What should you charge for a bookkeeping client?
A defensible starting range based on transaction volume, the services you provide, and how messy the client is. Use it to stop guessing (and to stop underpricing).
At about 4.5 hours per month for this client, a solo bookkeeper doing the work manually tops out around 26 clients. The categorization and client-chasing time is what caps you. Automate it and the same hours cover far more clients.
A rough planning estimate, not a quote. Real fees vary by market, client relationship, and how clean the books are. Round to a confident number.
Common questions
We estimate roughly one hour of categorization and reconciliation per 50 transactions, add typical hours for the services you selected, apply a complexity factor, then price the total time at a healthy effective rate. It's a planning midpoint, not a market survey.
Most firms do better on a fixed monthly fee. It's predictable for the client and rewards you for getting faster. Use the hours estimate to set the fee, then bill a flat amount.
Because manual categorization and receipt-chasing time scales with every client you add. The cap is the honest ceiling of a manual workflow. Tools that automate that work are what let a solo bookkeeper take on more clients without burning out.