[KEIT1182]

I am going to start doing some part time bookkeeping work for a friend’s small car lot. I’m not 100% sure what the job entails yet – probably just entering information on QuickBooks or some other program – just basic tasks.

I’m not sure what to request for an hourly wage – the average pay for a bookkeeper in my area looks to be around $15. I don’t have any experience with bookkeeping or QuickBooks per se but I have worked in financial reporting for an insurance company for almost 4 years so I have some accounting experience. I think this job will be very part time and probably done at my home.

What wage do you think is fair? $15?

FAR - 73, 78! (1/5/15)
AUD - 73, 83!!! (7/1/15)
BEC - 85!! (5/19/15)
REG - 65, 80!!!! (11/16/15)

St. Jude, St. Joseph of Cupertino, & St. Matthew - thank you!!!

[Anonymous]

This is way too subjective without more information, such as where you live. A great place to start is RH's salary guide (https://www.roberthalf.com/finance/salary-center). QuickBooks is a piece of cake to learn, and it's very user friendly (relatively speaking). Just stay away from Intuit tech support. They are useless and will have you performing diagnostics that are completely unnecessary because they're in the Philippines and dont fully understand your question.

[KEIT1182]

I know it is pretty subjective but I am just terrible at determining wages and I want to be fair to my friend and to myself.

I am from Lincoln, Nebraska and the average wage is around $15 for bookkeeping but I wasn't sure if I could ask for more due to experience in accounting or if I should ask around that much since I don't have that specific experience.

Thanks for the reply!

FAR - 73, 78! (1/5/15)
AUD - 73, 83!!! (7/1/15)
BEC - 85!! (5/19/15)
REG - 65, 80!!!! (11/16/15)

St. Jude, St. Joseph of Cupertino, & St. Matthew - thank you!!!

[Ganondorf]

I am certainly no expert on negotiating, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but I would think you would want to initially ask for higher pay than you would be willing to accept. For example, if you would be willing to accept $15/hr, then you would make your initial ask at maybe $17-$18. The employer would give you a lower counteroffer, and then you would end up meeting in the middle, somewhere around $15 which is what you wanted. If you initially ask for $15, then the employer might counteroffer lower, and the middle ends up being lower than you actually want.

[KEIT1182]

Good point! I have never been good at negotiating so I didn't even think about that. Thanks for your input!

FAR - 73, 78! (1/5/15)
AUD - 73, 83!!! (7/1/15)
BEC - 85!! (5/19/15)
REG - 65, 80!!!! (11/16/15)

St. Jude, St. Joseph of Cupertino, & St. Matthew - thank you!!!

[Missy]

Find out what the job entails and where they stand right now. There is a huge difference between just taking over a well established chart of accounts and data entry and getting them switched over to quickbooks from another system. Don't “think” its part time and “probably” done from your home. Lots of small business owners want their bookkeeping done on site, but not all.

If youre basically doing 5-10 hours a week of simple data entry tasks, yes $15 is about all you'll get. If you're doing anything more complex than that and expected to show up at their office, I'd go higher. If they're wanting you to get involved in sales & use tax, income taxes, etc WAY higher.

Check out what other bookkeepers are charging on craigslist as well.

Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

Finance manager/HR manager

 

 

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[KBinMN]

1) How do you know that is the average wage?

2) I think that is pretty low unless you are a high school student with no experience.

I've seen bookkeepers here for $15 for what I assume is having no accounting background. And up to $70/hr for firms that do mostly bookkeeping.

I interviewed (phone) for a bookkeeping position that thought 60k/yr was on the high end for that position. But I would think 50k-55k /yr was reasonable. That puts that position at about $25/hr. And that was looking for someone with experience w/ QB.

Working for friends myself I would say charge more than you think is fair. They are going to be a PITA for a client.

[KEIT1182]

Thanks for all the replies and input!

I am just really in the dark on what is fair. I just quickly searched bookkeeping wages in Lincoln Nebraska and that is where I came up with the $15.

We are meeting on Tuesday to discuss more on the details and I just wanted to think through what to ask for compensation wise beforehand. He already has someone to do the taxes so I think my job would be more basic. I just don't have any experience in bookkeeping so I don't know what to expect.

Just looking to be fair to all involved.

FAR - 73, 78! (1/5/15)
AUD - 73, 83!!! (7/1/15)
BEC - 85!! (5/19/15)
REG - 65, 80!!!! (11/16/15)

St. Jude, St. Joseph of Cupertino, & St. Matthew - thank you!!!

[Monkey Wrench]

In this case if he is your friend I would deff let him offer you something first, and then counter offer of it. If it is too high or too low then you should tell him.

[Author]

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