I am considering doing a book-keeping course but am only willing to do so if there is a demand for book-keepers. As far as I'm concerned, doing a course in a job that leads to no job is like throwing money away! I stay in West Lothian (Scotland) - anyone here have any idea how much of a demand there is in this part of the country?
nice to hear someone looking at this rationally rather than believing the out of date, self fulfilling, unsubstantiated hype of the training providers.
Unfortunately life doesn't come with any guarantee's especially in relation to employment.
I spend a lot of time in Scotland and certainly in Edinburgh there is a lot of business to be had although with so many accountancy students on degree programs there trying to earn extra cash whilst studying you are going to be looking at serious competition for entry level businesses.
The problem that you're going to have is if you lack experience beyond the course. Bookkeeping isn't as quick to pick up as the training providers would have you believe. They teach the basics but it doesn't really prepare you for the real world where clients expect their bookkeepers to have accountant levels of knowledge and skill but for about the same price as they pay the cleaner!
To get experience you need to look at temp accounts based roles such as low level sales ledger and purchase ledger type work to get a foothold.
I don't know your history and you may feel that these roles are below your level of competence but unless you gain some experience in real world environments you may find it difficult to get clients.
To get any role in finance you will need to be looking at AAT or CAT rather than ICB or IAB.
As a yardstick it will take you about three years to pass the AAT exams. You could pass ICB a lot faster but it would be unlikely to lead to employment (just try finding any job advert anywhere that asks for ICB or IAB).
As always how profitable your business is relates directly to the supply and demand factors of your services. How many others are offering bookkeeping services in the area that you wish to service compared to the number of businesses to support those already established service providers?
Anyway, sure that the above has given you something to think about.
I wish you the very best in whatever you decide to do but it will probably take longer and be more expensive than you think it will at the moment and there is never, ever a guaranteed return at the end of it.
Talk soon,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Thank you very much for that thoughtful and detailed response. Given what you have told me, it is definitely not worth my while going down the bookkeeping road. With 2 kids to feed and no prior experience, it would simply take too long to bear fruit.
