I wonder if I could get some advice from you. At the moment I have the ICB Level 1 in Basic Bookkeeping and am awaiting 10th June to take the level 2 exam. Whilst waiting for my exam, I have been advertising for about a month and a half and so far have one client. The only problem is that I have turned away 9 potential clients so far as they want me to do tax returns. I did the bookcert course along with the ICB and the Bookcert course advised to stick to bookkeeping and leave everything else to Accountants, however the people that I am speaking with are unwilling to pay Accountants fees and want their bookkeeper to do their self assessments and tax returns. Does anyone have any advice as I am getting really frustrated at having to turn away clients that I need. Does anyone here just offer bookkeeping services alone or is it just me? Should I see about getting some additional VAT and Self Assessment training to give me the confidence or will my ICB training so far be enough to do the task? Any help would be really appreicated.
With tax returns if you want to do these you either have to not be member of ICB with practising certificate so would then have to pay HMRC £120 for Money Laundering Regulations or take a tax return exam with the ICB, with ICB you are not allowed to offer services that you don't have qualifications for, this is same for payroll services you need ICB Payroll Diploma exam.
I would advise strongly for any bookkeeper to leave the Tax Returns to the accountants, it is a lot of responsibility and if you got it wrong and client ended up paying wrong tax he would blame bookkeeper, possibly can sue?. Accountants have had the adequate training to complete tax returns. If you do the books up to trial balance stage, good accountants if you build a good working relationship with should not charge your clients a lot for the tax return, so if you want to take on clients who want this, try approching local accountants who you can refer the tax return work to (you never know if you do this for them they may pass bookkeeping work your way)
Thank you for replying Alison. My instincts are telling me not to do any tax work as like you rightly said, thats why accoutants are paid more and I dont want to risk being sued, it is just frustrating having to turn down work that I really want to do. I am feeling really disheartened at the mo and feeling sorry for myself. I've turned down 2 clients this morning. Oh well, I'll keep advertising and playing the waiting game and hopefully will get some more clients in the near future. Thank you again for your quick reply Alison.
Hi, Terri I think you have done really well to get 9 potential clients in a month. I too am like you, I have passed level 1 manual, I am waiting for the results of level 2 computerised and I am due to sit level 2 manual on June 10th. I have been advertising for about a month and think I may be doing something drastically wrong or perhaps charging too much as I have not had one enquiry. I also do not offer tax returns. The only client I have at the moment is my daughter (for her internet based business) which I do free of charge. Good job I also have a part time accounts job! Could I be cheeky as to ask how you are advertising? I have tried cards in local shops, letters to small busineses in the area, internet advertising and an ad in the local paper, which was an expensive waste of time. You are obviously doing something right and I am sure it is only a matter of time before you get more clients.
It is probably nothing that you are doing wrong with your advertising, it is just the current climate.
I started my business in August 2006 with 14 years experience and no qualifications. I got potential clients every week and took on at least one new client a month.
Got qualifications in September 2007 - October 2008 ICB (all but level 3 manual which still need to work through coursework for). This improved the amount of enquiries until recently, now whatever form of advertising does not seem to have much results, hoping it will pick up soon. Also does not help that lots of people who are being made redundant are starting up as bookkeepers, and having low prices, I personally don't want to go backwards and reduce my rates.
Thank you for your reply, I suspected it was probably due to the current climate, not enough work and too many new bookkeepers, me included. It seems you set up at the right time, I hope you continue to gain new clients.
Oh well, I shall just carry on advertising and hope things improve soon.
