|
Whether you're a freelancer or business owner looking to outsource talent, discussing pay is a delicate matter. Ask for too much or too little, and you may lose the opportunity to work with someone worth their salt.
To give you a picture of the pay landscape for freelancers who offer invoicing services, we studied 1,000 job posts for freelance invoice specialists on Upwork by filtering for "invoicing" and "accounts receivable." Read on to find out how much you might be able to charge or pay for these services based on area of expertise, education level, and geographic location.
Which accounting specialties command the highest pay among freelancers? Let's see what their Upwork posts told us.
Overall, the freelance accounting professionals we studied who specialize in invoicing charge an average of $30.18 per hour for their services. But the ones charging the highest rates were those offering tax preparation ($38.78). Since the IRS now offers more help with filing taxes, some businesses might not need as much help filing this year.
The freelancers offering payroll processing charged nearly as much as tax preparers: $38.71 per hour. If that has you considering handling payroll in-house, the right HR software can help. Payroll processing specialists were also the freelancers who had worked the most jobs on average (36).
Female freelancers with invoicing experience and Microsoft Word skills got the most jobs (21, on average) among women. However, the skills with the highest average hourly pay rate for them were:
Meanwhile, accounting skills, in general, are likely to earn male invoicing freelancers the most per hour: $31.32. We also found that men with accounts payable experience worked the most: an average of 26 gigs.
One of the trickiest aspects of freelancing is knowing how much to ask for in exchange for your services. Next, we'll look at the various rates charged by freelancers who specialize in invoicing and break it down by education level.
We found that most freelancers specializing in invoicing had at least a bachelor's degree (85%). On average, those with a high school diploma or less worked the most jobs (24), but those with master's or doctorate degrees charged the highest rates ($34.39 hourly). But a college education didn't mean higher pay in all cases. Invoicing freelancers without bachelor's degrees charged an average of $33.49 per hour—that's 17% more for their services than freelancers with a bachelor's degree ($27.95).
Male invoicing freelancers showed a similar trend: Those with graduate degrees (master's or doctorates) commanded lower average hourly rates than those with a bachelor's. This illustrates the importance of knowing your worth and setting your freelance rates accordingly, but pay discrepancy also could come down to time spent in school vs. time spent gaining experience in the field.
Now that we've discovered what these freelancers charge and how education level might play a role, let's see where in the U.S. they're paid the most.
The highest-paid freelance invoicing professionals were in New York, where they've charged an average of $52.30 per hour. Florida was second in that regard, paying $51.24, followed by Georgia at $49.85. With rates like these, it may be worth it for companies to consider keeping invoicing in-house. User-friendly accounting software can also make it easier than ever to keep track of small-business finances.
If you're a freelance tax preparer, you might be able to charge a higher premium than most other invoicing professionals. Likewise, a business is likely to shell out the prettiest penny for tax assistance. But good news for freelancers with associate degrees who want to offer invoicing services — you might be able to ask for more than someone with a higher education based on your experience. New York businesses in need of invoicing services might pay the most for experienced help, but no matter where you do business, it's important to know your worth so you can earn a fair wage.
We offer tools and software solutions to help small businesses grow. Our online invoice templates make it easy to create invoices with all the right information to ensure you get paid the right amount on time.
We collect data on 1,000 Upwork.com job posts for freelancers who specialize in invoicing. To do this, we filtered freelance posts by "invoicing" and "accounts receivable" skills. We explored how different factors such as skills, education, hours worked, jobs worked, and more impacted invoice freelancer pay rates. Of those posting these job listings, 73% were female, and 27% were male.
If you gleaned some valuable information about hiring freelancers or offering your invoicing services, you're welcome to share it for any non-commercial purpose as long as you link to this page.