Working an accounting job can be very stressful, especially when tax season rolls around.
While the pay is modest, sometimes a side hustle can be beneficial to help keep your finances on track.
In this post, I'll explore the best side hustles for accountants, how to make passive income as an accountant, and much more. Let's get started!
- Starting a bookkeeping side gig
- Offering tax prep services
- Starting a blog, podcast, or YouTube channel
Best Side Jobs for Accountants
1. Start a Bookkeeping Side Hustle
Bookkeeping is the most obvious side hustle for any accountant of CPA. Because you'll use your accounting skills to complete the work, it can be a great way to make some extra money.
With a bookkeeping side hustle you'll get paid to complete bookkeeping for businesses who need help. With this side hustle, you'll be tasked with recording all transactions for the business and maintaining the general ledger for the company.
Pricing your bookkeeping services can be challenging. Some accounting professionals will charge an hourly rate while others might charge a monthly retainer for their work.
The average bookkeeping salary is roughly $45,000 but many bookkeepers might not possess a college degree. For CPAs or accountants with a college degree, this number can exceed $73,000.
This can help you when pricing your services. You'll also need to consider the costs when completing bookkeeping work. Will you need accounting software or other accounting related products to get your work done?
It's reasonable to charge anywhere from $20 to $50 per hour for your services or more for more experienced accounting professionals.
To get started, it's a good idea to create a website to promote your services. You can then connect with local business owners who might need help with their accounting.
You can also browse freelance sites to find additional work.
2. Complete Tax Returns
Tax season can be a stressful time for many accountants. But with this stress comes a great opportunity to make extra money by completing tax returns for individuals and businesses.
Tax returns are have a deadline of April 15 each year and you can face penalties for not having yours completed in time.
For individuals, the average cost to have your taxes done by a professional is around $220. This means that you could make a few hundred dollars for each tax return you file. As a professional accountant, it could take you anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour to complete a simple tax return making this a very lucrative side hustle.
3. Start a Blog
Blogging is a great side hustle for just about anyone, including accountants.
While this digital side hustle will require some time to become profitable – it can eventually become a full-time gig for some bloggers.
Best of all, you can get your blog off the ground with less than $100. This means there isn't a ton of risk with starting a blog like there is with some other businesses.
To start a blog, you'll need to acquire a domain name for your site. This can be purchase for around $10 annually by using a platform like Namecheap.
Next, you'll need to purchase hosting for your blog so you can upload files and manage the content on your site. I recommend using SiteGround – they offer affordable pricing and extremely fast services making your blog fast and reliable.
Next, you can install WordPress or another CMS on your blog so you can easily manage content on your blog. This might seem daunting, but most hosts have a one-click install making it super simple.
Finally it's time to start producing content and promoting it to the world!
To grow your blog traffic, you'll need to find traffic sources like SEO, social media, or email marketing that work best for your niche.
Blogging can be very time consuming in the first few months, but it can be tremendously rewarding for those who stick with it.
Once your blog starts to gain traffic, you can make money from it through display advertising (consider Mediavine!), affiliate marketing, or publishing sponsored content.
How much can you make?
Last month, one of my blogs made over $6,000 in display advertising alone!
Blogging is one of my favorite side hustles and an amazing way to make money with a laptop or computer if you have an internet connection and a little free time.
Ready to start a blog? Check out the video below!
4. Deliver Food with Doordash
If you're looking for a side income in addition to your accounting job, driving for Doordash can be a good way to make money with a truck or car.
With this side hustle, you'll get paid to deliver food directly to customers. One of the best things about this side gig is that you can work your own hours on your own time.
The amount of money you can make will depend on your city but it's possible to make over $25 in some cases. It's even possible to make $500 a week with Doordash if you put your mind to it!
Sign up to become a driver below to get started!
5. Deliver Groceries with Instacart
Delivering groceries is another easy way to earn money after work when you have time.
Similar to Doordash, Instacart allows you to make money whenever you have free time by delivering groceries to customers.
It's possible to earn over $20 per hour with the side hustle, making is an awesome option to make money when you have some spare time. But the real way to make money is through tips, so it's critical to make deliveries as fast and as accurate as possible.
Create your free account below to get started!
6. Find a Data Entry Side Job
If you typically spend a significant amount of time working in spreadsheets, working a data entry gig can be one of the best accounting side hustles you should consider.
You can find work on freelance sites like Upwork or Fiverr. It's possible to make anywhere from $10 to $20 per hour for your time.
For example, check out some of these freelance data entry workers I found charging $20 an hour for their time.
7. Start a Podcast
Podcasting is a fun side hustle you can do anytime, anywhere.
This means you can work whenever you want, which I'm a huge fan of.
If you're looking for a passive side hustle, podcasting is a good option to earn money while sharing your knowledge with others.
Starting a podcast will require a few tools and pieces of equipment to get started. You'll need a microphone, audio editing software, and a computer with an internet connection. While these aren't technically required, I always recommend them to increase you chances of sticking with it.
Growing your podcast can take some time with more than half of podcasts failing in the first few years of starting.
But if you can stick with it you can make a large income from your efforts. For example, Dave Ramsey's podcast brings in over $10 million annually.
Need another reason to start a podcast? Check out the growth of the industry below!
Podcasts can make money through a variety of methods including show sponsors and affiliate marketing – just to name a few.
I several some podcasters who have managed to turn their side hustle into a full time gig – so it's worth your time if you have some passions you want to explore.
Check out the video below to learn more about starting a podcast!
8. Start a YouTube Channel
Starting a YouTube channel is another great side hustle for anyone looking to make money online.
YouTube has over 1 billion users, making it one of the most popular websites worldwide. With so many people searching on YouTube, it makes total sense to start publishing videos as a creator.
There are plenty of accounting YouTube channels that make a significant amount of money helping others.
For example, if you're a CPA, creating videos about how to prepare your taxes could be a good idea. Check out this YouTube channel that's dedicated to helping you build wealth and optimize your taxes. He has over 500,000 subscribers!
Every time you create and publish a new video, it has a chance to rank on YouTube as well as other search engines like Google to bring in traffic (and money!).
To make money with this social media giant, you have a few options. One of the most popular methods is utilizing affiliate marketing to promote offers and products that you recommend. You'll earn a small portion of each sale you help to facilitate. There's no risk with affiliate marketing making it a great choice for anyone looking to make extra cash.
Another option is through YouTube ads. To qualify for this, your channel will need to reach certain thresholds that are explained here.
Some YouTubers have made millions from their channels making it one of the best side jobs for accountants that I strongly recommend.
10. Make Money Taking Surveys
Taking online surveys is a simple way to make a little extra money without much effort. While you won't make a ton of money taking surveys, it's an easy way to make quick money.
One of my favorite things about taking online surveys is that it can be done whenever you have a few minutes and you can complete them from anywhere in the world making it a win win for your wallet.
Most people can make anywhere from $3 to over $25 per survey when using some survey sites like Rakuten Insight, Survey Junkie, or Swagbucks.
As a bonus, most survey sites will offer you free money just for signing up. Who can say no to that!?
If you're looking for a way to easily make money online without any special skills, consider giving online surveys a try!
11. Offer a Tax Planning Service
Tax planning is another excellent side hustle for accountants because you can earn a fortune using your accounting skills.
This is slightly different than completing tax returns or bookkeeping. Instead, you'll get paid to help business owners and individuals how to prepare for their tax bill and strategies they can use to lower their taxes.
Many businesses owners can face tax bills over six figures, but if you can help them lower their bill by a substantial amount, you can make great money.
For example, check out a few of the tax planners I found on Upwork. Most of them charge over $150 and even $300 an hour for their time.
As a tax consultant you'll need to be very familiar with the tax laws so you can legally help people and small businesses prepare for their taxes but you can make a great income doing so.
12. Become a Social Media Influencer
Social media can be a goldmine to make money as an affiliate marketer. It can be a perfect side hustle for accountants and CPAs because you can do it whenever you have free time and it costs nothing to start.
With this side gig you'll be to understand how to grow social media accounts before you can start making real money, but it's easier than you might think.
Once your accounts start to gain traction, you can promote affiliate offers to start monetizing your efforts. It's possible to make $10k a month with this side hustle simply by understanding how to do social media marketing and build a following.
Here's a great video to learn how to build your following.
13. Work as a Tutor
Looking to use your accounting specialties to make money? Consider tutoring!
Because there are many people taking accounting classes, there's always demand for people who can help teach the principles of accounting.
The amount of money you can make will depend on your experience but it's possible to make over $50 an hour tutoring for accounting.
14. Work as an Adjunct Professor
Teaching accounting on the side is an awesome way for many accountants to grow their income and expand their knowledge in the industry.
There are many professor jobs at local colleges you can find to make additional cash after your 9-to-5.
The pay structure is different than other side jobs on my list. Many adjunct professor are paid by the number of courses they teach. It's common to earn a few thousand dollars for each course you hold.
If you're looking for a side hustle you can start with no money, this is for you!
15. Pet Sit with Rover
Pet sitting is one of the easiest ways to grow your income for just about anyone, including accountants.
With this side hustle, homeowners will pay you to watch over their animals while they are away on vacation or traveling for work.
The amount of money you can make will depend on the city you live in and the number of pets you're watching but it's possible to make $100 a day pet sitting in some cases.
If you're looking for work, I recommend using Rover to instantly get connected with people in your area needing pet sitters. Create your account below to get started!
16. Drive for Uber or Lyft
Driving for a ride hailing service like Uber or Lyft is an easy side hustle for people with a day job like accounting.
While the average salary for drivers is nothing insane at around $54,000 annually, it's an excellent way to earn money whenever you have free time.
As a bonus, most ride hailing services will offer additional pay during peak hours when demand is high. This can be an even better opportunity to make extra income in addition to your day job.
17. Teach CPA Exam Study Classes
The CPA exam is known for being extremely difficult, with only around 50% of students passing.
CPA exam prep is a massive industry with some courses costing thousands of dollars.
If you have the skills, offering CPA exam prep can be another tremendous way to use your accounting skills to make extra money on the side.
18. Try Freelance Writing
Freelance writing is a great side job for accountants to earn extra cash.
And no, you don't need to be an expert writer or English major to get started!
Beginner writers can make anywhere from $.10 to $.25 per word written and more experienced writers can make upwards of $1 per word. That means a 1,000 word blog post could net you $1,000 fast!
To find clients as a freelancer, you can use sites like Upwork or Fiverr but it's usually better to network with other writers and work directly with publishers. Try reaching out to them to find work – you'd be surprised how many businesses are searching for writers.
Here's a great video on how to get started!
20. Start an Ecommerce Business
Opening an online store can be extremely profitable and a superb way to grow your income.
However, there are also many challenges that come with e-commerce. The logistics of the business can be overwhelming at times, especially for first time entrepreneurs.
Understanding how to manage inventory, customer service, and shipping can be stressful put aside all of the marketing that needs to be implemented for people to find your store.
However, you can make a fortune if you can figure all of this out. And your years in business school can give you a leg up!
Check out this video to learn more about starting an online store!
21. Start a Small Business
Becoming a small business owner is a great option for any accountant looking to make more money and eventually become a full-time entrepreneur.
There are tons of profitable small businesses you can start for $1,000 or less.
For example, starting a pressure washing company is a simple business that can make a great income.
While around 90% of start ups fail, if you use your accounting knowledge to manage your finances correctly, you'll have a much stronger chance of succeeding.
Best of all, if you build a successful business you can eventually sell it for a nice chunk of change. Check out this laundromat for sale I found. You should easily be able to sell your business for one years revenue, if not more!
22. Write Business Plans
Having knowledge of how businesses and corporations work can come in handy when starting a new business.
With many entrepreneurs not knowing what should go into a business plan, they often lean on accountants and other business management experts for help.
It's possible to charge anywhere from $250 to over $1,000 per business plan you help construct but you can set your own rates depending on your expertise.
23. Work as a Forensic Accountant
Working as an accounting consultant can be a great option to make additional money.
Forensic accountants work to find fraud, money laundering, and other illegal financial activities within companies.
Most forensic accountants are hired by industry accounting companies that conduct audits on other companies.
You can also work on your own and find clients by creating a website and networking with others in the industry.
Working as a forensic accountant can pay well with many of these specialty accountants can make over $50 per hour for their time.
Passive Income Ideas for Accountants
Invest in Real Estate
Investing in real estate with Arrived is an excellent way to earn passive income as an accountant.
It's possible to make a few hundred dollars each month from your investments – which is a great income to keep your budget in check.
While there are several methods of real estate investing, I recommend Arrived for those with a full-time job. Arrived takes the stress out of real estate investing by managing properties completely so you don't have to do any work.
You can get started with as little as $100 making it a great option for anyone looking to start investing in real estate.
Invest in the Stock Market
Growing your money in the stock market is another excellent way to make passive income from your money.
By using an app like Acorns you can invest in index funds, ETFs, mutual funds, and other stock market investments in just a few taps.
As a bonus, you'll get $10 in free stock when you create a new account with the link below!
Sell Online Courses
Creating and selling an online course can be a great option to make passive income while you sleep.
With this side gig, you can start generating extra income for each course you sell.
To get started, you'll need to create a website for visitors to purchase your course. You'll also need to select a platform to host your course. If your course contains videos, you could use something like Podia.
Next, you'll need to find a way to promote your online course so you can generate sales. I recommend using affiliate partners and Facebook ads so you can get started quickly and run a profitable business.
Looking for more help selling online courses? Check out this video for more help!
Publish an eBook
Self publishing a book can be a lucrative way to make residual income as an accountant.
Thanks to platforms like Amazon publishing you can now easily publish your eBook for sale without needing a fortune to get started.
Writing a book can take some time but it's a great way to make money online and build your income.
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Final Thoughts on Making Money as an Accountant
Working as an accountant can be a rewarding career financially, but a little extra cash can never hurt. That's where a side hustle comes into play.
There are plenty of side hustles for accountants to grow their income and some of them can even become a full-time job.
Between working as a bookkeeper, delivering food, or even starting a tax prep service – you have plenty of options.
So what're you waiting for? Start growing your income today!
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