what is the average hourly rate for a good CPA in the NY Metro area?
Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at
1:26 am
I own an S-Corp and have a big hefty binder of receipts for the poor guy to help me sort out. 
So, it will be a pretty involved process to say the least. Also, I will need my and my husband’s personal returns to be filed as well. Just looking for a ballpark rate for a good CPA in the NY Metro area, flat fee or hourly. Thanks in advance! 
Tagged with: binder • CPA • ny metro area • personal returns • receipts • s corp • thanks in advance
Filed under: CPA
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I would guess atleast $50 an hour
You’ll probably pay around $65 – $85 per hour for a staff bookkeeper or CPA candidate to sort out the mess of receipts. Once the CPA becomes personally involved in the return preparation, expect to pay $150 and up for his or her time. The sky’s the billing limit for top talent in major cities and $250 – $500 per hour isn’t unheard of at all for competent but less than top talent.
Save yourself a small fortune by generating a set of books from the receipts. Work up your P&L Sheet, Balance Sheet, Cash Receitps and Cash Disbursements Journals first, before you even walk through the door. Depending upon how much of a mess you have and how disorganized it is you could easily shell out several thousand just to have a junior staffer make sense of it all.
BTW, nobody’s going to do it on a flat fee basis. A hungry accountant salivates when a customer walks through the door with a stack of Nike boxes full of receipts and nothing else to work with. (And if you walk through the door in early April, they’ll just file an extension for you, tell you to make a best guess payment with the extension, and tell you to come back in May sometime.)
John K’s estimate sounds low. But it the job is a lot of hours you might get a break on the total.
Good CPA = $150/hour minimum
You can go up or down from there depending on who you work with. Good luck!