First of all hi everyone! New to the book-keepers forum...
Okay, well on friday (31st Oct) I had a salesman from Skillstrain (also known as Scheidegger) visit me to sell me one of their courses.
He recommended I do their SAGE book-keeping course. £1870 for the full course, which I pay off in monthly installments of £70. This fee includes my course materials, exams, and tutor assistance.
The course sounded brilliant as I get to do it from home, at my own pace, with the exams held at the nearest college or University.
I don't know anything about book-keeping yet, but I was looking for a job with part-time or fully flexible hours, so I can also have my primary career of being a novelist. This is really what sold the course to me, especially as the salesman painted this idyllic picture of a minimum of £12/hour once I've completed the first part of the course - they wouldn't guarantee me a job, but they would refer me to an agency that employs book-keepers. £12/hour is a standard minimum wage to expect once I've got the SAGE qualification they said, and I could negotiate with the agency as to how much work they sent my way.
I've already signed an agreement and acceptance of their terms etc, but I have just under a week to make sure I definitely want to do the course. If I decide I don't I can cancel my agreement, but once a week has passed since I signed it I can't cancel it.
So I've been doing some internet review research into the company & all I've come across are bad reviews. I haven't actually found any regarding the book-keeping course though, and was wondering if anyone on here has heard of this company or the course they offer?
Should I do the course despite the multitude of bad reviews, or should I get out of my agreement on the basis of other people's experiences with the other courses offered by skillstrain?
If you have never done any accounts work before it really is a good idea to get some grounding in the basics first, ie manual systems before starting computerised training such as Sage. This will give you a good grounding in the principals. A very cheap option is to look at the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers ( www.book-keepers.org ) , register as a student, purchase Kaplans Practical Bookkeeping (£27.00) from ICB, work through this, apply for the level 1 manual exam with ICB. Alternatively, their website lists many colleges offering distance learning courses with tutorial support. It may be an idea to ring for prices !
Depending upon how confident you feel you can also cut out the `middleman` and do your Sage Certification `solo`. Check out their website, I think you can do Levels 1 to 3 for about £350. The price includes comprehensive workbooks, software with 180 days per level access and exam.
Also, before the end of your `cooling off period` could I suggest that you check out what jobs are available, look at some accountancy recruitment agencies, local paper, jobcentre plus website to see exactly what the going rate is for bookkeepers. Depending on where you live, hourly pay can range from £7.50 - £15.00, also qualifications and experience determine your hourly rate.
Thanks Julie, that was a really helpful post - I'll definitely check out the different routes you suggested. If I can do it that cheap, that alone makes it worth ditching the skillstrain course...and there are rather a lot of bad reviews about the company too!
Thanks again, I really appreciate the pointer in the right direction! :)
I'm also at the beginning of my journey, and I've looked into all the home learning colleges pricing etc. So perhaps I can help...
The only difference is I do have a bit of bookkeeping experience, I chase invoice, log purchases, sales and invoice people for a very small company - this is just half a day a week. I have started to study AAT in accountancy, but I've decided to switch to a bookkeeping course.
I've looked in to all the colleges etc, so you are welcome to contact me and I can pass you all the info I've found
I'm going to study manual bookkeeping first level one and two, then go on to computerised, for a better grounding. The first stage I'm going to study alone, I've just got the book Julie mentions from Amazon.
Thanks Bonnie - can I just ask; are your job expectations from this similar to mine? (ability to work from home, when & where you want, good wage, flexible work load?) tbh I'm hesitant to believe I could get all of that from following this path now - from all the advice I've had from different people about SkillsTrain I think the salesman may have just been spinning lies to get me to sign on.
I'm still really interested in this line of work, but the sheer number of routes into the industry...not to mention this thing with SkillsTrain have left me a bit knocked for confidence; I'm just really paranoid I'm going to get conned now, or that if I do get qualified it won't lead to the kind of career I have in mind.
I've compared the materials I used for ICB to that of people using Home Learning College and Skillstrain stuff. I really couldn't see what they were gaining extra for the overly-priced courses! The feedback I received from my tutor was excellent and I always received my work back in a week. Most providers dont have sales people = lower costs..the ones that do have sales reps = over-priced courses. I'm quite sure there are many people who have used these providers and are happy with the service received. People not 'in the know', Google bookkkeping courses and the result that comes up is usually Home Learning College and Skillstrain...who's flyer came through my door last week! People think they are the only option and usually get hooked after a chat with the salesperson and the promise of 'guaranteed work'..big earnings etc. If they found you a job or clients then it would be worth the expense but in my opinion, go for the more sensibly priced offerings. It's worth having a good look through all the posts on here or on UK Business Forums. Get as much info as possible before you put pen to paper!
Yes, I'm looking for the same as you, freedom to work from home but earn a decent wage.
I'll try and unconfuse you! So many people need a bookkeeper so I think it is a good career. From my research I've found that freelance bookkeepers earn a lot more than some office based workers where I've seen pay as low as £7 ph. Freelance, you should be able to earn £15-£25.
The best path I can see is the ICB, visit their website http://www.book-keepers.org/ they are a body not a learning centre, i.e you take their exam, but learn through a learning provider. Their site recommends certain centres: http://www.book-keepers.org/where_to_study/
Also, I think the best thing to do, is start at the beginning! Start at level one manual bookkeeping, prices range from £150-£300 depending which home learning centre you choose. This is a good way to get a taste for bookkeeping to, as you say you don't know if it's what you want to do, so its probably best not to pay in advance for all the levels.
You are welcome to PM me and I will give you my email address, I can pass on all the info that I've found!
