08/05/2026
A private accountant's income – SME Edition
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Private accountants run a business. We help SMEs, startups, and business owners stay compliant and financially healthy — for a fee. Same as any business: we provide a service, you pay.
Our income pays for staff wages, office rent, MYOB/Xero subscriptions, professional indemnity insurance, IPA/CPA fees, power, internet, and other overheads.
We charge by the hour or fixed fees per job. Rates depend on experience, complexity, and deadlines.
What we actually charge time for:
Setting up your chart of accounts, monthly bookkeeping, BAS/GST prep, payroll & super, annual financials, tax returns, IRC audits and objections, budgeting, cashflow forecasts, meetings, phone calls, emails, fixing up messy records, and even travel time to your office or IRC. If it uses our expertise and time, it’s billable.
To be honest — many of us private accountants have been too generous. We’ve cleaned up books, lodged late returns, answered “quick questions” on tax, met with you for free, all while paying clients wait. Advice isn’t free. If you call and we help you, you’ve just received a free professional service.
We’re happy to help. The Bible says ask and you shall receive. But we’re also overwhelmed. If I don’t pick up your call or reply straight away, it’s not that I don’t value you. I’m just trying to balance free help with work that pays my staff and keeps the lights on.
Need free help? Try these first:
1. IRC Taxpayer Services – Free help with TIN, tax basics, and lodgements. 2. SBDC & IPA – They run SME clinics on bookkeeping and compliance. Govman putim ol for this reason. Yupla can go long ol pastem.
Private accountants will still help, but within limits. At times I’m stressed trying to help everyone and run a business.
Please, yumi must larim understanding prevail. If you need ongoing help, let’s put you on a proper monthly package so I can serve you well.