USA Cost to outsource accounting for Small Business

[imherecauseineedhelp]

Hi everyone,
I'm brand new here so this post is most likely not in the correct place but bare with me. I'm working on huge project for school right now where we are given the objective of creating a full business plan for a new product/service we create. What I need from you all is how much it would cost to outsource our accounting and book keeping to a small firm? We are small enough in the first five years to avoid hiring our own accountant but I have had great difficulty finding information on how much it should cost to hiring an accounting firm. If anyone has any information I would greatly appreciate it! Also, sources would be great if you have them!
Thanks everyone

 

[Drmdcpa]

Please note that if you are looking for assistance with an exam-style question, you must attempt the question yourself before asking for help. You can then state the answer you have so far and explain which aspect you need help with. Anyone posting exam-style questions expecting the answer to be given to them will have their posts removed. Repeat offenders will be banned from the forum.

 

[Tyson]

The reason why you are having trouble finding the answer to this question is because it is not so clear-cut. It depends on what kind of business you would be running, the size of the business, and what kinds of services you would need help with.

I would suggest researching the types of services accounting firms provide and then with your teammates discussing which services your business would need. Then you can do web searches for pricing from different accounting firms and find a reasonable average.

Also it's not likely that your business will not need accounting services for the first 5 years of business.

 

[Drmdcpa]

Wow no accounting services for the first five years? That is perhaps one of the very reasons many businesses fail. They believe they cannot afford proper guidance from a CPA, when reality is they cannot not afford to make such an investment.

Also they burden themselves with work they know very little about instead of focusing on the actual operational tasks of their particular business.

Further I highly doubt you will find pricing on the internet. You may find hourly rates and minimum fees, but quality CPAs do not compete on price. Thus they do not generally publish fees. This is also not done because each case is different. Thus fees are different.

If you are not interested in quality work and guidance, you might find some advertised prices particularly for tax filings and bookkeeping. But you get what you pay for.

The reason they are not getting responses is because this is a school project, and they are not abiding by the caveat that they must first attempt to solve their questions, provide their results, and then ask for feedback.