Can you make money doing bookkeeping from home?
Bookkeepers record the daily financial transactions of businesses. Often bookkeepers work remotely, recording incoming revenue and outgoing expenses while regularly submitting financial reports. If you're looking for a career, you can pursue from home, becoming a bookkeeper is a good professional option.
Average salary
Freelance bookkeepers set their own rates and often charge an hourly rate of $40-60. If a freelance bookkeeper has multiple clients and works full-time, they frequently earn more than the salaried bookkeeper's $35-40,000 per year.
A bookkeeping side hustle offers incredible flexibility. It allows you to balance work with personal life. It also opens opportunities to work with a wide range of clients from different locations.
Businesses are increasingly turning to remote bookkeepers to streamline their financial management. Hiring a remote bookkeeper offers access to global talent, irrespective of geographical constraints.
Annual Salary | Weekly Pay | |
---|---|---|
Top Earners | $66,122 | $1,271 |
75th Percentile | $56,700 | $1,090 |
Average | $46,723 | $898 |
25th Percentile | $40,500 | $778 |
To learn these skills and others, new bookkeepers often receive around six months of on-the-job training to learn how to use bookkeeping software, databases, and spreadsheets. Though bookkeepers don't need to hold college degrees, some may see their salaries increase after completing an undergraduate degree.
Earning a certification can boost your earning potential. If you work in a competitive job market, certification can give you a leg up when discussing salary potential with prospective employers. Additionally, your employer might be inclined to promote and offer higher salaries to certified bookkeepers.
Networking — Attend networking events and small business groups to connect with potential colleagues and clients. Word of Mouth — Let your family and friends know about your business and utilize the relationships you already have. Ask people to recommend you, so you can gain clients and build your network.
While you can establish yourself as a self-employed bookkeeper without any qualifications, you'll be a better bookkeeper in the long run having invested in yourself at the start. Education institutions such as your local college may offer bookkeeping courses.
After all, you don't want to start working toward a career that could be obsolete in five years, forcing you to go back to the beginning. Those in the bookkeeping field can be fairly confident that the work they do will always be needed. In fact, bookkeeping is one of the oldest jobs in recorded history.
Is it hard to become a virtual bookkeeper?
Bookkeepers tend to be pretty good at accounting, have good math and basic computer skills. Even if you don't have formal training, don't sweat it. You can choose from a bunch of certification courses or classes to learn new skills and take your business to the next level.
You might hear stories of people that found their first client within the first few months of trying, but this isn't the norm. In fact, it took one experienced bookkeeper: 10 months to find their first client. Two years to go parttime; an additional year to full-time.
To become a freelance bookkeeper, you need to have several qualifications, including experience with bookkeeping software, such as QuickBooks and other payroll software, and strong accounting and math skills.
An industry standard would be to charge about 1-3% of your client's gross income, and that is about what they should spend on a monthly bookkeeper (or all of their bill pay and invoicing or other office tasks).
The estimated total pay range for a QuickBooks Live Bookkeeper at Intuit is $25–$43 per hour, which includes base salary and additional pay. The average QuickBooks Live Bookkeeper base salary at Intuit is $30 per hour.
In ICB's experience, on average bookkeepers charge the equivalent of £25-£35 per hour but this can range from £15-£65. If you are inexperienced and this is your first client, you may wish to charge a small fee to cover your expenses and agree to increase your fee once the client is satisfied.
Can I get a job if I learn QuickBooks? Learning QuickBooks doesn't guarantee you a job. But it does increase your marketability. If you're certified, you're better positioned to apply as a highly qualified job candidate who can validate your QuickBooks knowledge and skills.
The average age of male Bookkeeping, accounting, & auditing clerks in the workforce is 42.3 and of female Bookkeeping, accounting, & auditing clerks is 49.4, and the most common race/ethnicity for Bookkeeping, accounting, & auditing clerks is White.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects -6.2% employment growth for bookkeeping accounting and audit clerks between 2022 and 2032. In that period, an estimated 108,300 jobs will be lost. Bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks wear many hats.
Salaries are typically based on education, certification, years of experience, credentials, industry or employer, job description, location, and complexity of work. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2021, the national average salary for bookkeepers was $45,560 and for accountants was $77,250.
What is the best bookkeeping license?
- Certified Bookkeeper (CB) ...
- Certified Public Bookkeeper (CPB) ...
- QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor. ...
- Certified Management Accountant (CMA) ...
- Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) ...
- Enrolled Agent (EA) ...
- Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) ...
- Certified Financial Services Auditor (CFSA)
Intuit Certified Bookkeeping Professional
The exam is 50-minutes with approximately 40 questions.
- Establish Your Company. You should figure out the business structure you want to create. ...
- Get the Necessary Licenses and Permits. ...
- Get Insurance. ...
- Create a Web Presence. ...
- Get Equipment. ...
- Pick a Focus. ...
- Set Pricing. ...
- Set Up Your Software.
- Understand bookkeeping duties. ...
- Acquire certification. ...
- Learn about legal and insurance requirements. ...
- Set professional goals. ...
- Start offering bookkeeping services. ...
- Create a portfolio. ...
- Calculate start-up costs. ...
- Choose a marketing strategy.
But it's true—it's absolutely possible to give yourself a six-figure salary with a bookkeeping business.
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