Two different conversations get confused here. An annual increase applies to everyone and is routine. A repricing applies to one client whose work has outgrown the fee, and is the harder one. Handle them separately.
When to raise
- Annually, as policy. A scheduled review is uncontroversial. A first increase after four years is an event.
- When volume changes materially. Transaction count up, a new bank account, another entity, payroll added.
- When scope has crept. If you now do three things that were never quoted, the fee is for a different job.
- When you are at capacity. Being full is a pricing signal, not just a scheduling one.
- When the effective rate is below your floor. Measure it per client before deciding anything.
Measure first. Track actual hours per client for one month, including interruptions and chasing. Most bookkeepers discover their worst-paying client is not the one they assumed, and that the problem is time spent coordinating, not time spent working.
How much
For an annual increase, a modest single-digit percentage rarely causes friction and compounds usefully. For a client whose work has genuinely outgrown the fee, a small increase does not fix anything, you need the number the work is actually worth, and it may be materially higher. Do not split the difference out of nerves; you will be back in the same conversation next year.
The annual increase
Notice, in writing, with reasonable lead time. No apology, no lengthy justification, it is a policy, not a request.
Hi {{first name}},
A quick note that from {{date}}, your monthly fee will move from {{current}} to {{new}}.
I review fees annually to keep pace with costs and continue investing in the systems that keep your books accurate and on time. Everything in your service stays as it is.
Your next invoice on {{date}} will reflect the new amount. Happy to talk it through if you'd like.
Thanks, {{your name}}
The scope-based increase
This one needs evidence, and it lands far better when the evidence is specific. Anchor it to what changed in their business, not to what you want to earn.
Hi {{first name}},
When we agreed your fee in {{month year}}, we scoped around roughly {{n}} transactions a month across {{n}} accounts. Since then the business has grown, you're now running about {{n}} transactions across {{n}} accounts, plus {{payroll / a second entity / sales tax filings}}.
That's good news, and it does mean the work is meaningfully bigger than what we priced. From {{date}} I'd like to move the monthly fee to {{new}}, which reflects what's actually involved now.
Happy to walk through the detail, and if you'd rather adjust the scope instead of the fee, that's a genuine option, let me know and we'll find the right shape.
{{your name}}
The offer to reduce scope matters. It reframes the conversation from "pay more" to "choose what you want", and clients who feel they have a choice object far less.
When a client pushes back
- Do not immediately discount. The first response to a price is often reflexive rather than final.
- Ask what would need to be true. Sometimes it is timing, or a bad quarter, and a delayed increase is a reasonable answer.
- Offer reduced scope at the old price. A real option, not a bluff, and one many clients take.
- Be prepared to lose one. If a client leaves over a modest increase on work they are underpaying for, the capacity is worth more than the fee.
- Do not defend the number at length. Over-explaining reads as uncertainty.
The one you should decline
A brand-new client asking for a discount weeks after onboarding, before any relationship exists, is telling you something. Supporting a long-standing client through a genuinely rough patch is a different situation entirely and often the right call. Distinguishing between the two matters more than any script.
Preventing the next underpriced engagement
- Quote on evidence, a bank statement, a transaction count, not on a description.
- Put the volume the fee covers in writing in the engagement letter.
- Include a clause triggering renegotiation when volume or complexity changes materially.
- Review fees on a fixed annual date so it is never a decision, only a task.
- Track effective hourly rate per client quarterly, not when it starts to hurt.