How Much Does an Accountant Cost for a Small Business?
What should a plumbing, HVAC, or electrical business pay for accounting?
The honest answer is a range. A one-truck shop that only needs a tax return might pay a few hundred dollars a year. A business with crews, several bank accounts, and an S corp can pay several thousand.
Three things decide where you land. Who does the work. What work you need. And how clean your books are when they start.
Here's what each piece costs in 2026, using real fee surveys instead of guesses.
Three Kinds of Help, Three Price Tags
"Accountant" gets used for three different jobs. They're priced very differently, so it helps to sort them first.
The Bookkeeping Bucket
Bookkeeping is the monthly work. Every charge gets put in the right category, and every bank and credit card account gets reconciled. Reconciled means the books are checked against the statement until they match to the penny.
Hiring in-house. The median pay for a bookkeeping clerk was $24.36 an hour in May 2025, or about $50,670 a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's before payroll taxes and benefits. Most small trades businesses don't have enough work to keep someone busy full time.
Outsourcing. Outsourced or virtual bookkeeping typically runs $300 to $1,500 a month, according to Intuit. Where you fall depends on how many accounts you have and how many transactions run through them.
The Tax Prep Bucket
This is the yearly tax return, plus any planning along the way.
The National Association of Tax Professionals surveyed preparers in 2025. Here's what it found:
A basic Form 1040 (your personal return) averaged $185 to $233, depending on the size of your community.
Schedule C (the form for a sole proprietor's business income) added $123 to $135 in larger communities.
Business returns came with an average minimum fee of $634.
Hourly work averaged $182 an hour.
The survey also broke fees out by credential. For a basic 1040, CPAs averaged $280 and Enrolled Agents averaged $228.
An Enrolled Agent, or EA, is a tax specialist credentialed by the IRS. The IRS calls it the highest credential it awards, and EAs have unlimited practice rights before the IRS. Tax is the whole job.
The CPA-Only Bucket
Some work can only be done by a licensed CPA. In California, that includes audits and reviews of financial statements. An audit or a review is when an outside CPA examines your financial statements and signs a report on them.
Who asks for that? Usually a bank making a big loan, or a bonding company backing large jobs. Most small trades businesses never need one. If you do, it's a separate engagement, priced by the CPA firm.
What Changes Your Price
Two businesses in the same trade can pay very different amounts. These are the usual reasons:
Number of accounts. Every bank account, credit card, and loan has to be reconciled each month. More accounts, more work.
Number of transactions. A business running 300 charges a month takes longer than one running 50.
How far behind you are. If your books haven't been touched since January, someone has to rebuild them first. That's called catch-up bookkeeping, and it's billed separately from monthly work.
Your business structure. An S corp files its own return (Form 1120-S), and the owner files a personal return too. That's two returns instead of one.
Field software. Jobber, Housecall Pro, and ServiceTitan pay you in batches. Someone has to match each payout back to the jobs inside it.
More than one state. Each state return adds to the bill.
Hourly or Flat Fee?
Most preparers in the NATP survey don't bill by the hour. Only 7% charged a set hourly rate.
A flat monthly fee is usually better for you. Why? You know the bill before the work starts. And you never hesitate to call with a question because the clock is running.
Whatever you choose, get the price in writing before anyone starts.
What Civita Charges
We publish our starting prices so you can compare. These are our prices as of October 2026. For current prices, see our bookkeeping plans and tax prep pricing.
Monthly bookkeeping: starts at $500 a month. The price goes up with two things: how many accounts you have and how many charges run through them. It's done in QuickBooks Online, on a cash basis, and reconciled every month. One field software connection is included. A second system and job costing ($400 a month) are priced separately. ServiceTitan shops get their own plan, starting at $1,400 a month with job costing included.
Catching up: starts at $300 per month behind, with a $1,000 minimum.
QuickBooks setup: starts at $1,200, one time, if you're new to QuickBooks.
Tax returns, priced per return, federal only:
Individual: starts at $450
Sole proprietor (Schedule C): starts at $700
S corp: starts at $950
State returns are priced separately. No monthly plan is required for tax filing.
What a Trades Business Pays for Bookkeeping
Averages only tell you so much. Here's what three typical trades businesses would pay us for a year of bookkeeping, at our October 2026 starting prices.
The One-Truck Plumber. One checking account and one credit card, about 80 charges a month.
Monthly bookkeeping: $500 × 12
Starting at about $6,000 a year
The Two-Truck HVAC Company. Five accounts, about 180 charges a month, and Housecall Pro.
Monthly bookkeeping, including Housecall Pro payout matching: $750 × 12
Starting at about $9,000 a year
The Three-Crew Electrician. Runs on ServiceTitan and wants costs tracked by job.
ServiceTitan plan, with ServiceTitan reconciliation and job costing included: $1,400 × 12
Starting at about $16,800 a year
One field software connection, like Jobber or Housecall Pro, is included in the monthly price. Each additional system is an add-on. ServiceTitan shops have their own plan, starting at $1,400 a month with job costing included.
Tax returns are priced separately. Your price depends on your business structure, how many states you file in, and which forms you need. Get a tax prep estimate in two minutes.
Compare that to a full-time in-house bookkeeper at a median of $50,670 a year in pay alone, before taxes and benefits.
Do You Need a CPA?
For most trades businesses, no. You need your books kept right every month and your return built from them. A bookkeeper and an EA cover that, and one firm can do both.
You need a CPA when someone requires audited or reviewed financial statements. If a lender or bonding company asks for those, that's your signal. Ask what they need in writing, then hire a CPA firm for that piece.
Is It Worth the Cost?
Cheap accounting gets expensive when something gets missed. A deduction never claimed. A 1099 filed late, with penalties for each form. A quarterly estimate that comes up short.
Good bookkeeping won't make those problems disappear on its own. But it puts the numbers in front of you while you can still act on them.
If you want to check what you might be missing, start with our free Small Business Tax Deductions Checklist for Contractors. And if you pay subs, read 1099 for Subcontractors: What Contractors Need to File.
Key Takeaway: In 2026, outsourced bookkeeping typically runs $300 to $1,500 a month, and tax preparers charge an average minimum of $634 for a business return. Your price depends on your accounts, your transaction volume, how far behind you are, and your business structure. Get a flat price in writing before the work starts.
At Civita Tax Solutions, we help home service business owners save money on taxes with all-in-one accounting. We handle your bookkeeping, advisory, and tax filing. You focus on the business. We handle the finances.
Want a price for your business? Get a tax prep estimate in two minutes, or see our bookkeeping plans. No call required.
Work in a specific trade? See how we handle bookkeeping and taxes for plumbers, HVAC contractors, electricians, landscapers, and painters.
