Updated January 15, 2026
If you’re interested in working with CSI Accounting & Payroll, you want an idea of what our business structure and costs look like before you request a call. That's why I'm going to lay out the details right here, right now.
In our 60 years of providing monthly accounting services, CSI has gathered that small business owners want to learn about the following processes and their associated costs:
- Setup.
- Back work.
- Monthly accounting.
- Tax filing.
(Prefer a video? Hunter, our Accounting & Payroll Consultant, lays everything out right here. Otherwise, keep scrolling to read!)
Setup & Associated Costs
When you first start using an outsourced service, you’re probably expecting a startup fee. Just like the rest of our industry, CSI charges an onboarding fee due to the extra work required to get you up and running. This fee varies since it’s based on your customized monthly accounting fee. The formula to find your upfront cost to work with us is:
Onboarding fee = (Monthly fee * 2) + $1,000
Read about everything the onboarding fee covers and why we allow it to be paid with a credit card.
After the initial investment is made, we move to handling any back work.
Back Work & Associated Costs
Back work may be necessary to get a business’s books caught up when they are transitioning from one accounting service to another. It's also part of how CSI can guarantee audit-proofed books, as we wouldn't be able to put our seal of approval on incorrect books that we didn't do.
The basic formula to determine the price of your back work is:
Back Work Price = Number of Prior Months to Work On * Monthly Fee
To determine how far back we need to go, we find the last verifiable tax return or financial statement that was prepared by a party outside of your company. If the last completed item was a tax return, then your books are likely accurate through the end of December for that filed year.
While some parts of monthly accounting can be started while your back work is being handled, we can't provide accurate monthly financial statements until your back work is completed... which leads me to the next section about your monthly accounting service moving forward.
Monthly Accounting & Associated Costs
Once you’re onboarded, your monthly fee is set. This amount is re-examined approximately every six months to ensure it matches the service you're receiving. The fee includes:
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Monthly Profit & Loss Statements.
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Monthly Balance Sheets.
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Monthly bank reconciliation.
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Business tax strategy, preparation, & filing.
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Sales tax filings.
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Audit representation.
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Unlimited one-off questions.
To find your monthly accounting fee, we need to examine some variables and complexities.
Depending on your activity and complexities, your fee can range from $600 to $1,500+ per month. Our average small business client would have a fee of approximately $800 per month, which could mean having either a complex accounting situation with roughly 50 business transactions each month, or no complexities and just under 100 business transactions each month.
I'll explain tax costs further in the following section.
Tax Filing & Associated Costs
As I explained in the section above, your monthly accounting fee includes business tax filing. The graphs below show that we used to charge separately for these services, leaving clients with a larger fee at tax time, throwing off their monthly cash flow. We've now spread out the cost, with no business filing fees due at tax time.
These examples both reflect our average fees in 2025. Fees will vary.
We also need to talk about individual taxes. These are not included in your monthly accounting fee because their cost is impossible to estimate ahead of time. So, we charge for them separately at tax time. A typical fee range for individual returns is about $750 to over $2,000, but don't forget that individual tax returns are where the tax savings are!
Individual taxes are priced on a per-form basis, and the forms vary a ton from person to person. Some clients will only have a few forms, while others will have dozens. Plus, forms that are more complicated or uncommon will cost more because they require significantly more effort to prepare.
Well... that's all of the sections of our monthly accounting service!
Know How Accounting Service Fees Change
When you sign up for an accounting service, you’re probably expecting different fees associated with onboarding, catch-up work, and service moving forward. However, many services aren’t upfront with these costs.
At CSI Accounting & Payroll, we believe in transparency and know that our clients won’t be happy if they’re facing fees they weren’t expecting. Now you know the formulas we use to calculate our onboarding fee and back work fee, and you know the variables that go into pricing our services moving forward.
If you’re ready to talk to a professional, click the button below for your free call! Let's see if we can be a good fit for your business.
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