The short answer
There is no market price for outsourced bookkeeping, because the effort is not measured by revenue but by the number and condition of the documents. Two companies with five million euros of revenue each can be a factor of three apart: one has 200 invoices a month read in automatically, the other 2,000 paper documents, three currencies and an online shop with aggregated settlements.
To compare quotes you first have to know exactly what is being charged for — and what is not.
A note for readers outside Germany
Two German particulars shape the arithmetic before any provider is compared.
- A tax adviser's fee may scale with your revenue, not your workload. German tax advisers work under a statutory fee schedule that prices many services off a value base derived from figures such as revenue or total assets. That is why a growing company can see the bookkeeping fee rise without the document volume moving at all. Specialised bookkeeping providers price by document or by monthly flat fee instead, which is one of the real reasons the two routes diverge.
- Payroll is its own cost block, and a larger one than most expect. German payroll carries social security contributions, wage tax, and the taxation of benefits such as a company car or a pension arrangement, each with its own rules. It is almost always billed separately, per employee per month, with surcharges for variable pay and benefits.
One consequence worth planning for: bookkeeping and the annual accounts are usually bundled with the same adviser, and separating them is a real option. What that involves is set out in changing your bookkeeping provider in Germany.
The three pricing models
Time and materials. Billed by the hour. Honest, but hard to plan, and the provider has no incentive to get faster. Sensible in a start-up phase where the scope is still unclear.
Per document or per posting. A price per processed document, usually tiered by volume. Transparent and scaling, but only reliable if it is defined what counts as one document — a consolidated invoice with 40 lines is not the same as a fuel receipt.
A monthly flat fee. A fixed amount for a defined scope, usually with a document volume corridor and a rule for what happens when it is exceeded. For most companies the most workable model, because it is plannable and both sides then have an interest in efficient processes.
What actually drives the price
- Document volume and document quality. The single biggest factor. A digitally delivered, machine-readable document costs a fraction of a photographed till receipt with no allocation.
- Number of bank accounts and payment providers. Every additional channel — cards, payment service providers, marketplace settlements — creates its own reconciliation work.
- Payroll. Almost always billed separately, usually per employee per month, with surcharges for variable pay, company cars or pension arrangements.
- Closing work. Monthly, quarterly and annual closes are frequently priced separately. This is where quotes that look identical on paper diverge most.
- VAT abroad. Registrations, One-Stop-Shop, reverse-charge cases. Every country is its own line item.
- The systems. A clean interface between the upstream system and the ledger lowers the cost permanently; manual transfers raise it every month.
What has to be in the quote
Quotes only become comparable once five points are settled:
- Scope. Ongoing bookkeeping, VAT returns, fixed assets, open item management, collections, payment preparation — what is included and what is extra?
- Closes. Is the monthly close included? Who prepares the annual accounts and the tax returns — the same provider or the tax adviser?
- Dates. By which working day is the monthly close available? Without that commitment the price is worthless, because late figures cannot be steered with.
- Volume assumptions. Which document corridor is priced in, and what does exceeding it cost?
- Term and data release. What happens on termination, in what format is the data handed over, and what does that cost?
The last point is almost always overlooked and is the most expensive one — in Germany an unpaid fee can hold the documents, which is covered in changing your bookkeeping provider.
Comparing with an in-house hire
An in-house bookkeeper costs more than their salary: employer contributions, a workplace, software, training, cover for holiday and sickness, and the risk that the knowledge leaves with the person. In the other direction, an internal hire offers what no provider can: short routes, knowledge of the business, availability on demand.
A sound comparison therefore sets full cost against full cost and includes the cover question. In practice outsourcing wins where the volume is too small for a whole role or fluctuates heavily — and loses where the operating business generates many queries every day.
Where the hidden costs sit
- Rework in your own house. If documents have to be collected, sorted and annotated internally, work migrates back. It just does not appear on the invoice.
- Queries with no fixed channel. Without a defined process, emails go back and forth that nobody bills and everybody pays for in time.
- Catch-up work at the start. Beginning with incomplete bookkeeping means paying once to clean it up. That belongs on the table beforehand, not as a surprise in month three — see closing backlog and fast close.
- No interpretation. Bookkeeping delivers figures, not steering. Anyone who needs the numbers explained needs controlling or finance leadership as well — for example through CFO as a Service.
Common questions
Is outsourced bookkeeping cheaper than a tax adviser?
Not automatically. The difference is less in the price than in the service picture: a specialist bookkeeping provider usually works to a tighter in-year rhythm and delivers reliable monthly figures, while classic tax advice is oriented to the annual accounts and the filings. Many companies combine the two.
Why does our German tax adviser's fee rise with revenue?
Because the statutory fee schedule for tax advisers prices many services off a value base derived from figures such as revenue or total assets, rather than off the hours worked. It is legitimate and normal — but it is also why a growing company should periodically test the fee against what the work actually is.
At what size does outsourcing pay off?
Usually from the point where bookkeeping takes more than half a day a week but does not yet justify a full role — and always where the closes are consistently late.
How fast should the monthly close be?
Ten working days is a good benchmark; five is ambitious. How that becomes reachable is in closing backlog and fast close.
Is payroll included?
Almost never in the bookkeeping fee. German payroll is priced separately, per employee per month, and benefits such as a company car or a pension arrangement add to it. Ask for it as its own line rather than assuming it sits inside the flat fee.
What does it cost at nugrow?
The ranges are on the pricing page. A reliable quote only comes after a short review of document volume, systems and closing requirements — anything else would be a number with nothing behind it.
Read on
- Changing your bookkeeping provider in Germany – the switch and the data handover.
- Closing backlog and fast close – what a late close actually costs.
- Preparing for a German bank meeting – who else reads the monthly figures.
- Accounting as a Service – scope and process.
- Pricing.
Sources and status
Based on nugrow's mandate experience, and on German practice for tax-adviser fees and payroll pricing. As of September 2026. This article is an overview and does not replace tax advice.
