How Pricing Works
Pricing
These are starting prices. Every engagement is confirmed after a short file review — the work scales with how clean your books already are, not just transaction count.
We're a bookkeeping firm, not a CPA or law firm. Good Books is a QuickBooks Online Expert / ProAdvisor practice. We produce clean, tax-ready books and tell you plainly what needs attention.
Onboarding is a one-time fee for every new client. It covers getting your books current (last 60 days), connecting bank/card feeds, building or cleaning your chart of accounts, and setting opening balances. Anything older than 60 days is a separate catch-up project and is quoted after a file review.
Monthly close lands by the 15th business day of the following month. Same standard on every tier.
Transaction caps are a guardrail, not the product. You're paying for expertise and reporting, not a per-transaction meter. Over your cap, overage bills at the tier's rate. Two months over in a row, we move you up a tier — no quietly camping on a plan you've outgrown.
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Tier 1 — Controller Lite
Price: $1,450/mo · Onboarding: $1,000
Best for: Owners whose books are clean but who need real reporting and a managed close.
Included:
Managed month-end close with review (we own the deadline).
Monthly reporting package: P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, plus a 1-page owner summary in plain English.
Up to 4 KPIs tracked month over month.
One 45-minute monthly review call.
Oversight of the bookkeeping beneath it (in-house or yours, if it meets our standard).
Guardrails: Requires current, reconciled books (ours or a file that passes our review). Up to 2 entities = +$400/mo each. Reporting is management-basis, not audited or GAAP-attested. No tax filing, no capital raising, no board/investor-facing CFO work.
Not included: Bookkeeping data entry (add a bookkeeping tier or bring your own), tax prep, forecasting models beyond 13-week cash, payroll processing.
Tier 2 — Controller Standard
Price: $2,400/mo · Onboarding: $1,500
Best for: Growing businesses making real decisions on the numbers — hiring, financing, expansion.
Included:
Everything in Lite.
13-week rolling cash-flow forecast, updated monthly.
Up to 8 KPIs + a simple dashboard.
Budget-vs-actual reporting against a budget we help you set.
Two calls a month (close review + forward-looking).
AP/AR oversight and approval-workflow design (we design and monitor; you approve payments).
Guardrails: Up to 500 transactions/mo across the underlying books before bookkeeping overage applies. Forecast accuracy depends on your inputs being on time. Same scope ceiling: no tax filing, no CFO-of-record, no audit sign-off.
Not included: Tax returns, fundraising/deal support, custom financial modeling, valuations.
Tier 3 — Controller Plus
Price: from $3,600/mo · Onboarding: from $2,000 (quoted after scoping)
Best for: Multi-entity or multi-location operations that need a finance function without the hire.
Included:
Everything in Standard.
Consolidated multi-entity reporting.
Custom KPI dashboard and quarterly deep-dive.
Lender/grant-ready statement packages on request (one included per quarter; extras at add-on rate).
Standing access for owner/leadership questions within scope.
Guardrails: Scoped per engagement. Hard ceiling stays: controller-level only. The line we don't cross — fundraising, M&A, tax filing, audit attestation, fractional-CFO services — stays off our plate by design. We'll tell you when you've outgrown a controller and need a CFO.
Not included: Anything above the controller line (see above).
Controller add-on: extra lender/grant statement package — from $650 each.
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Quoted per project after a file review — but published ranges set expectations and filter tire-kickers.
Books Catch-Up (behind by months): from $75/hr, or flat-quoted after review. Typical small-business catch-up of 3–6 months runs $900–$3,500 depending on mess, volume, and how many accounts.
Full Cleanup (books exist but don't tie out): flat-quoted after review, typically $1,200–$5,000+.
Guardrails: All catch-up/cleanup is separate from monthly service and quoted only after we see the file — no blind flat fees. Books must be brought current within 60 days of starting monthly service, or monthly service doesn't begin. You provide statements and access; reconstruction from incomplete records is billed at $95/hr.
Not included: Tax filing, prior-year return prep, forensic/fraud investigation.
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Price: $350, credited toward onboarding if you sign within 30 days.
Best for: Owners who suspect their books are off but don't know how bad, or want a second opinion before switching bookkeepers.
Included:
File review of your current QBO (or other) books.
A written findings report: what's clean, what's broken, what it's costing you.
A recommended path and a real quote.
30-minute walkthrough call.
Guardrails: One file, one entity, up to 12 months reviewed. Read-only access required. Findings are observations, not a tax or legal opinion. Fixing what we find is a separate engagement.
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Price: $149/session or $497 for a 4-session setup package.
Best for: Freelancers and creators who want to run their own books but set them up right.
Included: Live screen-share setup, QBO/Self-Employed configuration, category and workflow design, a recorded session you keep, and a custom one-page cheat sheet.
Guardrails: Coaching only — we guide, you do the work in your own file. No ongoing management, no liability for entries you make. Tax questions go to your tax pro.
Comic Creators & Convention Vendors
Table Start
$275/mo · Onboarding $350 ·
≤ 75 txn/mo, overage $1.50 · 1 account · QBO Simple Start+.
For solo creators doing a few shows a year plus some online orders.
Not included: sales tax filing, multi-entity, perpetual inventory.
Convention Circuit
$495/mo · onboarding $500 ·
≤ 200 txn/mo, overage $1.25 · up to 3 accounts · QBO Essentials+.
Show-by-show P&L is the centerpiece.
You send con dates monthly.
Not included: multi-state sales tax filing, balance-sheet inventory valuation.
Publisher Stack
$950/mo · onboarding $750 ·
≤ 350 txn/mo, overage $1.00 · QBO Plus+
Crowdfunding revenue recognition
(Kickstarter/BackerKit/Patreon), up to 10 contractors per title P&L.
Not included: entity work, IP/royalty accounting, tax filing.
Freelancers & Gig Workers
Solo File
$185/mo · onboarding $250 ·
≤ 60 txn/mo, overage $1.50 · 2 income sources
(extra $25/mo) · QBO Self-Employed/Simple Start.
Not included: tax filing, S-corp setup, and payroll.
Business of One
$345/mo · onboarding $350 ·
≤ 150 txn/mo, overage $1.25 · up to 4 platforms (extra $30/mo) · QBO Simple Start+.
Includes the S-corp flag — we tell you when the conversation's worth having, your tax pro runs it.
Not included: tax filing, entity formation, and payroll.
Barbershops & Salons
Full monthly bookkeeping
Booth-renter vs. employee income split
Tip handling done right (reported tips and tipped wages reconciled to your payroll provider — recordkeeping, not filing)
Worker classification checklist for up to 10 workers (extra $20/worker).
≤ 200 txn/mo, overage $1.25 · cash logged by you, reconstruction $95/hr · QBO Essentials+.
Not included: running payroll, tax filing, legal opinions.
Add-on menu (any niche)
Sales Tax Nexus Review (one-time): from $400.
Sales Tax Filing (quoted after Nexus review)
Additional bank/credit account: $40/mo each beyond your tier.
Additional 1099 contractor beyond tier count: $15/contractor/yr.
Catch-up / historical cleanup: quoted per project after file review.
Loan- or grant-ready 3-year statement package (one-time): from $650.