How Much Does Bookkeeping Cost in Lake Charles?
The cost of a bookkeeper for your Lake Charles based business can vary widely.
You can start by clicking here and filling in this form to get custom quotes for Lake Charles bookkeepers and bookkeeping services.
The cheapest option is just to use software such as Freshbooks, Quickbooks, or Zoho Books.
Some of these have free plans and generally don’t cost more than $200 per month for basic bookkeeping. But do, require you or someone at your company to keep the records up-to-date.
The next cheapest option is to hire a freelancer which can cost anywhere from $10 to $200 per hour on sites like Upwork.
However, your best option may be to hire someone locally in Lake Charles. You can find a list of Lake Charles bookkeepers above or click here to fill in this form to get custom quotes.
Finally, we cover the costs of hiring a full-time Lake Charles bookkeeper in more detail below.
What Software Can I Use For Bookkeeping in Lake Charles?
There are many popular bookkeeping software options available for Lake Charles based businesses.
The 5 most popular options for Lake Charles businesses are:
1. Freshbooks
- Monthly cost ranges from $6.80 to $22 per month for Lake Charles businesses
- Free trial available
- Use for fast and easy invoicing and payments
- Ability to track Lake Charles taxes owed
- Partnership with Bench for a real human bookkeeper available as a paid add-on
2. Quickbooks
- Plans for Lake Charles businesses range from $15 to $200 per month.
- Offer a paid QuickBooks-certified bookkeeper option
- Offer an Accurate Books Guarantee for your Lake Charles bookkeeper
- Track Sales and Lake Charles sales tax
- Track Income, expenses, invoice and payments
3. Zoho Books
- Free for Lake Charles businesses doing less than $50k a year in revenue.
- Price range of $15 to $240 per month for larger Lake Charles businesses.
- Offer an online bookkeeping program designed for small businesses
- Offers a multi-user interface
- Free customer support over email, phone, and chat.
4. Xero
- Plans normally priced between $13 and $70 per month for Lake Charles businesses
- Has partnership program for Lake Charles accountants & bookkeepers
- Offer an all-in-one accounting software solution
- Ability to use bank connections to track trasnations
- Automatically calculate Lake Charles sales taxes on transactions, and use reports to prepare Lake Charles sales tax returns.
5. Patriot Software
- Offers two plans for Lake Charles businesses $20/month or Premium for $30/month.
- Designed especially to be used by small businesses
- Unlimited number of users, including your accountant
- Use either (or both) cash-basis or accrual accounting
- Free USA-based support
What is a typical bookkeeper salary in Lake Charles?
A full-time Lake Charles bookkeeper makes sense if you have ongoing bookkeeping needs beyond what software or a freelancer can realistically handle.
Nationally the annual salary of a bookkeeper ranges from a low of $29,917 per year to high of $61,027 per year with an average of $42,729. So in most cases you should expect to pay a full-time Lake Charles bookkeeper somewhere in that range.
Just keep in mind that does not include benefits, such as health-insurance, 401k, etc.
What is the hourly rate of a Lake Charles bookkeeper?
If the salary above seems too high, you may want to consider hiring a part-time Lake Charles bookkeeper.
The national average hourly rate for a bookkeeper ranges from a low of $14.67 per hour to a high of $29.93 per hour with an average of rate of $20.95. Again this excludes the costs of benefits.
Are all Lake Charles bookkeepers certified?
Unlike CPAs, there is generally no legal requirement to be certified or have a license to be a Lake Charles bookkeeper. However, there are two national organizations that do provide certification for bookkeepers.
These are the the National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers (NACPB) and the The American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers (AIPB).
The AIPB exam allows Lake Charles bookkeepers to use the Certified Bookkeeper (CB) designation. Those who earn their certification through the NACPB can use the Certified Public Bookkeeper (CPB) title.
Therefore, make sure to ask any potential Lake Charles bookkeeper if they are have either one before hiring.
What’s the easiest way to find a Lake Charles bookkeeper?
Easy, just click here and fill out the form and relevant bookkeepers serving Lake Charles will be in touch.