What Does it Cost to Hire Accountants and CFOs?

This short post covers bookkeeper fees, accounting salaries and Controller pay (we use Connecticut as an example since we are a Connecticut and NYC accounting firm).

Most of the CEOs we work with are concerned about the rising cost of doing business across the United States. We conducted a brief study on the real costs of hiring a bookkeeper or accounting employee for a Connecticut business owner.

One of the most common opportunities to save on staffing costs and increase quality of service is in the very position that many CEOs advertise for on job boards like Indeed.com and Monster.com: Bookkeepers, Accountants, Controllers and CFOs.

Here are the facts…

Indeed.com says full-charge bookkeepers in Fairfield County make an average salary of $55,590, before any taxes and benefits. Accounting managers, and Controllers currently earn $93,000 to $120,000, and CFOs can command between $130,000 to over $250,000 for a small company, and over $500,000 for a large company, with an average range of a full-time CFO falling between $175,000 and $350,000.

Bookkeeping & Accounting Staff Rates & Salaries In Connecticut

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When you add in payroll taxes, benefits, insurance, computers, training, vacations, and overhead – This number climbs up by 20% or more. And that is for a 9 to 5 employee.

When a new business owner asks us, “What does it cost to hire an employee in Connecticut?” we always tell them to add 15% to 30% to that employee’s base salary to account for all of the cash and non-cash expenses that go into investing in their staff.

Always remember these additional payroll costs:

  • Add 8-10% for federal, state, and local payroll taxes, workers compensation insurance, and family leave contributions

  • Add $5,000 to $15,000 for health, dental, and vision insurance, retirement plans,

  • Add 5-10% for computer, software, telephone, training, licensing, travel, and other perks and benefits

As you can see, the all-in cost of hiring a full time finance employee is base salary plus 15-25% per year, depending on your benefits packages and out of pocket costs to train, improve, and incentivize your employees.

The Real Cost Of Hiring An EmployeE

Summary

As you can see…the cost of hiring even just one full time bookkeeper, accountant, or controller can cost you $60,000, $80,000, even $150,000 or more in total cash costs.

If you want to hire a full-time CFO, the costs can easily exceed 3x this amount.

Accounting Firm Hourly Rates

If you are searching for outsourced accounting rates here are our general rules of thumb for accounting firm hourly rate and comparisons to both discount overseas bookkeeping firms and larger regional CPA firms.

Depending on the level of support you need, the complexity of your systems and processes, and level of senior advisory your business requires, the costs can be material to your bottom line, but much less than the cost of hiring and managing your own in-house finance & accounting staff.