be higher than a comparable service business: optical inventory, provider-separated production, and the way insurance batch deposits interact with the bookkeeping all add scope. The full cost breakdown for optometry practices is in the optometry bookkeeping cost guide.

When $750 is the wrong frame for the question

There are two situations where the price point matters less than whether the service fits.

The first is when the business is too simple for monthly accounting. Under $500,000 in revenue, no employees, income that comes from a small number of clients, and a tax return that a competent preparer can turn around in two hours. At that scale, annual tax prep for $1,500 and basic bookkeeping software you manage yourself is probably sufficient. Paying $9,000 a year for accounting when you need $1,500 worth of work is not a good trade regardless of how reasonable the hourly math looks.

The second is when the business has outgrown what $750 buys. A business at $1.5 million in revenue with weekly payroll, a complex entity structure, and meaningful mid-year tax planning opportunities is probably not getting enough for $750 a month. The work is there; whether the firm is doing it at that price is a real question. Some businesses underpay for accounting and receive the level of attention the fee implies. You tend to find out what you are actually paying for about six months in, when something slips.

Who monthly accounting is not right for

Some owners genuinely should not be looking for a $750 monthly relationship, and it is worth being direct about who falls into that category.

If you want someone to file your business return once a year and that is the full scope of what you need, a tax preparer who charges $1,500 to $2,500 for the return is the right answer. Monthly accounting at $750 is not the right tool if the only thing you needed was a return filed on time.

Businesses under $500,000 in revenue with no employees are often in the same situation. At that scale the monthly fee is a large percentage of the revenue, and the complexity that justifies it probably is not there yet. A self-maintained bookkeeping file and annual tax prep can be the right answer for years, until the operation grows into more.

One situation that reliably does not work: keeping your current bookkeeper and adding an accounting firm on top for advisory and strategy. A firm providing meaningful monthly advisory needs to own the bookkeeping to give you reliable numbers. When the bookkeeping lives somewhere else, the advisory conversation tends to surface problems six months after they started. You end up paying two firms and getting partial value from both.

What to verify before saying yes

Price aside, there are a few things worth confirming before committing to any monthly accounting relationship.

What is in the base fee and what triggers additional charges? Reputable firms are specific about this. Our pricing page lists the base package and every add-on explicitly so nothing shows up unexpectedly at month three. If a firm is vague about scope, that is the thing to press on before you sign, not after.

What does onboarding cost and what does it include? Setting up a new client's books properly requires work upfront: mapping the chart of accounts, reconciling prior-period activity, understanding how the business runs. An onboarding fee equal to one to two months of your monthly fee is standard and reflects real work. Know that going in so it is not a surprise.

What do you actually receive each month, specifically? Not just "access to an advisor" or "a monthly call." What documents, by what date, showing what information? A firm that cannot describe the concrete deliverables is a firm you will be chasing for information instead of getting it automatically.

If you want to understand where your business would land in the pricing range, book a 30-minute call. We will look at your current setup and give you a straight number with a real scope attached to it. Not ready for that yet? The full cost breakdown for service businesses covers what drives the price up or down in more detail.

Questions owners ask about this

Is $750 a month for accounting expensive for a small business?

For a full-service monthly relationship that includes bookkeeping, tax planning, tax filing, and payroll, $750 a month is at the low end of the market as of 2026. It becomes expensive only if that price covers bookkeeping alone, which typically runs $300 to $500 a month from standalone bookkeeping services. Ask for a written scope of work before comparing prices.

What should be included in a $750 a month accounting package?

At minimum: monthly bookkeeping with reconciled accounts, tax planning during the year rather than only at filing time, preparation and filing of your business tax return, and payroll administration if you have employees. If any of those are missing and you still need them, you need to price them separately and add that cost to the comparison.

Is hiring a part-time bookkeeper cheaper than paying $750 a month?

Usually not once you account for the full picture. A part-time bookkeeper at the BLS median rate of around $24 an hour for 20 hours a month costs approximately $480 in wages, then more with employer payroll taxes. You still need tax prep, payroll, and advisory separately. The combined cost typically approaches or exceeds $750 a month, with more coordination on your end.

At what revenue level does monthly accounting start to make sense?

For most service businesses, around $500,000 in annual revenue, often with at least two or three employees. Below that, the complexity may not justify a monthly retainer and annual tax prep is often sufficient. Above that threshold, the tax exposure and the volume of ongoing financial decisions tend to make monthly accounting cost-effective.

Can I start with bookkeeping only and add tax and advisory later?

Technically yes, but the integration matters. A firm handling both bookkeeping and tax planning can catch problems mid-year that a separate tax preparer reviewing the prior year's books would miss. If you do separate them, make sure the handoff between your bookkeeper and your tax preparer is defined and actually happens. Many business owners discover in March that the two firms never communicated.