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The Sunshine Coast is one of Australia’s fastest growing regions, both in terms of population and in terms of business growth. There has been a huge increase in start-ups and small to medium businesses over the past decade. This has led to an increased demand for Sunshine Coast bookkeeping services. Services like these can help business owners ensure compliance and organise their business financials. There are Sunshine Coast bookkeepers advertising rates as low as $20/hour and as high as $200+/hour. With such a big range, how do you know whether they are cheap and nasty, value for money or simply ridiculously overpriced? Let us help you to work out if you’re getting a good deal or if you’re being taken for a ride.
Australian bookkeeping rates are variable depending on a wide range of factors. Generally speaking, the vast majority of Australian bookkeepers charge between $40 and $100/hour. Some outliers will charge as little as $20 and as much as $200+. The average Sunshine Coast Bookkeeping rate is around the $60/hour mark. This will get you an experienced and qualified bookkeeper who is able to provide regular bookkeeping services to your business.
The rate that you can expect to pay, however, changes depending on a number of factors, such as:
At Darcy Bookkeeping, we have a number of fixed-price bookkeeping packages with fees clearly marked. We also offer low bookkeeping rates from $36 per hour.
There is a vast difference between engaging someone to do a quick slap-to job on your books and having someone do it well. Often in business, you do get what you pay for. It would be reasonable to expect that a $20/hour Sunshine Coast Bookkeeper would do the basics well. However, they might not have the necessary skills and knowledge to perform complex tasks with niche accounting software packages. On the other side of the scale, a high-end $100/hour Sunshine Coast bookkeeping service should be able to keep your books maintained to a higher standard across the board. Let’s look a little deeper at how to differentiate which of these variables are most relevant to your Sunshine-Coast-based business.
As you might expect, bookkeepers who are just starting out will charge less for their services whilst they learn the ins and outs of the job. As they gain experience, they become more efficient and better at problem solving. They learn how to streamline their processes and become more familiar with their tools. Engaging an experienced Sunshine Coast bookkeeper means that it should take them less time to complete the work than someone who is just starting out. Keep in mind that, while their hourly rate might be slightly higher, the overall bill may very well turn out to be less. This is because it won’t take them as long to get the same, or a better, result.
Similarly, having trade-recognised qualifications gives you the assurance that your qualified Sunshine Coast bookkeeper has had the appropriate training. Certifications give you the peace of mind that the bookkeeper has been assessed as being competent at performing the tasks that you have engaged them for. BAS agent registration with the Australian Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) gives further assurances that your Sunshine Coast bookkeeper is capable of doing a good job.
At Darcy Bookkeeping & Business Services, all of our Sunshine Coast Bookkeepers are registered BAS agents. This allows you peace of mind that your books are in safe hands with us.
The tasks that businesses require from their small business bookkeeper vary widely depending on the size and nature of the business. It also depends on how hands-on or hands-off the business owner or manager wishes to be. Some businesses require data entry or bank reconciliation only, whereas other businesses may require weekly payroll, BAS lodgements and accounts payable/accounts receivable services as well. A bookkeeper who offers only simple services, such as data entry and bank reconciliations, would likely charge less than a bookkeeper who is skilled and efficient at performing more complex tasks and preparing and lodging reports on behalf of your business.
Since 2020, there has been a great shift across the country to working remotely for some or all of the daily tasks of business. Many Sunshine Coast bookkeepers have needed to adapt their practices to offer service delivery that is either remote or onsite. While both service delivery modalities have their pros and cons, this can be a factor in the rates that your Sunshine Coast bookkeeper charges.
At Darcy Bookkeeping & Business Services, our team of experienced Sunshine Coast bookkeepers are able to provide both onsite and remote bookkeeping services to our clients.
With the shift to a more digital economy, most of the popular accounting software programmes have evolved, too. Most have moved to almost exclusively be cloud-based. Whilst there are still some bookkeeping software products that are available in a desktop format, these are becoming less popular. Thus, fewer bookkeepers deal with these programmes on a regular basis. You may also wish to consider that some accounting software products are more suited to certain industries.
If your business uses an industry-specific accounting software product, or has third-party software programmes that are more niche in nature, you can expect to perhaps pay a little more for someone who has experience and expertise in your chosen software product. A bookkeeper who is familiar with the software that they are using will know how to leverage that software to its maximum performance and functionality. This should eventually save you more in the long run as they will be more time-efficient.
At Darcy Bookkeeping & Business Services, our team of expert Sunshine Coast bookkeepers are certified and experienced in MYOB, Xero and Quickbooks, as well as a wide range of other Australian accounting software programmes.
The number of transactions that go through your accounts and the number of man-hours required to complete the work that your business requires can influence the hourly rate that your Sunshine Coast bookkeeper may charge. Some bookkeepers may also factor time spent on emails and phone calls to their clients into their rates.
If work is to be completed onsite, rather than remotely, some Sunshine Coast bookkeepers will charge either a call-out fee or may charge a minimum number of hours, especially if travelling a distance to get to your site. Some Sunshine Coast bookkeepers also prefer to work on client files on a regular basis rather than just picking up the file at the end of BAS quarter. This is because the end of BAS quarter is often very busy with preparation and lodgement of BAS for multiple clients. For that reason, a bookkeeper’s time is at a premium around BAS submission time. Therefore, if you wish to have your bookkeeper only work on the file at the end of BAS quarter, you could expect to pay a little more for the work.
As is the story with many products and services, generally speaking you do get what you pay for. For simple bookkeeping such as data entry and bank reconciliations, you could expect Sunshine Coast bookkeeping rates to be as little as $30-40 per hour.
For more advanced bookkeeping tasks such as BAS preparation and lodgement, payroll and accounts payable / receivable, or if you have a more niche bookkeeping software programme then you might expect to pay $40-100 per hour.
With flexible service delivery and the options of either hourly rates or a convenient monthly fixed fee, Darcy Bookkeeping & Business Services have expert Sunshine Coast bookkeeping packages starting from $36/hour. Alternatively, give us a call or drop us a line to see how we can tailor a package to suit the needs of your Sunshine Coast business.
