I am a semi-retired businessman (55) from Yorkshire who for various reasons I will not bore you with, needs to start bringing in a monthly income again.
I have run three family businesses since 1974 and although having no formal business qualifications I was fairly succesful in all these enterprises even If I do say so myself. I should say that in all of these businesses I was responsible for all the admin including "doing the books" firstly a manual system and then with the advent of computers simple computerised systems, through to the last enterprise which involved a full stock control and accounting package. I learnt myself to be able to control this package and even to produce monthly management accounts .
My problem is lack of confidence. I sold the last business in 2002 and really have done very little admin work since. I have purchased Kaplans "Practical bookeeping" and things are beginning to come back to me as I progress through it ( I am up to chapter 7)
I am thinking of starting a bookeeping business as the thought of working for someone else fills me with dread. My question is are there people out there who will entrust their business accounts to an ageing has been! or is it too late.Honest opinions please??
If so do you think I should sit the ICB level 1 and 2 Certs or would experience be enough.
Also has anyone got any level one past exam papers they would be willing to part with.
In answer to your question - Yes you can make it work.
The vast amount of practical admin and accounts experience you have gained over the years is in my opinion, your unique selling point. Age is not a barrier to bookkeeping, the fact that you are willing and prepared to venture into new territory at your time in life is great and you should not feel that you may be `past it`, far from it.
Also, by working through the Kaplan book you should be able to easily complete, and successfully pass the ICB levels 1 & 2. This combined with your experience will boost your confidence and get you back into the swing of things.
I work for myself because like you, I dont want to work for someone else, I have been there, done that and worn the T shirt and battle scars.
Have confience in your abilities, and remember, you did it before, you can do it again !
Welcome to the forum. I am in a very similar position to yourself and I have just started my own bookkeeping business. I part-qualifed as an accountant many years ago, before going back to the family business, we owned several retail shops. I too did the books and only used an accountant for tax purposes. However I lack any formal qualifications and hence I have decided to do ICB level 1 & 2 (computing) then Level 2 manual (probably in January due to time contraints) I am also going to do their level 3 dipolma in Self-Assesment Tax Returns. I decided not to use any training courses because I felt that with my experiance I should be able to pass using the Kaplan book only. I am mainly doing the course to show potential clients and accountant's that I have formal qualifications and to show some creditibility, although I suspect most clients will not be too bothered with qualifications.
Personally I think potential clients will see a mature person as having more experiance and being reliable, I not knocking younger bookkeepers I am just speaking from my own experiance of hiring staff over the years, younger bookkeepers can be just as good as someone with years of experiance, its just the way society percieves age.
You can order past papers for only £5 for ICB once you our a registered student, currently £45.
I say go for it, you have plenty of personal experiance, 55 is not that old, I'm 41 myself so don't let your age put you off, and like you say working for yourself is better than working for someone else. It may take a while for your business to take off however, I am considering doing some temping in the short term, great experiance, get paid weekly and no long term commitments and in the early days you can fit new clients around temping work.
I agree with the others, you're certainly not too old to start anything like this. Rather than "ageing has been" I think the words you're looking for are "wiser and experienced".
One area you are probably likely to have an advantage in, are the industries you have had the family businesses in. Most in business would value someone with near 30 years business management/ownership experience and you should emphasise this, especially within the industries you have experience with.
Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement.
Onwards and upwards then Eh!
I will no doubt be back on this forum again very shortly asking endless questions about things that wont quite sink in. However its reassuring to know there's someone out there willing to help
