All businesses / Bookkeeping practice

Fingerprint: capital · hours · speed to income · margin · ceiling. The dashed line is mid-scale.

Start a bookkeeping practice: the real numbers

Monthly books for small firms. Below is what it actually costs, how long before money arrives, and the part most guides leave out.

Startup capital

€800–€4,000

Hours / week

15–40

First income

~8 wks

Net margin

85%

Saturation

medium

Realistic ceiling

€1,200–€4,500+

This ceiling is not a wall

The figure above is what this earns in the shape described — you, running it. Past that it keeps going, but by hiring people or adding units, not by you working more hours. That is a different job from the one you would be starting, and worth knowing before you start it.

What nobody usually tells you

Genuinely recurring, genuinely boring, and clients almost never leave — switching bookkeeper is more painful than staying. Deadlines are immovable and January is brutal, but the revenue is as predictable as it gets.

The route, in five steps

  1. Get the local qualification — clients and insurers ask
  2. Specialise in one trade and learn its quirks
  3. Charge a monthly fee, never hourly
  4. Fire the client who sends a shoebox in April
  5. Twenty clients at €250 is a full practice

What you'll need to buy

These are the categories every bookkeeping practice pays for in the first month. We break down what each one actually costs at this size on the tools page.

accounting softwareprofessional insurancecertificationpractice licence

Does it hold up for you?

These numbers are the average case. Whether this business clears your target depends on your capital, your hours and how long you can wait — put them in and see.

Run my numbers → See the tool stack