How to hire a bookkeeper
for a small business (2026)
A bookkeeper in the United States earns a median of $50,670 a year, or $24.36 an hour, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 count, and a staff accountant, the title the same posting carries at a slightly bigger company, earns $83,680. What most small businesses are hiring for under either title is month-end close: the books for the month complete, tied to the statements and locked, without a plug. Allying does that job priced off the salary you post, with a monthly minimum of $1,375, and does the first week before any call with you.
Last updated
What a bookkeeper earns in 2026
Two government rows cover this posting. A "bookkeeper" or "accounting specialist" title is filed under Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks (SOC 43-3031), 1,373,680 employed; a "staff accountant" or "month-end close accountant" title under Accountants and Auditors (SOC 13-2011), 1,449,500 employed.
| Occupation | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks (43-3031), a year | $36,000 | $43,520 | $50,670 | $61,470 | $74,550 |
| Bookkeeping Clerks, an hour | $17.31 | $20.92 | $24.36 | $29.55 | $35.84 |
| Accountants and Auditors (13-2011), a year | $56,020 | $67,020 | $83,680 | $109,810 | $144,090 |
| Accountants and Auditors, an hour | $26.93 | $32.22 | $40.23 | $52.80 | $69.27 |
Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 (released 2026-05-15); O*NET 31.0 (August 2026). National figures, self-employed excluded. Last updated 2026-09-20.
The six largest metros by employment in this occupation, with the bookkeeping clerk median in each: New York $60,640; Los Angeles $58,590; Chicago $51,440; Dallas-Fort Worth $51,720; Houston $49,460; Miami $50,300.
What does a bookkeeper actually do?
O*NET's list for the clerk row is the whole back office in miniature: record transactions in the accounting software; check figures, postings and codes; prepare deposits and reconcile the bank; code documents to the company's rules; monitor the accounts and loans so payments are on time; prepare the checks for utilities and taxes; compile the budget. The accountant row adds: examine the records for accuracy and completeness, reconcile the differences, prepare the adjusting entries, and report to management.
Month-end close is the part of that list that happens after the month ends, so that the books for the month are complete, tied to outside evidence and locked:
- Every bank, card and loan account reconciled to its statement, with every reconciling item named and every unexplained difference shown.
- Processor payouts tied to the deposits, gross, fee and net, with duplicate revenue and unmatched deposits called out.
- Uncategorized transactions cleared, each with its receipt, bill, rule or the owner's written answer.
- Recurring and adjusting entries staged for the person who posts them.
- Vendor statements reconciled: missing bills, duplicate bills and unapplied credits, with a request list.
- The close package assembled: statements, the explanation for every number that moved, the entry log, the checklist with its dates, and the sign-off page before the period locks.
- The management report rebuilt from the raw ledger export, budget against actual, every variance over your threshold explained.
The failures are specific: the difference that was plugged to make the bank reconcile, the deposit counted twice because the payout and the sale both landed, and the close that was "done" in March for January.
What to look for in a bookkeeper
Someone who treats an unexplained difference as a question, not a rounding. Ask what they do when the bank does not reconcile by $212, because the right answer is to find it or show it, never to absorb it. Ask how they tie a Stripe or Square payout to the deposit, because the answer tells you whether they understand fees. Ask who posts the entries and who signs the package, because a bookkeeper who wants to do both alone is a bookkeeper with no reviewer.
How to write the posting
Name the accounting system and the payment processors. List the accounts to be reconciled each month and the day by which the close should be done. Say who reviews and posts: the owner, a controller, an outside CPA. Say what the bookkeeper may do alone (code a transaction under your threshold, prepare a vendor request) and what needs a yes (an entry above the threshold, anything in a closed period, any document that leaves the building). Say plainly that nothing moves money. Put the pay in the posting; BLS says the middle half of bookkeeping clerks earn $43,520 to $61,470, and of accountants $67,020 to $109,810.
Five interview questions for a bookkeeper
1. "The bank reconciliation is off by $212. What do you do?" A good answer lists the reconciling items, finds the $212 or shows it as an open difference with what was checked, and never posts a plug.
2. "A Stripe payout of $1,940 hit the bank. The sales report says $2,000. Walk me through it." A good answer ties gross to fee to net, checks the deposit is not also recorded as a sale, and shows the split.
3. "A vendor's statement shows a bill we do not have. What happens?" A good answer asks the vendor for the bill, lists it as a request, and does not create an entry from a statement line.
4. "Who posts the adjusting entries, and who locks the period?" A good answer names a reviewer other than themselves and expects a sign-off before the lock.
5. "The owner asks for the management report by the fifth. Where do the numbers come from?" A good answer: the raw ledger export, rebuilt so every line can be traced back, with the variances explained, never a spreadsheet nobody can re-derive.
How much does a bookkeeper cost?
Start with the salary, then add what an employer pays on top of it. In June 2026 wages and salaries were 70.0% of what private employers paid per hour worked and benefits the other 30.0%, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics' count (Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, released 2026-09-09, read 2026-09-17). At that split, a $50,670 bookkeeper salary implies about $72,400 a year in total cost, and an $83,680 staff accountant about $119,500, before recruiting and training.
An outside bookkeeping firm prices the month by the number of accounts and transactions, in its own quote; ask for the quote in writing with the list of accounts it covers, the day the close is done by, and who reviews before the lock.
Allying's price for this job is 30% of the salary you post, billed monthly, month to month, with a floor of $1,375 a month. A $55,000 posting works out to exactly the floor; a $60,000 posting is $1,500 a month and a $72,000 posting $1,800. Nothing moves money, so no payment, payroll or tax remittance is ever in the price or on Allying's card. The exact figure is in your proposal before you decide.
| Option | What it costs | What week one looks like | Who decides, who spends |
|---|---|---|---|
| An employee at the median | $50,670 in salary; about $72,400 a year all in at the 70.0/30.0 split | Logins, a tour of the chart of accounts, last month's statements | You manage them; they post entries and often sign too |
| An outside bookkeeping firm | The firm's own monthly quote, by accounts and volume | Onboarding forms and a catch-up on the backlog | The firm's process; ask who reviews before the lock |
| Allying | $1,375 a month at the floor; $1,500 on a $60,000 posting | The control map, the blank reconciliation workpapers, the payout tie-out sheet, the close package shell and the exception register, before any call | Every entry is staged for your reviewer; nothing is posted, paid, signed or filed by the job |
What should the first week produce?
Whoever you hire, ask for these by Friday:
- A map from each responsibility in your posting to its inputs, its output, the count you will see, the check that proves it, and who reviews it.
- Reconciliation sheets for every bank, card and loan account, with a source column on every reconciling item and a visible field for the unexplained difference, and no place for a plug.
- A payout tie-out sheet: payout id, gross, fee, net, deposit, duplicate check, unmatched deposit.
- A close checklist with the day each step is due, and the sign-off line before the period locks.
If the first week produces a set of books that "reconcile" with no reconciling items listed, ask where the differences went.
When not to hire a bookkeeper
If you have one bank account, a handful of transactions a month and a CPA who closes the year, a quarterly afternoon with the CPA may do. If the posting is really for the person who pays the bills and runs payroll, that is accounts payable and payroll, and this job stays out of moving money by design. And if nobody reviews and nobody signs, settle that first, because a close without a reviewer is a set of numbers nobody has checked.
How Allying does this job
Allying does the month-end close as written in its playbook, and says on the page what stays with a person: posting, paying, signing and filing. Every transaction coding decision is backed by a source, with the account, the class, the vendor, the reason and an open question where the evidence is ambiguous. Processor payouts are tied to deposits with gross, fee and net split out, duplicate revenue identified and unmatched deposits listed. Bank, card and loan reconciliations tie the ledger to each statement and show every reconciling item and every unexplained difference. Vendor statements are reconciled monthly, with the missing bills, duplicate bills and unapplied credits on a request list. The close package carries the statements, the explanation for every number that moved, a staged entry log and a dated checklist, and the period locks only after your reviewer signs. The management report is rebuilt from the raw ledger export, with every number re-derivable and every variance over your threshold explained. Where a firm holds client money, the three-way trust reconciliation ties the bank statement, the trust book and the client ledgers, ready for the responsible lawyer's signature.
The first week, before any conversation with you, from your posting alone, with no ledger, no statements and no credentials:
- A close responsibility and control map: each posted responsibility, its source inputs, its staged output, its counted unit, its truth check, its reviewer and the action it never takes.
- A reconciliation workpaper set: blank bank, card, loan, vendor and trust sheets with explicit source columns, reconciling-item lines and a visible unexplained-difference field, and no plug field anywhere.
- A payout tie-out sheet: payout id, gross, fee, net, deposit, duplicate check and unmatched-deposit exception, with matched coverage shown as a count and a percentage.
- A month-end close package shell: the checklist, the staged entry log, the statement index, the table of what moved and why, and the reviewer sign-off page, with the close day and the thresholds left as fields you set.
- A management report rebuild sheet: budget against actual from a raw ledger import, with the variance explanations and a second-pass comparison that shows any re-derivation difference.
- An approval and exception register: ambiguous coding, unsupported differences, vendor requests, closed-period items, external sends, tax preparation and acknowledgments, each naming the reviewer it needs.
Once you share one bank statement and read access to the ledger, the first thing back is last month's reconciliation for that account with every reconciling item named. The work is done with AI and overseen by a named specialist who answers for it.
Mae Santos, Allying's co-founder, is the person you talk to; write to hello@allying.com and she answers. Before Allying she ran the office of a family investment company as Chief of Staff. The work is reviewed before it reaches you.
What Allying refuses on this job
- Moving money, releasing a payment, spending funds or committing the company. You or your named reviewer does it.
- Posting a coding decision, a recurring entry, an adjusting entry, a write-off or any journal entry to the live ledger. Your controller or CPA posts what was staged.
- Signing the close package or a trust reconciliation, or making a trust disbursement. You, your reviewer or the responsible lawyer signs.
- Absorbing an unexplained difference into a plug or an invented reconciling item. Every number ties to a document or is shown as a difference.
- Stating a fact about your business without a receipt, a bill, a rule, a statement, a feed row or your written answer.
- Approving its own tax filing or payment, or describing a filing as accepted before the agency's acknowledgment.
Questions owners ask
Does it touch my bank account?
No. It reads statements and feeds you grant access to, and it never moves money, releases a payment or spends. A change to a vendor's bank details is verified by a call to a number already on file, never from the email that asked, and the change is staged for you to release.
Who posts the entries?
Your controller or your CPA, from the staged entry log, each entry with its support. If you have neither, we say so before the first month and help you name one.
What is month-end close support, exactly?
The work a bookkeeper or accountant does after a month ends so the books for that month are complete and tied to outside evidence: every bank and card account reconciled to its statement, processor payouts tied to deposits, uncategorized transactions cleared, recurring entries posted, the close package assembled, and the period locked after a named person reviews it.
Can it do our sales tax returns?
It can prepare the return for the jurisdictions and periods you name, for your or your CPA's approval before it is submitted. The payment stays with you, and a return is never called accepted before the agency says so.
How fast is the close?
The close day is a field you set in the agreement, counted in business days after month end, and the checklist shows the date each step was done. The first month is the exception desk: your accountant's unresolved-item list, answered with evidence.
Sources
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (released 2026-05-15), national and metropolitan workbooks, occupations 13-2011 and 43-3031. Read on 2026-09-20.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), Accountants and Auditors 13-2011.00 and Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks 43-3031.00, task statements and job titles. Read on 2026-09-20.
- O*NET license, CC BY 4.0. Read on 2026-09-20.
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (released 2026-09-09): private industry wages and salaries 70.0 percent of employer costs per hour worked, benefits 30.0 percent. Read on 2026-09-17.
- Allying offer, month-end close support, version 1.0.0 (what the job owns, refuses and asks before doing; the band this page prices from). Read on 2026-09-20.