I'm new to this forum (I stumbled accross it quite by accident!)
I've been a self employed book keeper for many years now and I am completely self taught. I have no aspirations to be an accountant but as time goes on you naturally gain new skills and can offer your clients more services (and charge more per hour!)
In your opinion would I gain anything from becoming qualified or even a member of a proffesional body? (Or do the two come together?)
I'm not particularly looking for a financial gain, I was wondering if there are other ways it might be of benefit.
I'm very much like you, have 40 years experience but am doing a level 3 IAB course to become a member to save on MLR fees. The course is boring, I've been doing it 3 weeks now and all we do is past papers and I've not learnt anything - well that's not strictly true I am learning the exam technique silly things like inputting customer/supplier names exactly ie Limited not Ltd., and more serious things like paying net wages to the gross wages account without doing a wages journal !!!!which is not something one would normally do.
Sheila
-- Edited by semsley on Thursday 5th of November 2009 11:39:15 AM
I have a practising license with the ICB and I am newly qualified so find it reassuring that being a member offers me free technical and legal advice. It is nice to know that help is just a phone call away, plus I also think that it makes you come across as more professional to new clients when you have letters after your name, showing that you are qualified, especially for people like me with not a lot of experience.
I would say being a member of a professional body did not make much difference with me in gaining clients as majority of potential clients were more interested in experience then qualifications.
Would say the main benefit for me of being a member of a professional body was being covered for money laundering regulations as totally disagree with Inland Revenue charging so much for a couple of minutes admin work putting bookkeepers details on a register.
Would say that being a member of a professional body and having got qualifications made it that much easier for me finding full time employment, I decided on evening 10th October to start applying to jobs on 12th October and was offered full time job on 30th October, I first turned this down because of the salary Monday just gone but they phoned back a little while later that day to offer me more. Would say I would not have had the confidence to have even been able to get past interview stage and been offered a job before I got my qualifications let alone being able to turn down a job because of the salary. The qualifications gave me more confidence in myself.
Like you I have been in business for a long time, since 1991. I an totally self taught and up to now, did not see the point of qualifications for what I did/do. Now, with MLR etc, I have decided to get a minimum qualification that gets me over these hurdles and I see noother benefit than that.
Seems there are quite a few of us who started out in similar ways. I too am completely self taught with no professional qualifications. I have been a Finance Manager and then freelance bookkeeper for over fifteen years.
I have to say that not one of my clients over the years has ever asked if I have any qualifications. I mainly get referrals through word of mouth and recommendations (until BNI last week!)
And again - it must be something in the air this year, I decided to get some qualifications, for the MLR mainly. I went down the Ideal Schools/ICB route.
Ideal schools I found OK - very friendly when I phoned up, but very slow getting the marked papers back. You have to get on with the next one, assuming the previous one will be OK. And I had to send several Emails to get answers to any queries. I also found that there were one or two mistakes in the papers where they had not been updated.
Then I had to pause in the studies as I got so busy with other things, and I have to say I have been quite disappointed that I have not had one phone call or Email from them to check everything is OK. Why should they bother, of course - but still.........
But unless you are really lucky and can get skilled 'on the job', studying would seem the way to get started now.
