FREE TOOL · CANADA · MARKET RATES AS OF OCTOBER 2026
Bookkeeping Cost Estimator for Canadian Small Businesses
Answer nine quick questions about your business and see what outsourced monthly bookkeeping typically costs in Canada, plus any catch-up work, with every line of the math shown.
Monthly estimate
One-time work
Hours check
Show how we estimated
This is a market estimate for Canadian outsourced bookkeeping, not a quote from Targeted Accounting. Quotes depend on a look at the actual file.
How the Estimate Works
The estimator builds a monthly range one piece at a time, the same way most bookkeepers scope a new file. It starts with a base fee set by your monthly bank and credit card transactions, because coding and reconciling them is most of the work. It then adds a fixed amount for each account beyond the first two, for payroll by headcount, for GST/HST filing by frequency, and for invoicing and bill payments if you want the bookkeeper to handle them.
Inventory, job costing or multiple locations add 25% to 35% to that total, since every transaction needs more detail. Each extra company adds 60% to 80% of the single-company fee: related companies can share a bookkeeper, but each still needs its own reconciliations and returns. Monthly statements or management reporting are added last. The result is rounded to the nearest $25, and “Show how we estimated” lists every line.
The estimate does not cover year-end financial statements, corporate or personal tax returns, software subscriptions, PST or QST filings, or one-off projects such as setting up a new accounting system. It assumes organized records, with bank feeds connected and receipts available.
What Drives Bookkeeping Prices
Transaction volume is the biggest factor, followed by the number of accounts to reconcile and whether payroll is involved. Sales tax filing frequency, receivables and payables, inventory and the number of companies all add time every month. Clean, current books with bank feeds also cost less to maintain than a box of receipts.
Part of the price is compliance work you cannot skip: the CRA’s record-keeping rules set what the books must support, and its payroll requirements add deductions, remittances and year-end slips for every employee. Credentials matter too: a bookkeeper certified through CPB Canada or working under a CPA usually charges more per hour and makes fewer of the errors that cost money at year end.
For the full breakdown with market ranges and pricing models, see our guide to how much bookkeeping costs in Canada. Our comparison of bookkeeper vs accountant explains who does what. Software is a separate cost: QuickBooks Online or Xero runs from roughly $30 to well over $100 a month, and our guide to accounting software for Canadian businesses compares the options.
What a Monthly Bookkeeping Package Should Include
When you compare quotes against this estimate, ask each provider to confirm in writing whether these are included:
- coding every transaction and reconciling every bank, credit card and loan account monthly;
- a monthly or quarterly profit and loss statement and balance sheet;
- preparing and filing GST/HST returns;
- payroll, remittances and T4s, if you have employees;
- accounts receivable and payable, if you want them handled;
- a named contact and a response time for questions;
- year-end support: handing a clean, reconciled file to your accountant.
A package that leaves out several of these can look cheaper than the estimate without being cheaper in practice. If you want a quote to compare, our virtual bookkeeping services page sets out what a monthly package covers.
Catch-Up and Cleanup Bookkeeping
If your books are behind, the estimator prices catch-up work per month of backlog at 0.9 to 1.2 times the monthly fee. That reflects common practice: older months take about as long as current ones, sometimes longer, because transactions have to be reconstructed without fresh memory.
Cleanup is different. The books exist but are wrong: duplicated entries, unreconciled accounts, personal expenses mixed in, or sales tax that does not tie to filed returns. The cost depends on how far back the problems go, so a good provider reviews the file before quoting. Both are one-off costs, and once the books are current the monthly fee should settle. For more free calculators, visit our free accounting tools for Canadian business owners.
Ranges reflect typical Canadian market pricing as of October 2026 and are not a quote. This page is general information, not advice for your specific situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Two businesses with the same answers can still take different amounts of time. Bank feeds, receipt capture, how quickly questions get answered and how many unusual transactions turn up each month all change the hours. The low end assumes tidy records and simple transactions; the high end assumes more manual entries, more back and forth and a firm at the upper end of the $60 to $110 an hour range.
No. The estimate covers the bookkeeping work only. Cloud software such as QuickBooks Online or Xero typically adds roughly $30 to well over $100 a month, depending on the plan, payroll add-ons and number of users. Some firms include the subscription in their fee, so check each quote.
No. Year-end financial statements, the T2 corporate tax return and personal tax returns are accounting work and are usually billed separately, even when the same firm does both. Good monthly bookkeeping lowers that bill, because the accountant starts from a reconciled file.
For ongoing bookkeeping, a fixed monthly fee with a written scope is the most common model and the easiest to budget. Hourly billing, typically $30 to $60 with a freelance bookkeeper and $60 to $110 with a firm, suits irregular or one-off work. Catch-up and cleanup are usually quoted as a fixed project price after a look at the books.
Connect bank feeds for every account, use a receipt capture app, close accounts you no longer use and keep personal spending off business cards. Answering your bookkeeper’s questions promptly also helps, since chasing missing information is where hours go. Filing GST/HST annually, where you are eligible, also lowers the fee.
Want an Actual Quote for Your Books?
This estimator gives you a market range, and an actual quote needs a look at your file. Tell us how many accounts you have, roughly how many transactions a month and whether you run payroll, and Targeted Accounting will send a quote with the scope set out in writing.