How To Make A Lot Of Money As An Accountant

Looking at how to make extra money as an accountant? Side hustles have become a greater necessity than ever before.

Everyone's looking for ways to create additional streams of income. And it's not surprising considering issues like student debt faced by so many people.

According to Statista, in the U.S., the largest area of debt is home mortgages at $9.14 trillion, with student loan debt the second biggest area at 1.44 trillion.

When you consider that in 2021 the average graduate who left College owes $37 172 in student loan debt, you get an idea of the impact of student debt on so many people.

The struggle is real for so many people who have graduated from college as an accountant and are now trying to stay afloat and repay their loans.

If you feel like you are being strangled by student debt or simply looking how to make extra money as an accountant, this one for you!

We have researched the most profitable and easiest side hustles for accountants that you can start today.

1. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a great way to start creating passive income for accountants.

Affiliate marketing is when you promote a company's product or products online and receive a commission for every product bought.

An example of a product you could promote through affiliate marketing is building a website or Youtube channel around accounting. Since your starting small, you might want to niche down and target a specific type of business owner you want to work with, like plumbers or lawyers.

From there, you would provide valuable info that would help those owners, and they would click on your recommended accounting software like Quickbooks,, which will earn you extra income.

Let's take a closer look at the advantages and disadvantages of affiliate marketing.

Advantages

Low start-up costs
Set your own working hours
Flexibility
No customer aftercare

Disadvantages

You don't have control over the affiliate program (commission structure and terms are set)
Competition
Can't establish your own customer base

Key Things To Consider

Affiliate marketing is an extensive subject, and there are lots to learn. Invest the time into learning as much as you can to give yourself an edge. Having a good affiliate marketing course like Authority Hacker's Authority Site System or Matt Diggity's AffiliateLab can really cut down the amount of time you need to learn about affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing can be competitive – to capture your audience's interest, make sure to do keyword research to see what niche you can go after.

2. Amazon FBA

Amazon is the largest online shopping platform globally beyond doubt the place to consider using for a side hustle.

More than 50% of all Amazon sales come from 3rd party sellers, so there is room for a small business owner like yourself to earn extra cash.

Amazon provides a platform via Amazon FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) to send your inventory to Amazon to be stored in their warehouse. When you receive orders, Amazon handles the entire process for you.

They handle everything from packing your products to shipping to providing 24/7 customer service support. It's all conveniently handled for you by Amazon.

You can sell many things on Amazon. Although there are not many accounting-related products that you can sell on Amazon (at least that I can think of), you can find any hot selling item and try to improve on it and sell it yourself.

Advantages

Shipping and storage handled by Amazon
Ability to reach a world wide audience
Very scalable and passive

Disadvantages

It is very competitive
Can be difficult to start
Challenging to keep track of your inventory

Key Things To Consider

Amazon is a vast platform with an immense amount of products for sale. You need to be able to get in front of customers' eyes. To help you get started, there is really good FBA course like Amazing Selling Machine or Marketplace Superheroes that can greatly help you.

3. Bookkeeping Services

Many small businesses need someone to take care of their bookkeeping services.

Small businesses may not be able to afford to hire someone to work for them full-time in this capacity. This makes becoming a BookKeeper one of the best side jobs for accountants.

The average salary of a full-time bookkeeper in the U.S. is $58,958 per annum. That's a significant amount for a small business to pay who may not be able to afford it themselves. That's where you come in!

Websites like Upwork and Freelancer are great places where you can find work in a bookkeeper's bookkeeper's part-time capacity. This is how I found my awesome bookkeeper Sandrine who was also looking for side hustles for CPAs.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of offering this kind of service?

Advantages

Good income potential – you can charge per hour
Minimal start-up costs
Consistent work

Disadvantages

You are accountable for the financial side of a business. You may be held responsible for mistakes.
It can be time-consuming,, especially around tax season

Key Things To Consider

Have personal recommendations on hand as referrals that can help you in landing new clients.
Consider getting bookkeeper insurance – it's a good investment and a way to safeguard yourself from any liabilities that may arise.

4. Become a CPA Tutor

Anyone pursuing a career as an professional accountant will inevitably have to face writing the CPA exam. For most people writing the exam, the stress is enormous, and they may well require tutoring. This is where you come in!

According to a market research study done by Technavio, "the private tutoring market in the U.S. is set to grow at a CAGR of nearly 7% during 2018-2022".

Tutoring is an area that is only growing, and you can generate a tidy stream of additional income here.

An example of a company you could work with as a tutor is Wyzant CPA Tutors. They offer the services of experienced, professional financial accounting tutors who can tutor those studying to write their CPA exam. The rate charged for tutor services is between $70 – $100 per hour.

There's definitly potential here to generate good supplemental income!

What then are the advantages and disadvantages of tutoring?

Advantages

There's always a demand for tutors
Little start-up costs
Potential to earn well as you charge per hour

Disadvantages

Need to have patience
You need to be able to adapt your teaching and methods to your student
Can be time-consuming

Key Things To Consider

Put a cancellation policy in place to cover if your client doesn't give you enough warning time before canceling.
Consider earning tutoring certification over-and-above your qualifications to give you an edge in getting clients. Possible certification options are the American Tutoring Association or the National Tutoring Association, amongst others.
While it's good to decide beforehand what teaching method you will use and have a strategy in place, be prepared to remain flexible and adapt as necessary to suit your client.

5. Kindle Publishing

Amazon is the world's largest e-commerce platform, which makes it possible for anyone to write a book and publish it through Kindle publishing.

If you're wondering why you should consider using Kindle publishing, then consider this statement issued by an Amazon spokesperson "Amazon's US and worldwide Kindle book sales grew in 2017, and continue growing in 2018 with particular strength in Kindle Unlimited, Amazon Publishing, and Independent Publishing". Kindle publishing is clearly just going from strength to strength.

While writing an ebook can be a tall task if you have a full-time job, it can also be very rewarding both from a passive income perspective and for your bookkeeping business.

As an entrepreneur, an ebook gives you credibility and exposure in you need to grow you business.

Here is how Ryan Stewart thinks about writing ebooks for business:

If you don't care about that additional expenses, ou could even outsource your book to a reputable company to save you the time from writing it yourself.

Let's look a little closer at the advantages and disadvantages of Kindle publishing:

Advantages

Access a worldwide marketplace
Earn passive money on sales
It can cost little to produce, counts as deductible expenses
Gives you legitimacy as a tax professional
Mistakes can be easily rectified
You have the option of publishing in both digital and audio format

Disadvantages

Time consuming
Lots of competition
Reliant on the Amazon marketplace
Hard to stand out

Key Things To Consider

Consider the type of book you want to write (i.e., non-fiction, educational book, etc.) and the niche you want to go after.
Familiarize yourself with the difference between Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) vs. Audible – audio books are hot but may not be good for all types of books.

6. Create an Online Course

The internet has forever shaped the world we live in. So much of our lives have moved online, including learning.

Consider this statistic: According to Forbes, "The worldwide e-learning market is projected to be worth $325 billion in 2025."

It's well worth looking into creating an online course! If you have already created an ebook, it would be a good idea to create an online video component.

An example of a place through which you can sell your online course is Udemy.

Udemy is an online learning marketplace that offers a vast array of free and paid-for courses on various topics.

There is no fee charged to those who create and host courses on Udemy. In fact, you can publish as many courses as you want and get in front of a whole new set of potential customers.

There are lots of potential topics you can cover in a course, such as helping sole proprietor's understand income tax, what counts as business expenses, invoicing and tax deduction strategies.

Let's take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of online learning courses:

Advantages

Good source of passive income
Gives you credibility
Can lead to further opportunities like speaking engagements and business leads

Disadvantages

Time-consuming writing the material and setting up the course
Can be overwhelming if you have never created a course before

Key Things To Consider

The big issue is always figuring out the niche you should target for your course – focus on your specialty and what people are looking for.
When creating your course, don't feel like you have to start from scratch. Use the info you already have on your website or ebook but expand it and go more deeply into the material.

7. Tax Consultation

As we have mentioned before, many small businesses will require help with their tax return. The average person is lost in the woods when it comes to figuring out tax forms. Most people are terrified of filing them out incorrectly and getting into trouble.

That's where you come in! You can assist small businesses and even individuals with filling out their tax returns and making deductions correctly.

When you consider that the average amount earned by tax accountants in the U.S. is $50-80 per hour, you can see that there's potential to earn some extra cash.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a Tax consultant?

Advantages

Job security – taxes will always be a fact of life and people will always need help with them!
Job satisfaction
Flexibility

Disadvantages

Can be stressful
Carries a lot of responsibility
Can be time-consuming

Key Things To Consider

Decide which area you will focus on – Tax consultation is a vast area ranging from non-accredited consultants who fill out simple tax returns all the way through to complicated tax issues that need to be dealt with by CGA's or CPA's.
Before you set your hourly rate, take some time to research and find out what competitors are charging and price yourself accordingly to attract clients.

Creating Passive Income for Accountants

If you are looking to make additional income passively and don't want to pick up a side hustle because of your day job, there are a few different options available for accountants:

Ce-Fi – Cryptocurrency saving rates offer much higher rates than your regular bank account. Options like centralized finance wallets Blockfi and Celsius can give you between 10%-12% on stable coins such as USDT and USDC in your savings account.

De-Fi – Decentralized finance is growing like crazy. It is a bit riskier than the centralized finance companies above, but the returns can be much higher at 18-22% on stable coins using protocols like Aavae and Comp.

Real Estate – Real Estate is always a great option for generating extra income. The biggest challenges of renting out real estate are getting proper renters and providing repairs. This will come with additional tax liability and tax write-offs. Instead of buying real estate directly, you can get income from Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), which offer yields similar to direct rentals.

Conclusion

So there you have it! Whether you are looking for some additional money to retire early, or are trying to get out of crushing student debt, hope you get got some inspiration for side gigs for accountants.

Now that you have some awesome ideas to get you going! Why wait? Start hustling today!