How to Price Bookkeeping Services in Kenya
The pricing models that work for Kenyan bookkeeping practices, what to charge per client, and why hourly billing stops working at scale.
Most bookkeeping practices in Kenya price by one of three models: hourly, fixed monthly retainer, or per-transaction. Each works at a different stage of the practice, and each breaks at a predictable point. If you are building a practice that serves fifteen or more clients, the pricing model matters more than the rate you charge.
The hourly problem
Hourly feels fair. The client pays for the work done. But it creates two perverse incentives. The faster you get, the less you earn. And the messier the client’s records, the more you earn. Neither of those align with what a good practice should want.
Hourly also makes capacity impossible to plan. If a client’s books are a mess in January and clean in February, your revenue swings by 40 percent month to month on the same client base.
At about five clients, hourly starts to feel like a job. At ten clients, it stops working entirely.
The fixed monthly retainer
Most Kenyan bookkeeping practices that scale past ten clients price on a fixed monthly retainer. The client pays the same amount every month regardless of volume within a defined scope.
The retainer is usually calculated as a base fee plus a variable component. For example:
- Base fee: KES 8,000 per month for a business with up to 50 transactions
- Additional transactions: KES 50 to KES 150 per transaction above 50
- Additional services: payroll, VAT filing, and annual returns priced separately
The base fee covers the fixed work. The variable component covers the growth of the client’s business. This works because it protects both sides. The client is not surprised by a large invoice in a busy month. You are not absorbing the cost of a client whose volume tripled since the retainer was set.
Typical Kenyan numbers, based on practices we work with:
- Sole trader with 20 to 40 transactions a month: KES 6,000 to KES 12,000
- Small business with 50 to 100 transactions: KES 12,000 to KES 25,000
- SME with 100 to 300 transactions: KES 25,000 to KES 50,000
- Multi-entity or multi-branch: KES 40,000 to KES 100,000+
These are monthly fees for bookkeeping only. Payroll, VAT filing, annual returns, and consulting are usually priced separately or bundled into a higher tier.
The per-transaction model
A smaller number of practices price purely per transaction. KES 100 to KES 200 per transaction, all-in. This works for very small clients with predictable volume, and it is easy to explain.
It breaks when a client sends 300 transactions in one month because they had a sale. Suddenly the invoice is larger than the client expected and they push back. Or the transactions are messy and each one takes 20 minutes to clean up rather than 2.
Per-transaction works as the variable component of a retainer. It does not work as the entire pricing model for a client of any size.
The tiered model
The model that works best for a mature practice is tiered by client size, with add-ons priced separately.
Three tiers is usually right:
- Starter: a sole trader or very small business. Base bookkeeping only. Fixed fee.
- Standard: an SME with employees, VAT registration, and regular transactions. Base fee plus variable component.
- Full-service: an SME or multi-entity that wants bookkeeping, payroll, VAT filing, and reporting. Priced as a monthly package.
Each tier has a defined scope. A client who exceeds their tier in a given month either moves up or pays the overage. Both are clear.
What the retainer should actually cover
The base fee should cover:
- Monthly bookkeeping and reconciliation
- Bank and M-Pesa reconciliation
- Monthly management reports (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow)
- A defined number of queries per month
The base fee should NOT cover:
- Payroll processing
- VAT filing (even if the bookkeeping produces the numbers)
- Annual returns
- Audit support
- Tax planning
- Catch-up work if the client is behind on their records
Each of those is a separate line item. Practices that bundle them into the retainer end up doing unpaid work for the same fee.
When to raise prices
Two triggers, and you should raise on both.
Trigger one: existing clients outgrow the price. If a client has been on the same retainer for 18 months and their transaction volume is up 30 percent, their retainer should have moved with it. If it did not, the practice is subsidising their growth.
Trigger two: the practice’s cost has gone up. Rent, software, and staff costs rise. If prices have not moved in two years, the practice has absorbed the increase. A 10 to 15 percent increase every 18 months is normal and expected.
Communicate the increase six weeks in advance. Explain the reason briefly. Most clients accept it. The ones who don’t were probably going to leave anyway, and the practice is better off replacing them with a client at the current rate.
The thing most practices get wrong
They price for the client’s current size, not the client’s growth. A business that is on 40 transactions a month today is going to be on 100 within a year if things go well. If the retainer was set at 40-transaction pricing, the practice is doing the 100-transaction work for the 40-transaction fee.
Set the retainer with headroom. Include the transaction bands from the start. When the client crosses a threshold, the fee moves automatically because the pricing structure already said it would.
That is the difference between a practice that grows revenue alongside its clients and one that runs flat while doing 3x the work.
Related reading
Try Sentibooks free
Manage invoicing, expenses, payroll, VAT and full accounting in one place.
Start free trial