Is $450 a Month Too Much for Bookkeeping and Accounting in New Mexico?
The Quick Answer
It depends on what you’re getting for the $450.
If you’re paying someone $450 a month simply to categorize transactions in QuickBooks, it might be expensive. If that $450 gives your business a back office that keeps your books current, reconciles your accounts, handles New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax, helps with payroll, watches your business structure, prepares financial statements, and gives you access to accounting professionals when questions come up, that’s a very different service.
Let me paint you a picture.
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You Finally Decide to Go Out on Your Own
Let’s say you’ve worked as a commercial and residential painter in Gallup for years. You know how to estimate jobs, you know how to paint, and you’ve completed the licensing requirements you need to go out on your own. You’ve finally decided to leave the company you work for and start your own painting business.
It’s exciting, but it’s also scary. Your wife, or maybe your mom, is completely behind you and wants to see you succeed. You’re trying to keep expenses down, so naturally she becomes the bookkeeper.
There’s nothing wrong with that. Plenty of small businesses start exactly this way.
The problem is that she may have never selected a business entity, formed an LLC, applied for an EIN, set up a New Mexico TAP account, prepared a 1099 or W-2, run payroll, reconciled a bank account, or decided where transactions belong in QuickBooks.
She’s learning accounting while you’re learning how to run a business.
You’re a Professional Painter, Not an Accountant
The value of your new business isn’t bookkeeping. It’s painting.
You’re the one who knows how much paint a commercial job is going to require, how many hours your crew will need, what equipment you need, how to estimate a project, and whether the job is going to make money. That’s the knowledge that creates value for your customers and ultimately puts money in your pocket.
But while you’re trying to do that, somebody still has to figure out the back office.
How should the LLC be set up? Do you need an EIN? How do you register with New Mexico Taxation and Revenue? Is the business supposed to be filing Gross Receipts Tax? How should QuickBooks be set up? What about payroll? What happens when you hire a subcontractor? Do you need to issue a 1099?
Then there are the things that actually help you run the painting company. How should estimates be created? How do you turn an accepted estimate into an invoice? Which contractor applications can help with scheduling, estimating, collecting payments and job management?
You can learn all of this yourself. The question is whether that’s where you should be spending your time.
Five Months Later…
Five months go by and you’ve completed a handful of jobs. Money has come in and plenty has gone out, but you’re really not sure how the business is doing. QuickBooks doesn’t quite match the bank account, there are purchases nobody knows how to categorize, and you and your wife are arguing about the books more than either of you expected when this whole thing was still in the “let’s do it” stage.
Then tax season starts getting closer and somebody asks, “Did you file the New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax?”
Painting services in New Mexico are generally subject to Gross Receipts Tax unless a deduction applies. New Mexico Taxation and Revenue expects businesses with a filing requirement to report their gross receipts on their assigned filing schedule and pay any tax that is due.
Now you’re trying to find somebody who can figure out what happened during the last five months, clean up the books, determine what should have been filed, and get everything caught up.
That’s where saving money in the beginning can become expensive.
So What Does $450 a Month Get a New Mexico Small Business?
Our Solo Plan at Arsenault CPA Firm starts at $450 per month for qualifying owner-operated businesses. The first thing I think it gives you is peace of mind.
You know the business bank account and credit card are being reconciled each month. Transactions are being recorded to the appropriate accounts, questions are being addressed while they’re still fresh, and you’re receiving financial statements instead of waiting until tax season to find out what happened during the year.
Your New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax filings are also being handled. If there is Gross Receipts Tax due, it gets reported and paid rather than becoming something you discover months later.
We’re also watching the business as it grows. Maybe an S Corporation doesn’t make sense when you first open your doors, but your painting company starts doing well and eventually it does. That’s a conversation we should be having with you while there’s still an opportunity to do something about it, not two years later when we’re preparing an old tax return.
If you’re required to run payroll, that becomes part of the accounting system as well.
You’re not paying $450 just to have somebody enter transactions into QuickBooks.
You’re Really Paying for an Accounting Back Office
I think this is where comparing accounting firms solely by monthly price becomes difficult.
When you work with our firm, you aren’t relying on one person to know everything. There are different people involved in keeping the account moving. Our administrative staff helps keep documents and information organized, an accountant handles the monthly accounting work, and a CPA is available for review, tax planning and the higher level issues that come up.
That’s how I think an accounting firm should work.
I don’t think you want to pay CPA rates to have a CPA reconcile your checking account every month. That’s work an experienced bookkeeper or accountant can handle. At the same time, I don’t think you want someone whose experience is limited to bookkeeping deciding whether your company should make an S Corporation election or developing your tax strategy.
Those are different jobs.
The advantage of the firm model is having the right person doing the right work.
Get a back office without building one.
Bookkeeping, payroll, New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax, and CPA-level support from one firm in Gallup. Book a consultation and we’ll look at where your business stands and what we’d take off your plate.
What Happens When Your Business Grows?
Let’s fast-forward a few years.
The painting company worked. You’re no longer working by yourself. You have employees, more jobs, more equipment, more customers and considerably more money moving through the business.
This is usually the stage where an owner starts thinking, “Maybe I need somebody in the office.”
Maybe you know someone who worked at a bank. They’re responsible, good with numbers and organized. They made $15 an hour at the bank, so you offer them $16 or $18 an hour to come work for you.
That sounds reasonable until you think about what you’re asking this person to do.
You want them to understand bookkeeping, QuickBooks, payroll, New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax, accounts payable, fixed assets and financial statements. Maybe you want them creating invoices, following up on receivables and helping with job costing too.
Working at a bank doesn’t necessarily prepare someone to run the accounting side of a construction business.
So eventually you decide you need someone with an accounting degree or somebody who has worked in public accounting. Now you’re probably looking at $50,000 or more per year once you find the level of experience you’re actually looking for, and the true employment cost goes beyond salary.
And you still have one person.
Who reviews their work? Who handles the tax planning? Who prepares the business tax return? Who keeps up with New Mexico tax rules? What happens when that employee takes vacation, gets sick or leaves for another job?
That’s where outsourced accounting starts making a lot more sense.
Why Does the $750 Plan Look Different?
Our next service level is $750 per month. That’s $9,000 per year.
At that stage, the comparison isn’t really “$750 for bookkeeping versus what could I pay somebody to reconcile QuickBooks?”
The comparison is what it would cost to build the financial back office your growing company actually needs.
A growing company could eventually need administrative support, bookkeeping or accounting experience, payroll knowledge and CPA-level tax expertise. Hiring all of that internally can easily become a six-figure annual commitment.
I’m not saying you’re receiving $200,000 worth of labor for $9,000. You aren’t.
What you’re getting is access to people with different areas of expertise without having to put all of those people on your payroll.
That’s a very different value proposition.
Where I See Business Owners Get Into Trouble
One of the biggest mistakes is comparing accounting services based entirely on price.
One person says they’ll do your bookkeeping for $300 a month. Another firm says $450. Another says $750.
Naturally, the $300 option looks like the best deal.
But what are you actually buying?
Does someone reconcile every balance-sheet account each month or just categorize bank transactions? Who handles Gross Receipts Tax? Is payroll included? Who reviews the financial statements? Who notices when an S Corporation starts making sense? Who does the tax planning? Who prepares the business return? If you call in July with a question, are you talking to someone who already knows your business?
Those questions matter much more than whether one monthly price is $100 cheaper than another.
Questions Business Owners Ask Me
Can’t my spouse just do the bookkeeping?
Absolutely. There are plenty of spouses who do an excellent job keeping the books for a family business.
But the question isn’t whether they’re willing to do it. It’s whether they understand accounting, reconciliations, payroll and the New Mexico tax requirements that apply to the business.
There’s also something to be said for letting your spouse remain your spouse instead of becoming the person asking why you still haven’t turned in those receipts.
Is $450 a month expensive for a new business?
When you’re just getting started, $450 is real money. I understand that.
But I’d compare the price with what is actually being handled, how much of your time you’re getting back, and what it might cost to fix things later if they’re done incorrectly.
For a very small side business with a few transactions, professional monthly accounting may not make financial sense yet. For an owner who is serious about building a full-time business, I think the calculation changes quickly.
When do I need more than the $450 plan?
As the business grows, the accounting workload grows with it. More revenue usually means more transactions. Employees add payroll. Additional bank accounts and credit cards require more reconciliations. Equipment creates fixed assets. More jobs can create a need for better reporting and job costing.
That’s why our plans increase as the business becomes larger and more complicated.
Is outsourced accounting cheaper than hiring an employee?
For many small businesses, yes, especially when the alternative is hiring someone experienced enough to handle everything you’re asking them to do.
The other advantage is that you’re not depending entirely on one employee. You’re gaining access to a team with different skills rather than expecting one person to be your bookkeeper, payroll specialist, tax preparer and CPA.
Do you only work with businesses in Gallup?
No. Arsenault CPA Firm is based in Gallup and works with owner-operated businesses across New Mexico, including the Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Farmington areas.
One Thing I’d Tell Every Business Owner…
Don’t ask only, “Why would I spend $450 a month on accounting?”
Ask yourself what happens if you don’t.
If you’re a painter and you can spend Saturday morning estimating two jobs that could produce thousands of dollars of revenue, does it make sense to spend that same Saturday trying to figure out why QuickBooks is off by $1,842?
Maybe in the very beginning it does. Every dollar counts when you’re starting a business.
But as the company grows, there comes a point where doing everything yourself isn’t saving money anymore. It’s taking you away from the part of the business that actually makes money.
You didn’t start a painting company because you’re good at bookkeeping.
You’re good at painting. Build the painting company. Let your accounting team handle the accounting.
About Arsenault CPA Firm
Arsenault CPA Firm provides monthly accounting services for New Mexico small businesses, with a focus on contractors and owner-operated service businesses. Our monthly plans combine bookkeeping, payroll, New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax compliance and CPA-level support so business owners can have a financial back office without having to build one themselves.
Our current service levels and pricing are available on the Pricing page.
