How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Bookkeeper in Canada?

Newer business owners are often reluctant to hire a bookkeeper because of the added expense. But proper bookkeeping is more than just an essential part of running a successful business - a good bookkeeper can save businesses and non-profit organizations (NPOs) from costly record-keeping and tax filing mistakes.

If you’ve decided it’s time to get your books in order, the next logical question is: how much does it cost to hire a bookkeeper? Costs will depend on two key elements.

• Experience and Qualifications: The more experienced and qualified the bookkeeper, the higher the wage you can expect to pay. Certified bookkeepers or those with extensive experience in specific industries (like retail or manufacturing) may command higher rates.
• Employment Type: Whether you hire a bookkeeper as a full-time employee or on a contractual basis will impact costs. Full-time employees may require additional benefits such as health insurance, paid leave, and contributions to retirement plans. In contrast, contract workers handle their own taxes and benefits but may charge higher hourly rates to cover these.

With these factors in mind, it is then time to decide on their employment relationship with your organization and how much time they spend on your books: 

•  Hire a full-time, in-house bookkeeper: someone who is on-staff in a permanent full-time capacity
•  Hire a part-time, self-employed bookkeeper: someone who bills you hourly for their time
•  Hire an external bookkeeping service: a professional service firm that provides bookkeeping services

These options have a broad range of costs, from approximately $20-$50 an hour for a part-time, self-employed bookkeeper to roughly $4,000 a month plus overhead costs for a full-time, in-house bookkeeper. These costs are also influenced by the markets in which the business and the service provider/employee are located. Toronto and Vancouver, with their high cost of living, necessarily involve higher rates for many types of employees/service providers, including bookkeepers.

Hiring an external bookkeeping service often sits somewhere in the middle, costing between $500 and $2,000 per month. There are pros and cons attached to each option, so in this article, we will dive in and compare them.

Another Cost Consideration: Your Bookkeeper's Role

A bookkeeper records an organization's day-to-day financial activities so its leadership (and accountants) can use the information to make better business decisions. 

General bookkeeping tasks include: 

• Recording financial transactions (like payments and billing)
• Generating customer invoices
• Performing reconciliations on bank accounts and credit cards
• Preparing and filing sales tax returns (like GST and PST)
• Generating financial reports (like balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements)
• Monitoring accounts receivable and accounts payable

The costs of rendering this bookkeeping work depend on the following employment or contract factors.

• Scope of Work: The complexity and volume of transactions that must be managed significantly affect costs. A business with several income streams, international transactions, or complex regulatory requirements might need a more skilled bookkeeper, increasing costs.
• Software and Tools: The type of accounting software and other tools required can also influence costs. Some bookkeepers may include the cost of software licenses in their fees, especially if they are using specialized or high-end financial software.
• Frequency of Services: If you need ongoing daily bookkeeping services instead of monthly or quarterly check-ins, your costs will be higher due to the increased work and time involved.
• Additional Services: Some bookkeepers offer additional services like financial analysis, budgeting advice, or tax preparation, which can add to the overall cost if you choose to utilize these services.

Although people use the terms accounting and bookkeeping interchangeably, the responsibilities and rates associated with each role are quite different.

Accounting services often include high-level advisory work like tax planning, tax filing, budgeting, and forecasting. So, while an accountant can do your bookkeeping, it costs less to hire an experienced bookkeeper. Some accountants prefer to focus on high-level advisory work and partner with bookkeeping agencies to manage the rest for their clients.

A word about DIY Bookkeeping

Because keeping records can be relatively easy when transaction volumes or revenues are low, many businesses opt for DIY bookkeeping to save money.

What they usually discover, however, is that doing your books has some severe drawbacks, including:

• Lack of value: Time spent on data entry and bookkeeping duties is usually better invested in high-value strategic work, billable hours, or revenue-generating sales and marketing tasks.
• Risk of errors: If bookkeeping isn’t your strength (or a job you enjoy), you risk making mistakes or having accounting tasks fall to the bottom of your to-do list. The result? Penalties, fines, and messy, out-of-date books.
• Questionable reporting: DIY bookkeeping can lead to inaccurate funder reports and misleading financial statements.

Now, let’s consider options for hiring a bookkeeper.

Option 1: Hire an in-house bookkeeper

The cost of hiring an in-house bookkeeper varies with location, expertise, and time commitment. On Glassdoor, annual salaries range from $34,000 to $77,000, with the average base salary for a full-time bookkeeper in Vancouver pegged at $47,000.

In addition to salary, you can expect overhead costs like benefits, IT equipment, and payroll deductions, including:

• CPP and EI contributions
• Vacation and sick time
• Professional development costs

A good rule of thumb for calculating these costs is to add 10% on top of salary.

Pros of Hiring a Full-Time In-House Bookkeeper

1. Improved business understanding 
2. Physically present to manage paper documents and provide in-office communication

Cons of Hiring a Full-Time In-House Bookkeeper

1. Additional headcount may not represent the best value for a growing business 
2. Managing a bookkeeper adds to the overhead
3. Abrupt departure could necessitate hiring and training a replacement

Option 2: Hire a part-time bookkeeper

Hiring a self-employed bookkeeper part-time is usually less expensive than hiring an employee. Because they often work with several small business owners, most part-time bookkeepers:

• Come into the office intermittently or on an as-needed basis
• Work on a contract basis (eliminating payroll costs)
• Charge an hourly fee based on job scope

Part-time bookkeepers typically charge $20 to $50 per hour. If you were to hire an accounting firm, the hourly rate would be much higher.

Pros of Hiring a Part-Time Self-Employed Bookkeeper

1. Physically present
2. Sufficient accounting knowledge to assume full bookkeeping responsibility
3. Flexibility to scale hours up or down

Cons of Hiring a Part-Time Self-Employed Bookkeeper

1. Timeliness can be an issue for bookkeepers managing multiple clients, deadlines, and priorities
2. Increased workload due to business growth could eventually pose a problem
3. Abrupt departure could necessitate hiring and training a replacement, slowing things down in the process
4. Hands-off business owner approach can lead to loss of records access if the relationship ends badly

Option 3: Hire a bookkeeping service

Outsourcing your bookkeeping to an external service like Enkel is an excellent option if your business is growing but lacks the resources for a full-time bookkeeper. 

Hiring a bookkeeping service gives you valuable access to an entire team of experienced bookkeepers who will:

• Manage your books virtually using cloud-based accounting software and tools 
• Customize your bookkeeping while offering add-on services like payroll and fractional controllership 
• Charge a one-time onboarding fee, followed by a monthly flat rate 

While prices vary based on your requirements, monthly flat rates can start as low as $350.

Pros of Hiring a Bookkeeping Service

1. Team approach provides access to a broader range of services and expertise
2. Scalable to meet the growing needs of your business
3. No additional payroll or overhead costs
4. Any internal turnover is seamless
5. Segregation of bookkeeping tasks and reviews reduces fraud risk

Cons of Hiring a Bookkeeping Service

1. Timeliness could be an issue for services managing multiple clients
2. Lack of physical presence could hinder communication (setting out your communication expectations, schedule, and emergency protocols during onboarding can mitigate delays)

Remember: While hiring a bookkeeper will depend on your budget and needs, the opportunity cost of doing your own books is often higher than what you’d pay to outsource those tasks. 

At Enkel, we provide outsourced bookkeeping services to businesses and nonprofit organizations in Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, Calgary, Toronto, and other cities across Canada.

Get in touch with us today and we’ll not only answer the question of how much it costs to hire a bookkeeper, we’ll also show you how our monthly bookkeeping service gives business owners a better grasp on their bottom line.