Hi Ethan The book you have probably got is called essential bookkeeping (£40 from Kaplan Publishing)and it used to cover the syllabus for ICB Manual Bookkeeping levels 1 and 2. ICB have changed the syllabus slightly to fall in line with the Money Laundering Regulations announced in December 2007 so as long as you have got a fairly new edition it should have this covered and you should be able to get through the exams. On top of what you have paid to NEC you will have to find £45 for your membership fee and also £20 for the level 1 exam and £25 for the level 2 exam. I find it alarming that some of these distance learning companies brand books as courses and state what qualifications you might be able to achieve instead of it being a course that leads all the way through to the qualifications you want. If you want to progress to ICB Level 3 Diploma I would shop around and find a company that provide the whole course for you and include pre exam testing and also the fees. You can find a list of Accredited providers on the ICB web site. Not even sure if NEC are listed as an accredited provider for ICB.
nec are approved by icb but thanks for your advise good to know what is it like part time self employed bookkeeper is the hours/pay good is it possible to bookkeep part time thanks again Kind Regards Ethan
It is possible to bookkeep part time on the whole. Would say it is now much harder then it was to gain new clients as so many people have started bookkeeping businesses recently (people who have been made redundant from jobs because of the credit crunch) so competition is now more people to compete against.
If you do manage to get clients and only do part time and cannot do more if the clients business grows so their is more work needing doing you may not be able to keep up with the workload part time.
With redundancies come a lot of new business set ups so there are oportunities. Most small business owners do not realise the benefits of employing a bookeeper so it is up to you to educate them. Bookkeeping is generally the most annoying aspect for a sole trader because they would rather spent the time earning money by doing what they are good at. Your clients are closer than you might think. Start with friends and family even if they are not business owners because everyone knows someone. Spread the gospel and keep spreading the gospel. You could be selling a house for £50 but you wil not sell it unless people know about it.
The NEC course is based in Sage Instant Accounts which is of no use to a bookkeeper because it is only suitable for sole traders and small business. It is also a single company licence so effectively you would be learning a minimum amount and also only be able to have one client set up. You need to find someone who provides the ICB Computerised Bookkeeping courses based on Sage 50 Accounts or Sage 50 Professional. This way you would be learning to use the correct software for Bookkeepers and Accountants. It wil be essential because Sage is the most efficient way of carrying out the tasks these days. Once you are set up you will need to purchase the Sage 50 Accounts package which costs around £550.
Hi Ethan I found a couple for you. They both seem to belong to the one main Training Provider company. They use Sage 50 Accounts Professional for the courses and also provide support right through to exams including unlimited pre exam testing, the exam fee and free repeats. Mind you it looks like you wouldnt need any free repeats because the have a fantastic pass rate. www.training-link.co.uk and www.book-keeping-courses.co.uk. I am looking to do this course myself so if I find anything better I will let you know.
hi. i completed my icb levels one and two through training link and also done a sage payroll course with them and i have found them to be very good.The tutor support is very good and you usually get a quick response to any queries.
Thats good to know. I did my level 1 with Ideal Schools and had to wait a few days each time to hear back from my tutor which held me up no end. I didnt think the manual and supporting material was very good either. Also had to pay for and arrange my membership and exam myself. You really do have to make sure what you are getting before paying your money these days. Did you shop around before using Training Link?
i did shop around but the training link website was very good and also the price of the courses was very reasonable compared to others and the prices included the icb student registration and exam fees although it wasn't the case when i did my exams i believe they now do a free re test should you fail the exam .O verall i had no problems with them and they were always very helpfull with any queries
