According to recent stats, there are roughly 665,612 licensed CPAs that work in the US.
If you need CPA services, you might be interested in hiring one of these individuals. However, you may first want to find out more about the cost of hiring someone like this.
Read on, and you’ll learn more about the average cost to hire a CPA. Once you’re done reading, you’ll know how much you’ll need to put aside when investing in the services of a CPA.
Let’s begin!
What Is the Average Cost to Hire a CPA?
To begin with, let’s dive in and figure out the average cost to hire a CPA.
Firstly, it’s important to note that the average cost you pay for a CPA will depend on the kind of accounting help you need.
After all, CPAs complete a wide range of tasks, and some of these tasks cost more than others.
For instance, if you’re hiring a CPA for federal and state tax returns, the average cost you’ll face is $180 per hour. Yet, if you’re looking to hire a CPA for other accounting tasks, you’ll have to pay around $174 per hour.
That said, even though you have an average hourly cost to work with here, it’s hard to say what your total bill will roughly be. That’s because you don’t know how many hours you’ll actually need to hire an accountant.
Of course, it’s hard to provide an “average hours” figure here, because accounting needs can vary widely.
After all, some situations require more paperwork than others. If you need help with your business, the industry you are in can have a big impact on the complexity of the accounting tasks involved.
That said, most accountants will give you a rough estimate in regards to how many hours a task will take them. Most accountants are also upfront about their hourly rates too.
As a result, you can use this information when calculating the average cost to hire a CPA.
Get Clear on Your Needs
Above, we talked about how CPAs charge varying amounts, depending on the kind of help you need.
Thus, if you’re looking to get some quotes, you should take a moment to define the scope of your work. This is key because if you know what kind of help you need, it’ll be easy for CPAs to provide an estimated price.
You’ll then be able to collect lots of quotes in a short period, and you can then compare these quotes to find someone that fits your budget.
Now, if you’ve never invested in the services of a CPA, you might have no idea what you actually need help with. If that’s the case, you may just have to pay for an initial consultation with a CPA.
This consultation will help you figure out what your accounting requirements are. Once you have this information, you can speak to a broad range of CPAs to find someone that’s going to be a good fit for your budget.
If you don’t like the idea of doing things this way, an alternative approach is to speak to people in the same position as you. So, if you need accounting services for your business, you should speak to other business owners.
These individuals might be able to give you a better sense of what you need from a CPA. They may even suggest a CPA that will be a great fit for you and your budget.
Should You Work With a Specialist or a Generalist?
When looking for accounting services, you’ll find that you can hire a generalist or a specialist CPA.
A generalist CPA will often work with anyone that requires accounting services. This kind of individual can often be cheaper than a specialist, but they might not be able to provide you with high-level accounting advice.
Thus, if you’re looking for high-level accounting help, it’s often a good idea to work with a specialist. As mentioned, this approach can be more expensive, but it can yield better and faster results.
Now, you’ll typically find that specialists come in two forms. Some specialist CPAs only work with certain kinds of tax issues, while others only work with specific industries.
If you’re using a CPA for the first time and you want a specialist, it’s better to work with an industry expert, rather than a CPA that focuses on a specific issue.
That’s because if you’re working with a CPA for the first time, you likely need help with a wide range of issues, and a specialist won’t be able to help you with this.
In any case, if you want to find a specialist CPA that understands your niche, perform an online search related to your industry. For example, if you’re in the dental niche, you might Google something like “dental CPA.”
Note that when you perform a search like this, you will often come across a large number of results.
If you want to find the best CPA here, look for firms that have published content, as content gives you a chance to verify that someone is actually an expert.
For instance, a good dental CPA might have articles titled “what is a CPA” or “CPA tips for dentists.” They might even provide a free PDF that’s titled something like “CPA guide for dental firms.”
Time to Hire a CPA?
Now that you’ve read this post, you should know more about the average cost to hire a CPA.
As mentioned throughout this post, there are lots of different things that can impact the amount you will pay for CPA services. Following this, it’s hard to say exactly how much you will need to put aside.
That said, if you speak to a broad range of CPAs, you should be able to develop a rough idea of how much everything will cost. You can then use this information to figure out if you can afford the services of a CPA.
