A bookkeeper per LLC runs $200 to $500 a month, each. Four entities and you’re looking at a thousand-plus a month before you’ve filed a single return. So most multi-LLC owners don’t hire one — they wing it in spreadsheets, and by tax time it’s a mess.
There’s a middle path, and it’s more doable than it sounds. This is the honest system for tracking multiple LLCs yourself, what a bookkeeper actually does (so you know what you’re replacing), and the point where you genuinely should hire one.
What a bookkeeper actually does
“Bookkeeping” bundles four separate jobs. Knowing which is which tells you what you can handle and what you can’t:
- Categorizing transactions — sorting income and expenses into the right buckets. Very doable yourself with the right setup.
- Reconciling accounts — making sure your records match the bank. Doable monthly if your accounts are separate and clean.
- Producing financial statements — a P&L and balance sheet per entity. A good tracker generates the view; you rarely need formal statements for a simple pass-through.
- Tax preparation and filing — this is the one to hand off. A CPA at tax time is worth it even if you self-track all year.
Notice the split: the first three are ongoing tracking (self-serviceable), and the fourth is a once-a-year specialist job. Paying a monthly bookkeeper per entity means paying ongoing rates for work you can mostly do yourself — then paying again for the part you actually needed help with.
The self-tracking system for multiple LLCs
Five rules. Follow them and you can run several entities cleanly without monthly bookkeeping:
- A separate bank account per LLC. Non-negotiable. This is the entire foundation. Commingling funds pierces the liability protection you formed the LLC for, and it makes clean books impossible. One account per entity, every dollar in and out.
- One place that tracks every entity — separately, but rolled up. The failure mode is one login per LLC and no combined view. You want each entity on its own and a single picture across all of them.
- Record at the moment, not at year end. Spreadsheets fail because they’re backfilled from memory. Capture each transaction when it happens, or connect accounts so it’s automatic.
- Keep the paper trail per entity. Receipts and documents filed by LLC, not in one pile. Your future self (and your CPA) will thank you.
- Quarterly: reconcile and set aside taxes. Once a quarter, match each account to the bank and move your estimated taxes into a separate savings account so April isn’t a surprise.
When you actually need a bookkeeper
Self-tracking has a ceiling, and it’s about complexity, not entity count. Hire a bookkeeper when you hit any of these:
- Payroll or W-2 employees — payroll tax and compliance is a real specialty. Don’t DIY it.
- Accrual accounting or inventory — once you’re past simple cash-basis, the work gets genuinely technical.
- Audit exposure or investors — when someone else is going to scrutinize the books, you want them professionally kept.
- Your time is worth more than the fee — the honest one. If tracking eats hours you’d spend earning more, hire out.
For a lot of solo operators running simple pass-through LLCs, none of those apply — and a self-tracking system plus a CPA at tax time genuinely beats paying monthly bookkeeping on every entity.
Where Crestfolio fits
Crestfolio is the tracking layer, built for people with more than one entity. Each LLC (and each rental, business, and personal account) is its own module, and they all roll into one net worth and cash flow view. It is not a bookkeeper or a general ledger — it doesn’t file your taxes or keep formal double-entry books. What it does is make self-tracking across several entities actually feasible, and hand your CPA clean, organized numbers at tax time instead of a shoebox.
If your entities need payroll and accrual accounting, hire the bookkeeper. If what’s been stopping you is that tracking three or four LLCs by hand is a nightmare — that’s the exact nightmare this was built to end. Every entity, one dashboard.
Frequently asked questions
Can I do bookkeeping for multiple LLCs myself?
Yes, if your entities are relatively simple pass-throughs (single-member LLCs, no payroll, cash-basis). The key is a system: a separate bank account per LLC, one place that tracks every entity, and recording transactions as they happen rather than reconstructing them at year end. What you usually still hand to a professional is the actual tax filing.
How much does a bookkeeper cost for multiple LLCs?
Typically $200-500 per month per entity for ongoing bookkeeping, since each LLC's books are kept separately. Four LLCs can easily mean $800-2,000 a month. That math is exactly why many multi-entity owners self-track and bring in a CPA only at tax time instead of paying for monthly bookkeeping on every entity.
Do I need a separate bookkeeper for each LLC?
Not necessarily a separate person, but each LLC needs its own clean set of books, because the entities are legally distinct. One bookkeeper can handle several, but they'll bill per entity because the work is per entity. Self-tracking with a tool that keeps each LLC separate but rolled up avoids paying that per-entity premium for routine tracking.
What's the best way to track multiple LLCs without accounting software?
A separate bank account per LLC plus a spreadsheet tab per entity is the free starting point, and it works until balances change and you're rebuilding the roll-up by hand every month. A dedicated multi-entity tracker keeps each LLC separate while giving you one combined view, without the manual merge or a full accounting subscription per company.
When should I hire a bookkeeper for my LLCs?
When you cross into payroll, accrual accounting, inventory, or multiple employees, or when your time is genuinely worth more than the fee. For simple pass-through LLCs, a good self-tracking system plus a CPA at tax time is usually enough. Hire out when the complexity, not just the entity count, exceeds what a tracker can cleanly handle.
Every entity. One net worth.
Track every LLC, rental, business, and personal account in one place, each its own module, all rolling into a single view. Built for people who have outgrown single-account tools.
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