BUSINESS GUIDE
How to start a bookkeeping business in 2026
Why the state licensing lists we read don't include bookkeeping and exactly where the CPA line falls, in the states' own words; the registrations that do apply if you'll prepare returns; what bookkeepers charge on firms' own fee pages and in dated surveys; the certifications, software and insurance priced from the sellers; what bookkeepers earn — and how to sign the first monthly clients. Written for the bookkeeper with the skills and no business yet, not a designer.
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$349–$895a month for a Midland, Texas bookkeeper's three packages on its own page (2026); Ignition's benchmark puts most firms at $250 to $499
$50,670the 2025 US median pay for an employed bookkeeping clerk — $24.36 an hour (O*NET)
$37/monthmedian errors-and-omissions cover for bookkeepers (Insureon, 2025); cyber cover $47
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See what your bookkeeping website could look like
This is a real Zarla template for a small-business bookkeeping practice. Describe yours — the trades you serve, the software you work in, your monthly packages — and you'll have a site like this, with your starting prices and a booking request form, in about a minute.
- Professional design — not a generic template
- Looks great on desktop and mobile
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Start your bookkeeping website now
Add your town and your practice's name to the sentence, and Zarla builds the site: a call button at the top, your packages and starting prices, and a booking request form. Add the trades you serve, the software you work in and your certifications in chat, then publish.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.
Is a bookkeeping business worth starting — and what do clients pay?
It's the business you can start with a laptop, no license and the skills you already use at work, and the income builds one monthly client at a time. The work splits into monthly bookkeeping — the close, the reconciliations, the reports — paid every month; catch-up and cleanup, the shoebox of receipts and six months of bank statements, paid by the project; and payroll and bill pay on top. This guide is about keeping books for a fee; the licensed path with audits and the CPA name is how to start an accounting business, and the seasonal office is how to start a tax preparation business.
What clients pay. On bookkeeping firms' own pages, seen October 2026: Exact Bookkeeping in Midland, Texas lists three packages at $349, $595 and $895 a month by the client's monthly expenses (Exact Bookkeeping, 2026); Cal The Bookkeeper in Clermont, Florida starts at $150, $350 and $850 a month for one bank account up (Cal The Bookkeeper); NEXACC, a Phoenix firm, from $450 a month (NEXACC); WCG CPAs in Colorado Springs puts small-business bookkeeping at $190 to $500 a month (WCG CPAs & Advisors, August 2024); Xendoo's online packages are $395 and $695 (Xendoo). The national vendors set the floor: Bench sells bookkeeping at $199 a month for a business with $250,000 or less of revenue and $399 for its standard plan, with a fractional bookkeeper at $55 an hour (Bench), and Pilot's Essentials plan is $99 a month for cash-basis books (Pilot, April 2025). Xero's hiring guide — a software vendor's — tells owners to expect “$20–$50 per hour or $200–$2,000 monthly” (Xero, April 2026); Intuit's 2021 rate survey put the average bookkeeper at $66 an hour, certified or not (Intuit, March 2022); and in Ignition's 2025 benchmark of accounting and bookkeeping firms, “Monthly bookkeeping and accounting: These services most commonly run $250-499 per month” (CPA Practice Advisor, August 2025).
The catch. The first year is thin, scope creeps, and one messy client can eat a week the fee paid a day for. As an employee, a bookkeeping, accounting or auditing clerk earned a 2025 median of $24.36 an hour, $50,670 a year, in an occupation projected to decline through 2035 — though with about 144,100 openings a year (O*NET). Financial Cents — a practice-software company — surveyed 261 accounting and bookkeeping firm owners and found “Solo firms made an average of $62,327” in 2023 (Financial Cents, July 2025). The owner's income has to beat $50,670 after the software, the insurance and the unpaid hours on the client whose books were a mess. That's what the rest of this guide sets up.
How to start a bookkeeping business, in plain English
No license to keep books — and a clear line you can't cross. In the US bookkeeping isn't a licensed trade on the lists we read: the word appears nowhere on the Texas licensing department's program list (TDLR), the California Department of Consumer Affairs' list of boards (California DCA), New York's list of licensed professions (New York Office of the Professions) or Pennsylvania's boards (Pennsylvania Department of State) — each lists a board of accountancy, and that's the line. Washington's rule says it in one sentence: “Nothing in this chapter prohibits the use of the title ‘accountant’ by any person regardless of whether the person holds a license under this chapter,” while “certified public accountant” and “CPA” are reserved (WAC 4-30-058); Florida's statute says a person may not “Practice public accounting unless the person is a certified public accountant or a public accountant” or use the titles without the license (Florida Statutes §473.322). Keep the books, run the payroll, prepare the reports; send the audit, the review and the compilation to a CPA. Check your own state's list before you print a card.
If you'll prepare tax returns for a fee, more applies. Federally, “Anyone who prepares or assists in preparing federal tax returns for compensation must have a valid 2027 PTIN before preparing returns,” at $18.75 a year (IRS, October 2026), and an EFIN to e-file — “Currently there is no fee to obtain an EFIN. You must apply and pass a suitability check” (IRS, October 2026). Four states register preparers on top: California requires “a 60-hour qualifying education course from a CTEC-approved education provider,” “a $5,000 tax preparer surety bond” and a $100 application fee plus $2 (CTEC, January 2026); New York charges “a $100 registration fee” to a commercial preparer — one paid to prepare ten or more New York returns in a year (New York Department of Taxation, October 2026); Maryland registers preparers at $100 with a $100 renewal (Maryland Department of Labor); Oregon requires “a minimum of 80 clock hours of basic income tax law education,” a 75% pass on the state exam, and supervision by a licensed consultant, CPA or attorney (Oregon Board of Tax Practitioners). And for tax and accounting professionals, the IRS says: “Federal law requires tax and accounting professionals to create and maintain a Written Information Security Plan to help protect client information from identity thieves and data breaches” — Publication 5708 is the template (IRS, August 2026).
Sales tax on bookkeeping services. State by state. Texas says “a bookkeeper or accountant is not performing taxable data processing services when applying knowledge of accounting principles to produce financial reports such as income statements, balance sheets, or profit or loss statements, or to prepare federal income tax, state franchise or sales tax returns” (Texas Comptroller, publication 96-259, January 2026); New York lists “personal and professional services” among services not subject to sales tax (New York Department of Taxation, July 2026). Of the states checked, three go the other way: Hawaii's general excise tax is “assessed on all business activities,” at 4% for most services before any county surcharge (Hawaii Department of Taxation), New Mexico's gross receipts tax covers “Performing services in New Mexico” (New Mexico Taxation and Revenue), and South Dakota's sales tax applies to “the sale of services” at 4.2% (South Dakota Department of Revenue); Washington taxes a service business's gross receipts under its business and occupation tax, at 1.5% for one under $1,000,000 the year before (Washington Department of Revenue). Confirm your state's rule with its revenue department before you set the package price.
The software is free; the certification sells. Learning the trade itself — the fundamentals, the free courses, which credential to take first and the first job — is in our guide to becoming a bookkeeper; this guide is the practice. “The Xero partner program is free and there are no ongoing costs,” with a free Xero subscription to run the practice (Xero). Workflow and document tools are small: Jetpack Workflow from $40 a user a month billed yearly ($49 monthly) and $59 at its premium tier (Jetpack Workflow, October 2026), Financial Cents' solo plan $19 a month (Financial Cents), Content Snare's document collection $35 a month billed yearly (Content Snare). Certification is what the client sees: AIPB's Certified Bookkeeper runs $479 for members and $574 for non-members all in, after two years' full-time or 3,000 hours' part-time experience, in its designation brochure (AIPB, 2019 brochure); NACPB's Certified Public Bookkeeper license is $100 to apply and $50 to renew, after a year or 2,000 hours of supervised experience, with 24 hours of continuing education a year (NACPB, 2026). Bookkeepers.com — a course vendor — puts the whole start at “about $1,404” (Bookkeepers.com, 2024).
How to price: fixed packages by transactions, catch-up by the project. Three monthly packages tied to transaction volume and the number of accounts — the firms' own pages above run from $150 to $895 a month, the national vendors from $99 to $399 — with the transaction limit, the close date and the catch-up rate written into each package, and the hours tracked against each package so the mispriced client is repriced at renewal. Our guide to how to get your business on Google covers the inquiries.
How to register the business. In the US it's the same four steps in every state, with different fees. Form the business — an LLC is $40 in Kentucky (Kentucky SOS), $300 in Texas (Texas SOS) and $70 in California plus a $20 statement of information (California SOS), where every LLC also owes an $800 yearly tax (California FTB, March 2026) — or file a DBA and trade as a sole proprietor. Get the EIN — “You never have to pay a fee for an EIN” (IRS, October 2026) — open a business bank account, and get the city license where your city wants one: Seattle's is $73 a year for a business with under $20,000 of revenue in the city and $147 from $20,000 to $499,999 in 2026 (City of Seattle). Our guide to whether you need an LLC walks through the choice.
Insurance. Nothing requires it; a misfiled payroll does. Insureon's medians for bookkeepers who quote with it are $37 a month ($441 a year) for errors-and-omissions cover, $47 a month for cyber cover, $29 for general liability and $45 for a business owner's policy (Insureon, June 2025); The Hartford's small-business customers pay “about $76 a month” for standalone professional liability across all trades (The Hartford). Buy the errors-and-omissions cover before the first client and the cyber cover before the first bank login.
Franchise or independent? BooXkeeping's own page puts its franchise at an estimated total investment of $77,546 to $84,046, with a 10% royalty and a 2% brand fee on gross revenue, from its February 2026 disclosure document (BooXkeeping, 2026), and advertises average gross annual revenue of $138,276 across corporate and franchise locations (BooXkeeping) — a franchisor's own figure; read the disclosure document before you sign anything. Every owner quoted in the next section built an independent practice.
Outside the US. In the UK a bookkeeper who isn't supervised by a professional body must register with HMRC for money-laundering supervision — accountancy service providers include “accountants who provide accountancy services to clients” and “payroll agents” (GOV.UK, March 2023) — at a £300 application fee and “£400 for each of the premises you include in your application,” with a £500 refund for businesses under £5,000 of turnover (GOV.UK, December 2025); an AAT licensed bookkeeper pays a £62 admission fee and a £191 annual license fee (AAT); bookkeeping insurance quotes start from £6.81 a month at one broker, what one in ten of its bookkeepers paid (Simply Business, October 2026); a sole trader registers for Self Assessment above £1,000 of income (GOV.UK) and for VAT at “£90,000 (the VAT threshold)” (GOV.UK). In Australia, preparing a BAS for a fee needs registration with the Tax Practitioners Board as a BAS agent — $58 for an individual (TPB, July 2026), after a Certificate IV in bookkeeping or accounting and 1,400 hours of relevant experience in the past four years, or 1,000 with a professional association membership (TPB); the ABN is free (business.gov.au) and GST registration is compulsory at $75,000 of turnover (ATO, September 2026). Confirm your own country's rules before the first client.
The business, and the calendar. Close on the same date every month, keep the files in access-controlled software, and get the next client from the last one and from the CPAs — in a 2019 survey of accounting firms, referrals were a top source of new business for 79 percent and advertising for fewer than one in ten (Accounting Today, December 2019); in a 2025 survey of 350 businesses, 57% found their accountant through a peer referral (CPA Practice Advisor, August 2025). For one bookkeeper starting at home, our free bookkeeping business plan puts the start at $955–$12,116: a computer if you need one, a year of liability and cyber cover, the free software and the paid workflow tools at the high end, the certification, registration, a city license, the website, branding and two months of running costs. Living costs while the client list builds come on top, and the plan carries them as an optional line. The bookkeeping website templates show what a good practice's site looks like, and Zarla's bookkeeping website builder is how an owner searching for a bookkeeper near them finds yours.
What bookkeeping business owners actually say
None of this is our opinion about the trade. It comes from people who run bookkeeping businesses, talking about the work in a trade magazine, two local business journals, a local magazine's Q&A, a podcast's transcript page, one firm's own press release and a software vendor's customer story — the last two labelled — between 2016 and 2026. Read each as theirs at the time; the dollar figures in older pages are that year's. Five things come up again and again.
Three prices, one stack, and the negotiating stops. Karine Woodman of 24hr Bookkeeper in Hibbing, Minnesota, a five-person firm: “Now I only have three pricing tiers, … and it's taken away all the negotiating with clients. I love it!” And: “I won't work with clients if they're not open to moving to the cloud. … I can't do a good job if my clients aren't willing to move forward with new technologies.” And: “We work smarter, not harder – both for us, and for clients” (Accounting Today, October 2016).
“We provide any type of financial accounting, bookkeeping, payroll services up until it gets to the tax part. … We usually work with whomever the client has as a CPA.” — Jeff Thames, Bookkeeper Plus, Rogers, Arkansas, in the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal, January 2022
The clients come from the CPA, the bank and the last client. Thames again, whose firm grew from about 15 clients to 115 in two years, on where 2020's growth came from: “A lot of that was because there were companies that were nonprofits that were saying, ‘We need to do something. We can't handle it anymore in-house, or we need somebody to help us because the bank wants to see another set of eyes on the books.’” And on the partnership: “She said, ‘You've got strengths that I don't have, and I've got strengths that you don't have. So, together, we should be able to do this really well.’” (Northwest Arkansas Business Journal, January 2022). Alisa Hutchins of Hutchins Financial Harmony in Athens, Georgia: “Many of my clients say working with me feels like a weight lifted off their shoulders, and that means everything to me” (VoyageATL, October 2025).
You start small, around a life, and it grows one client at a time. Alleepra Stutzman of Dragonfire Financials in Grand Junction, Colorado, who started before she graduated: “I wanted to be able to spend quality time with her and be there for this part of her life. … But we all know the economy is kind of scary right now, so living on one income is not ideal, so I had to figure out: How can I get the best of both worlds.” And on her mentor: “He's taught me so much already that I am very thankful for, because it's taking my accounting school and applying it to real-world stuff” (The Business Times, September 2025). Erin Pohan of Upkeeping in Seattle, eleven months in: “I've grown from March to now. I have 11 clients, which is super exciting.” And: “Stop saying I can't. You have to let go of your limiting beliefs. It's scary. It's not easy, coming from experience. I'm still letting go of limiting beliefs” (The Ambitious Bookkeeper podcast transcript, February 2022). Hutchins: “In 2024, I decided to channel my skills into starting my own business, Hutchins Financial Harmony. As a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, my goal and passion is to help others achieve financial harmony through excellence in bookkeeping” (VoyageATL, October 2025).
Knowing the business is the product. Harvey Vaughn of Tejas Bookkeeping in Austin, in his firm's own press release: “Knowing a business over time is what makes the work accurate. … I know which vendor is which, which odd charge is normal and which one needs a second look” (EIN Presswire, October 2026). Claire Van Holland of CV Ledger, in a software vendor's customer story: “I ended up starting a furniture company with my husband and decided to take care of our accounting and bookkeeping. In doing so, I realized that this service was a need for other small businesses and entrepreneurs, and that motivated me to start my practice.” And: “My clients are storytellers and it's my job to give them a visual story about their business and data” (Xero customer story, 2026). Thames: “Everybody is a little different. … There's no typical client because we deal with nonprofits, sole proprietors, partnerships and LLCs” (Northwest Arkansas Business Journal, January 2022).
It's a lifestyle business until you decide otherwise. Stutzman, on the two women she works alongside: “She's also been another kind of mentor and friend, and we're kind of tag-teaming this, navigating the bookkeeping world together, and it's been a really fun adventure” (The Business Times, September 2025). Woodman: “Accounting may be the biggest part of someone's business, but it doesn't have to be the hardest” (Accounting Today, October 2016). Each of those is one owner's account of one practice in one market, not a survey — read them as what the model can do, not what it does on average.
The through-line: the bookkeeping businesses that last pick one platform and three prices, keep the books and leave the tax and the audit to the CPA who sends them clients, know each business well enough to spot the odd charge, and grow from fifteen clients to a hundred one referral at a time.
THE STARTER KIT
What you need to start a bookkeeping business
The skills, and one platform you own
Debits and credits, reconciliations, the month-end close — then one platform known cold. Xero's partner program and the accountant editions are free; the certification that sells is in the costs section.
A laptop, a second monitor, a scanner
The whole office. Most bookkeepers start on the computer they own and add the monitor first; bank feeds and receipt capture mean clients send documents without being chased.
Registration, the EIN and a city license
An LLC or a DBA with your state, the free EIN from the IRS, a business bank account, and the city business license where your city wants one — none of the four state licensing lists we read covers the work itself; the table below has what does apply.
A written security plan, before the first bank login
In the US, the IRS says federal law requires tax and accounting professionals to keep a written information security plan; its Publication 5708 is the template. Client files live in access-controlled software, never in email.
Professional liability, and cyber cover
Errors-and-omissions cover for the misfiled payroll, cyber cover for the bank records you hold — Insureon's medians for bookkeepers are in the table below, and both are small.
Three fixed packages, and a way to be found
Monthly packages priced by transactions and accounts from the firms' own pages below, catch-up quoted separately, a Google Business Profile, and a website with your packages, your software and a booking request form.
THE PAPERWORK
Licenses, registrations, certifications and insurance for a bookkeeping business
| Typical cost | Time to get | Legally required? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business registration (LLC or DBA) and EIN | e.g. $40 (KY), $300 (TX), $70 + $20 + $800/yr tax (CA); EIN free | Days | Depends on your structure |
| State bookkeeping license | None found on the TX, CA, NY and PA lists read | — | Not in the states checked — check yours |
| City business license | e.g. $73–$147/yr (Seattle, 2026) | Days | Where your city requires one |
| PTIN and EFIN (if you prepare returns) | $18.75/yr; EFIN free | Minutes; weeks for the EFIN | In the US, for anyone paid to prepare federal returns |
| State tax-preparer registration | $100 + $2 and a $5,000 bond (CA); $100 (NY, MD); 80 hours + exam (OR) | Weeks | In CA, NY, MD and OR, to prepare returns for a fee |
| Written information security plan | Free — Publication 5708 is the template | Days | In the US, for tax and accounting professionals (IRS) |
| Certified Bookkeeper (AIPB) or CPB (NACPB) | $479–$574 all in (AIPB); $100 then $50/yr (NACPB) | After 2,000–3,000 hours | Optional — it's what the client sees |
| Sales tax on services | None in TX and NY; 4% GET (HI), GRT (NM), 4.2% (SD); WA B&O 1.5% | — | Check your state's list |
| Errors-and-omissions insurance | $37/month median (Insureon, 2025) | Same day | Not by law; a misfiled payroll is a claim |
| Cyber liability insurance | $47/month median (Insureon) | Same day | Not by law; you hold bank logins |
| General liability or a business owner's policy | $29 or $45/month median (Insureon) | Same day | Not by law; some clients ask for the certificate |
THE STEPS
How to start a bookkeeping business (step by step)
Eight steps from the skills and a laptop to a registered practice with three packages, a secure workflow and fifteen owners who pay every month.
01
Pick one trade and one platform
Contractors, restaurants, salons or another trade whose books you've seen — and the one accounting platform you'll know cold. The owners quoted below moved to one stack and three prices and stopped negotiating.
Before anything else02
Learn where the line is
Bookkeeping isn't on the four state licensing lists we read, but the states reserve the CPA title and public accounting for licensees — Florida's and Washington's rules are quoted below — and some register paid tax preparers: California, New York, Maryland and Oregon are in the table below. Keep the books; send the audit and, unless you register, the tax return to the CPA.
03
Register the business and get the free EIN
Form the LLC or file the DBA, get the EIN, open the business bank account, and get the city license where your city wants one — then the PTIN if you'll prepare returns.
04
Set up the software, free
Join the partner program of the platform you chose — Xero's is free with a free subscription for the practice — add a workflow tool and a document-collection tool if the client count justifies it, and get the certification that sells.
05
Write the security plan and insure the practice
The written information security plan the IRS says federal law requires, from Publication 5708; professional liability and cyber cover from the first bank login — a few hundred dollars a year on Insureon's medians.
06
Price three fixed packages by transactions
Monthly packages tied to transaction volume and bank accounts — the firms' own pages below run from about $150 to $895 a month — with catch-up work quoted separately and the transaction limits written into each package.
07
Get found, and tell the CPAs
Put your Google Business Profile and website live with your packages, your software and a booking request form, then introduce yourself to five CPA firms and tax preparers who'd rather receive clean books than fix them.
08
Close on the same date, every month, and ask
Every account reconciled, every transaction categorized, the report sent on the promised date — then ask for the review when the books are finally current, and the referral when the owner mentions a friend behind on theirs.
THE COSTS
How much does it cost to start a bookkeeping business?
The total is our free bookkeeping business plan's itemized US ranges for one bookkeeper starting at home: a computer if you need one, a year of errors-and-omissions cover — cyber cover at the high end — the free accountant software with paid workflow and document tools at the high end, the certification, registration, a city license, the website, branding and two months of running costs. Living costs while the client list builds are an optional line on the plan. Software from the vendors' own pages, certification from the associations', insurance from Insureon, fees from the states' and the city's own pages; checked October 2026. Lines no page prices are labelled planning ranges on the plan.
$955–$12,116to start as one bookkeeper — the low end is the laptop you own, the free partner software, Insureon's $441 errors-and-omissions year and a $40 Kentucky LLC
$441/yrmedian errors-and-omissions cover for bookkeepers, $37 a month (Insureon, June 2025) — cyber cover $47 a month
$479AIPB's Certified Bookkeeper, all in, for members ($574 for non-members); NACPB's Certified Public Bookkeeper license is $100, then $50 a year
$0for the practice's accounting software — Xero's partner program is free with a free subscription; Jetpack Workflow is $40 a user a month billed yearly, Financial Cents' solo plan $19
WHAT WE'VE LEARNED
What actually makes an owner hire a bookkeeper
Thousands of local business websites in, the pattern for bookkeeping is plain: the owner wants to know what it costs a month, that you know their software and their kind of business, and that their bank logins are safe with you. Three things on a page decide who gets the call.
Packages with a monthly price
“Monthly bookkeeping from,” what's included and what's extra — catch-up, payroll, sales tax filings. The owners who call already expect the number, and the ones who wanted it done for $50 go elsewhere.
Their software, their trade
QuickBooks or Xero, said plainly with the certification; the trades you know — contractors, restaurants, salons — with a sentence on each. An owner hires the bookkeeper who has seen a business like theirs.
Security, and reviews that say you deliver
How you handle bank access and documents, the insurance you carry, and reviews that say the books arrive on the same date every month. That's what gets forwarded to the business partner.
THE UPSIDE
What a bookkeeping business can earn
Prices from five firms' own fee pages and three vendors' (Bench, Pilot, Xero — labelled), Intuit's 2021 rate survey and Ignition's 2025 benchmark; pay from O*NET; the solo-firm average from a software vendor's survey of 261 owners. Ranges and averages, not a promise — your package prices, your client count and how many hours each client really takes decide it.
$349–$895a month for one Midland, Texas firm's three packages on its own page; a Clermont, Florida bookkeeper from $150, a Phoenix firm from $450, Bench's national packages $199 and $399
$66/hrthe average bookkeeper's rate, certified or not, in Intuit's 2021 survey — a vendor's figure, that year's; Xero's 2026 guide tells owners to expect $20 to $50 an hour
$62,327average 2023 revenue for a solo accounting or bookkeeping firm in Financial Cents' survey of 261 owners (a software vendor's); firms of 2 to 5 averaged $292,292
$50,670a year: the 2025 US median for employed bookkeeping clerks (O*NET) — the pay to beat; the occupation is projected to decline
SEE IT WORK
Bookkeeping website designs you can start from
All four are real Zarla templates. Open the one closest to how you'll practice — a local small-business bookkeeper, a fully virtual practice, a QuickBooks specialist, or catch-up and cleanup work — swap in your packages, the trades you serve and your certifications, and publish.
GET FOUND
Get found by the owner whose books are six months behind
Most bookkeeping clients come by referral — from a CPA who wants clean books, or an owner who stopped dreading month-end — and Google confirms the choice: the owner searching for a bookkeeper near them books the one whose packages start somewhere, who knows their software and their trade, and who answers today. Zarla builds the website with a call button at the top, your packages and starting prices, and a booking request form. Add the trades you serve, the software you work in and your certifications in chat, and once you connect your Google Business Profile, your Google rating and reviews show on the site.
“Bookkeeper near me”
The search that books the first call: a page per service — monthly bookkeeping, catch-up and cleanup, payroll — each with who it's for, a starting price and a booking request form.
The map, even for a virtual practice
A Google Business Profile with your town, your hours and your certifications — the three-pack is where an owner picks three names to call before they open a single website.
Reviews from books you've cleaned up
Ask the month the books are finally current — and send the link that day. Reviews that mention the trade and the mess you fixed sell the next referral.
Google Search
Lledgerlinebookkeeping.com
Ledgerline Bookkeeping — Trusted bookkeeping in Your AreaMonthly bookkeeping for contractors and small shops. Fixed packages from a stated price, catch-up work quoted. QuickBooks and Xero certified. Book a call.← Your Zarla siteCcitybookkeepingservices.com
City bookkeeping ServicesGoogle Maps
1
Ledgerline Bookkeeping
← You2
Metro bookkeeping Co.
3
Quick bookkeeping Services
AI assistants (ChatGPT / Perplexity)
For a bookkeeper for a small contracting business that's behind on its books in your area: Ledgerline Bookkeeping — a local bookkeeping practice whose site lists monthly packages with starting prices, names the software and the trades it works with, offers catch-up work, and has reviews from owners nearby.
An example with a made-up business and illustrative figures. Yours will show your real details and reviews.
YOUR LAUNCH PLAN
Your bookkeeping business launch checklist
The whole guide as things to check off. Work through them in order and you'll be registered, insured, certified and priced before the first client sends a bank statement.
- Pick the trade and the platform — one niche, one software stack.
- Learn where the CPA line falls — and whether your state registers paid tax preparers.
- Register the business and get the free EIN — and open a business bank account.
- Join the partner program and get certified — the accountant editions are free.
- Write the security plan — from Publication 5708, before the first bank login.
- Buy professional liability and cyber cover — a few hundred dollars a year.
- Price three fixed monthly packages — by transactions and accounts, catch-up quoted separately.
- Get found — website and Google Business Profile live, five CPA firms introduced, every clean-up asked for the review.
REAL CUSTOMERS
Small business owners who got online with Zarla
Verified reviews from real Zarla customers.
“Quickly built my website from scratch. No hiccups. Would highly recommend Zarla for someone with no experience who wants to start a polished business website.”
“Great professional website in less than a minute, with the use of AI and a few descriptive prompts. This has saved me bundles of time and research on web developers.”
“I had no idea how to set up a website for my business. Thanks to Zarla, they've helped me a lot.”
“Very reliable, professional, and fast results. I was able to get my business online in no time, and the ease of access made it so simple.”
Be the bookkeeper the contractor finds at 11pm with a shoebox of receipts
Add your town and your practice's name, and Zarla builds the website from that one line — a call button at the top, your packages and starting prices, and a booking request form. Add the trades you serve, the software you work in and your certifications in chat. Free to build; you pay when you publish.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to start a bookkeeping business?
In the US, about $955 to $12,116 for one bookkeeper starting at home, in our bookkeeping business plan's itemized ranges — the laptop you own at the low end or a computer, second monitor and scanner at the high; a year of errors-and-omissions cover ($441 at Insureon's median) with cyber cover ($47 a month) at the high end; the free partner software, plus workflow and document tools (Jetpack Workflow $59 a user a month, Content Snare $35) at the high end; certification (AIPB's $479 to $574, NACPB's $100); registration ($40 in Kentucky to $890 in California); a city license ($73 to $147 in Seattle) and the $18.75 PTIN if you'll prepare returns; the website; branding; and two months of running costs. Living costs while the client list builds come on top. Bookkeepers.com's course-vendor estimate is about $1,404.
How much do bookkeepers charge?
By the month, mostly. On firms' own pages: $349, $595 and $895 a month at a Midland, Texas practice; from $150, $350 and $850 at a Clermont, Florida bookkeeper; from $450 at a Phoenix firm; $190 to $500 at a Colorado Springs CPA firm; $395 and $695 at Xendoo. The national vendors: Bench $199 and $399 a month, a fractional bookkeeper $55 an hour; Pilot's Essentials $99. In surveys: Ignition's 2025 benchmark puts most firms at $250 to $499 a month, Intuit's 2021 survey the average bookkeeper at $66 an hour, and Xero's 2026 guide tells owners to expect $20 to $50 an hour or $200 to $2,000 a month. Price by transactions and accounts, and quote catch-up work by the project.
Do you need a license to be a bookkeeper?
In the US, no — bookkeeping appears on none of the Texas, California, New York or Pennsylvania licensing lists we read, and Washington's board rule says nothing prohibits anyone using the title accountant. What is licensed is the CPA: Florida's statute reserves public accounting and the title for licensees, and Washington's rule reserves the title. If you'll also prepare tax returns for a fee you need a PTIN ($18.75 a year), and California, New York, Maryland and Oregon register preparers on top. What you do need is the business registration, the free EIN, a city business license where your city wants one, and the written security plan the IRS says federal law requires of tax and accounting professionals. Check your state's licensing list and your city's business license page before you take the first client.
Do you need to be a CPA or certified to be a bookkeeper?
In the US, neither is required by law. The CPA license is for public accounting — audits, reviews, compilations and the title — and Florida's statute makes using it without the license an offense. Certification is optional and it sells: AIPB's Certified Bookkeeper costs $479 for members and $574 for non-members all in, after two years' full-time or 3,000 hours' part-time experience; NACPB's Certified Public Bookkeeper license is $100 to apply and $50 a year to renew, after a year or 2,000 hours of supervised work, with 24 hours of continuing education a year. The software certifications — ProAdvisor, Xero's partner tiers — are free to join and what most clients ask about first.
Can I start a bookkeeping business with no experience?
You can start the business without business experience; you can't sell books you can't keep. Learn debits and credits, reconciliations and the month-end close on one platform, get the free software certification, then the paid one once you have the hours — AIPB wants 3,000 part-time, NACPB 2,000 supervised. One Colorado owner started before she graduated, with a mentor; one Seattle owner went from zero to eleven clients in her first year. Take one catch-up project to prove the process, and ask for the review when the books are current.
Can I start a bookkeeping business from home?
In the US, yes — Bookkeeper Plus, the Arkansas firm quoted here, runs from two home offices. Bank feeds and receipt capture mean clients send documents without visiting; the written security plan applies at a kitchen table exactly as it does downtown, so client files live in access-controlled software and never in email. Check your city's home-occupation rules if clients will visit, and whether your city wants a business license at all — Seattle's starts at $73 a year.
Is bookkeeping a good business to start?
The owners quoted here say yes with conditions: pick one platform and three prices, keep the books and leave the tax to the CPA who sends you clients, and expect the first year to be thin. The numbers: monthly packages sell for $150 to $895 a month on firms' own pages, the software is free, the insurance is $37 a month, and a solo firm averaged $62,327 of revenue in a 2023 survey of 261 owners. The occupation is projected to decline for employees as software automates the entry — the business that lasts sells the judgment, the close date and the clean handoff, not the data entry.
How much can a bookkeeping business make?
No public survey reports owners' take-home pay. As an employee, a bookkeeping clerk earned a 2025 median of $24.36 an hour, $50,670 a year (O*NET). Financial Cents' survey of 261 firm owners found solo firms averaged $62,327 of revenue in 2023 and firms of 2 to 5 people $292,292; one Arkansas firm grew from about 15 clients to 115 in two years and expected more than $200,000 of revenue; a bookkeeping franchisor advertises $138,276 average gross revenue per location. Fifteen clients at the Midland firm's middle package of $595 a month is $107,100 a year before costs.
Is AI replacing bookkeepers?
It's replacing the data entry. O*NET projects the employed occupation to decline through 2035, with about 144,100 openings a year as people leave it, and the software now reads the receipts and matches the bank feed. What the owners quoted here sell isn't entry: it's knowing which odd charge is normal and which needs a second look, the close delivered on the same date every month, and the clean handoff to the CPA. A practice built on one platform, three packages and a trade it knows is selling judgment, and that's the part the owner can't automate away.
Do bookkeepers have to charge sales tax?
In the US it's state law. Texas says a bookkeeper applying accounting principles to produce financial statements or prepare returns is not performing a taxable service, and New York lists professional services among those not subject to sales tax. A few tax most services — Hawaii's general excise tax at 4%, New Mexico's gross receipts tax, South Dakota's sales tax at 4.2% on the sale of services — and Washington taxes the practice's gross receipts at 1.5% under its business and occupation tax. Confirm with your state's revenue department before you set the package price.
Can a bookkeeper prepare tax returns?
In the US, yes, with a PTIN ($18.75 a year) and, to e-file, a free EFIN — and in California, New York, Maryland and Oregon a state registration on top: California's needs a 60-hour course, a $5,000 bond and a $100 fee; New York's and Maryland's are $100; Oregon's 80 hours of education and a state exam under supervision. The IRS also expects a written information security plan from every tax professional. Many bookkeepers stop at the tax line and send the return to the CPA who sends them clients.
What insurance does a bookkeeping business need?
In the US nothing by law, but a misfiled payroll or a missed reconciliation can cost a client money, and a breach of their bank records is the costliest mistake in the trade. Insureon's medians for bookkeepers are $37 a month for errors-and-omissions cover, $47 for cyber cover, $29 for general liability and $45 for a business owner's policy (June 2025); The Hartford's small-business customers pay about $76 a month for professional liability. Buy the errors-and-omissions cover before the first client and the cyber cover before the first bank login.
Do I need an LLC for a bookkeeping business?
In the US, no — a sole proprietorship with a DBA is the cheapest legal start, and many bookkeepers form an LLC as they grow. An LLC separates your personal assets from the business, which matters when a payroll error becomes a dispute; it's $40 in Kentucky, $300 in Texas and $70 in California plus a $20 statement of information, where every LLC also owes $800 a year. It doesn't replace the errors-and-omissions insurance. Our guide to whether you need an LLC walks through the choice.
How do I get my first bookkeeping clients?
Introduce yourself to five CPA firms and tax preparers who'd rather receive clean books than fix them, take one catch-up project to prove the process, and ask for the review when the books are current — referrals were a top source of new clients for 79 percent of accounting firms in a 2019 survey and advertising for fewer than one in ten, and 57% of businesses found their accountant through a peer in 2025. Then answer what owners search for: your packages, your software and the trades you serve on your website and Google Business Profile. Zarla builds the website from one sentence — a call button at the top, your packages and starting prices, and a booking request form — and once you connect your Google profile, your Google rating and reviews show on the site.