Free — no sign-up, no watermark

Bookkeeping Quote Template

Monthly scope priced from transaction volume, with clean-up quoted apart. Free PDF, no sign-up.

Edit this template

Bookkeeping is quotable because the work is a function of two countable things: how many transactions run through the accounts each month, and how many accounts there are. Ask for three months of statements, count them, and a fixed monthly fee is honest work rather than a hopeful average. The one thing that never fits inside it is the state the books arrive in — so clean-up is quoted on its own, once, before the retainer starts.

QUOTE Issued
Quote number:QUO-8823
Date of issue:August 6, 2026
Valid until:September 5, 2026
Currency:USD
Issued by
Hallowell Books & Ledger
24 Free Street
04101 Portland, ME
United States
hello@hallowellbooks.example
Bill to
Verity Coffee Roasters
7 Wharf Lane
04102 Portland, ME
United States
accounts@veritycoffee.example
Quoted price
$8,330.00
Valid for 30 more days · Sep 5, 2026
Fixed price, valid until September 5, 2026.
How this was priced
The monthly fee comes from counting three months of statements you sent: 218, 264 and 301 transactions. The catch-up is priced once against the nine months currently unreconciled.
Description Qty Rate Tax Amount
Monthly bookkeeping — 200-350 transactions
Categorisation, two bank accounts and one card reconciled; twelve months
12$425.00—$5,100.00
Monthly management reports
P&L and balance sheet by the 10th of the following month; twelve months
12$85.00—$1,020.00
Catch-up — prior nine months
One-off: reconcile, categorise and close the open period
1$1,650.00—$1,650.00
Quarterly sales tax filing
Prepared and filed with the state, four filings
4$140.00—$560.00
Subtotal$8,330.00
Total$8,330.00
Terms
Valid 30 days. Monthly fee billed in advance on the 1st; catch-up billed half on start and half on delivery. Either side may end the monthly service with 30 days' notice.
Quote #QUO-8823 · Hallowell Books & Ledger · Page 1 of 1

What this quote commits you to

How long it stands
30 days, based on the transaction volume in the three months of statements sent for review.
What it does not cover
Tax return preparation and filing, payroll processing, sales tax registration in new states, and the accounting software subscription itself.
What would change the price
A monthly transaction count above the quoted band for two consecutive months, or a further bank account added to the file.
How the client accepts it
Accept by signing the engagement schedule; the first month runs from the date read-only access to the ledger is granted.

Edit this template Free, no account, no watermark — download the PDF when you are done.

When the work is done, invoice it →

What to put on a bookkeeping quote

  • The transaction volume band the monthly fee is built on
  • Which accounts are reconciled: bank, credit card, merchant and loan accounts by count
  • What arrives each month, by name — P&L, balance sheet, and by what date
  • Whether the software subscription is yours or the client's
  • Catch-up or clean-up work priced separately as a one-off, with its period stated
  • Who files sales tax, and whether that is inside the fee or outside it
  • The cut-off each month for receipts and documents to reach you

Questions

How do you quote a monthly bookkeeping fee without seeing the books?

You do not. Ask for three months of statements before quoting, count the transactions, and price against that band — a fee quoted from a conversation is the one you will want to renegotiate in month three.

Should clean-up be in the same quote as the monthly service?

In the same document, on a separate line, with its own price and its own period. It is one-off work of a fundamentally different size, and folding it into the retainer means the client is either overpaying forever or you are working the first quarter for nothing.

What happens when a client's volume grows?

The quote should carry the band and say what happens above it. Two consecutive months over the band is a re-quote — written in advance, that is a term; raised afterwards, it is a difficult conversation.

Does this work for a tax preparation or CPA engagement?

Yes, and the exclusion line on this quote is exactly why it needs saying: on a bookkeeping quote the return is out of scope, and on a tax quote it is the whole scope. Swap the unit. A return is priced per form — the personal return with its schedules, the S-corp or partnership return, a state return per state, an extension — rather than per transaction, so the countable thing is forms and schedules, not volume. Everything else transfers: quote from last year's return the way this page quotes from three months of statements, band the price so an extra K-1 or an extra state is a known step rather than an argument, and keep attest work such as a review or a compilation on its own engagement letter, because it is a different service with a different standard behind it.

Ready to send it?

The template opens in the editor with these lines already on it. Change what you like, download the PDF.

Edit this template

Other trades

Browse all 46 quote templates