A small business hires one bookkeeper who does everything, and that is where the ceiling sits. The third is a non-profit or an association, which often has a part-time finance role with a modest rate and a stable set of hours.
The fourth is a franchise or a multi-site business with a central finance function, where the part-time role is doing one set of books for several locations.
Our guide to part time mailroom clerk office assistant covers the other office services role with a similar employer structure.
What software does a bookkeeper need?
The software is the real qualification, and it is what the employer is screening on.
There is no occupation-wide certification for bookkeeping, because the certification that exists is the one that decides whether a colleague can run a practice, and that is a different job from this one. What employers actually ask for is the software.
Two names cover most of the market in the United States, and a listing that names one of them is telling the candidate exactly what the first month will look like.
The third requirement is the file, because a bookkeeper who cannot reconcile a bank statement cannot do the job regardless of what is on the software.
Two more details decide the rate. Whether the colleague does the payroll, which is a separate skill and a separate cost, and whether the work involves sales tax, which is a filing and a reconciliation on its own.
Our guide to part time remote data annotation collector covers the other role where accuracy on a repetitive task is the whole product.
How does bookkeeping pay compare with the rest of the office ladder?
It sits above the general office band and well below the supervisory band, and the step between them is a certification.
The ladder runs from reception at $18.27 an hour, through office clerical work at $21.64, financial clerks at $23.38 and bookkeeping clerks at $24.36.
The supervisory band sits at $33.41 an hour across 1,436,680 jobs, and that jump is what a colleague gets with a certification and the responsibility for a team.
The other direction is worth noting. The employment data shows bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerk roles projected to fall from 1,532,400 in 2025 to 1,446,800 by 2035, a decline of about 6 percent, and the reason is the automation of transaction coding and reconciliation.
That does not make the role a bad bet. It moves the value towards the judgement work: the reconciliation that does not balance, the tax question, and the report the owner has to act on.
What should you check before accepting a bookkeeper job?
Five questions, and the first one decides the rate.
The first is whether the colleague is doing the bookkeeping or the data entry, because a role that codes and reconciles pays more than a role that only enters.
The second is which software the business uses and whether the training is provided, because a candidate who learns a system at their own cost is working for free for a month.
The third is the filing responsibilities, which decides the deadline pressure.
The fourth is whether the work is month-end heavy, and the fifth is whether it is a W-2 employee role or a 1099 contractor arrangement, which changes the rate by 30 to 40 percent in the same way it changes every other hourly job.
One detail is worth confirming in writing: how much notice the close work needs. A month-end close that takes three days at the end of every month is a very different job from one that takes three hours.
Our guide to flexible part time jobs for students covers the scheduling question across the wider market.
Do bookkeeper jobs come with benefits?
The firm and the district employ the bookkeeper, and the small business usually does not.
A bookkeeping firm or a corporate finance function runs the standard hourly employer model, with health coverage above an hours threshold. A colleague working twenty-five hours across five shifts can clear a threshold that the same hours would not clear at a five-day employer.
A small business that hires one bookkeeper usually pays a wage and nothing else, which is the trade for a role that can grow into a finance manager.
The trade across hourly work is always the same, where benefits run at 30.1 percent of the employer hourly cost and a contractor rate has to sit 30 to 40 percent above the employee wage to match.
How do you find part time bookkeeper work near you?
Search the employer type, because the title is either bookkeeper or accounting assistant and both hide the same range.
Three routes work. The first is a bookkeeping firm, which hires part-time staff for the busy season and pays above the median.
The second is the small business route, where a local employer hires directly and the role is found through a local job board rather than a national one.
The third is a staffing agency that places accounting and finance assistants, which is the fastest way into a first role. Our guide to part time hotel front desk clerk covers the other sector where a local employer hires directly and often.
Two questions settle the rest. Which software the business uses, and whether the training is provided.
What changes about bookkeeping hiring next?
Expect the data entry to shrink and the advisory work to grow.
Three forces shape the next two years. Bank feeds and receipt capture have automated most of the coding, which removes the entry work and leaves the reconciliation and the judgement.
The second is the filing complexity, which has grown with every change in the sales tax and reporting rules, and which is work that needs a person who understands the business.
The third is the employer shift, where a business that used to employ a bookkeeper now uses a firm, and the firm sells a defined set of hours rather than a job.
The employment data says the same thing from the other side, with bookkeeping clerk roles projected to fall about 6 percent through 2035. Our guide to part time remote AI prompt evaluator covers the other work where the value has moved from producing to judging.
Next steps
Find out whether the role is bookkeeping or data entry, because that is the pay decision.
- Compare the rate with the $24.36 bookkeeping median and the $33.41 supervisory median
- Ask whether the colleague is doing the bookkeeping or only the data entry
- Check which software the business uses and whether the training is provided
- Find out whether the payroll and the filings are part of the role
- Ask how heavy the month-end close is and how many hours it takes
- Confirm whether the role is employee or contract work
One final thought. The pay figures here are occupation medians and published employer rates, which is the best guide available before an interview.
htm">Bureau of Labor Statistics occupation profile gives the entry requirements and the outlook for the role, which is the quickest way to check what an employer will ask for on day one.
Photo: stevepb, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/photos/calculator-calculation-insurance-1044173/)
Fazlur Rahman
