How Accountants Can Make More Money on the Side

Deval Shah
Deval Shah October 12, 2021
Updated 2023/09/01 at 12:31 PM
Accountants Can Make More Money from a Side Job

Every year, the number of accountants who graduate has been steadily declining, more so the number of accountants who pass the certification board exams. Licensed accountants are hard to come by, but that doesn’t mean they are living like kings and queens, too. Since 2018, the number of certified accounts has dropped. It went from nearly 45,000 in 2014 to just 30,093 in 2018.

Many say it’s because of the nature of the exams. Certified public accountant (CPA) exams are notoriously more challenging than even the bar exams for lawyers. In fact, the CPA Exam only has a passing rate of around 50%.
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Today, only around 45% to 55% pass the CPA Exam annually. This makes this job a highly in-demand one across all industries.

Accountants make good money, too. In the United States, the median salary of accountants was around $71,550 in 2019, while the best-paid 25% made more than $94,000 that year while the lower 25% earned $55,900. However, everyone is looking for a way to earn more money. Issues such as student debts and home mortgages will make even the most successful accountant want to earn more money. If you are paying more than $2,000 per month for a home mortgage plus many other loans, then even the best accountants will want a side hustle.

Tax Preparation

Most people cannot prepare their own taxes. They don’t even know where to start. In fact, for the most basic tax preparation, they are willing to pay north of $100 just to have someone prepare their income tax return (ITR) for them. The best thing about being a tax preparer is that you don’t even have to break a sweat. There’s already tax software for preparers that can help you with all the nitty-gritty of income taxes.

Forensic Accounting

As an ordinary accountant, you’re getting around $50,000 to $70,000 at best annually. Do you know you can get as much as $105,000 a year if you specialize in forensic accounting? This field of accounting specializes in examining financial records for a criminal case. Since the world loses trillions of dollars to financial fraud every year, accountants with a specialization in forensic accounting are in demand.

For this job, you have to look at money laundering, cybercrimes, trading, and many more. You’re responsible for raising the red flags on inconsistent financial records and following the evidence of wrongdoing in the financial records of government agencies and global companies. You have to get certified to become a fraud examiner, but the rewards are staggering money-wise.

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Bookkeeping

Basic bookkeeping services are a walk in the park for a certified accountant. Many small businesses are looking for bookkeeping services to keep their financial records and income statements up to date. The best thing is that they pay by the hour. Yes, small businesses are willing to pay a hefty price to get their finances in order. They know that one wrong move can topple whatever gains they have.

A full-time bookkeeper has an average salary of $58,000 a year. Small businesses cannot afford that kind of wage.
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Their best bet is to hire an accountant by the hour who can do basic bookkeeping for them. You can spend only a couple of hours each week to keep their records updated. It has minimum hassle but maximum benefits.

Tutoring

It was already mentioned above that accounting graduates find it hard to pass the board exam for accountants. That’s where you come in. Offer tutoring services either face-to-face or online. It has a low start-up cost. Often, you only need a good social media profile to market your tutoring services. Do you know how much tutors charge per hour? They charge between $70 and $100, depending on the complexity of the lessons.

For a first-timer, you can charge less than that amount. Clients will be inclined to try your services. Make sure to ask past clients to leave a good review on your page and to recommend you to their colleagues. As a general rule, you need a few education units to start tutoring accounting students. See if you can earn these units online. Your experience will fill in the rest of the gaps.

So, yes, even though accountants earn enough money to buy a lovely house and car, that doesn’t mean a good side hustle is of no use to them.
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Didn’t studies already show that the bigger your salary is, the more expensive your lifestyle becomes? That’s why people are so insatiable about their earning potential, even if they’re making a good amount of money already. If you have time to squeeze in some of these side hustles, then why not? There’s nothing wrong with having a few extra hundred dollars each month to put in your emergency fund.

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