New member - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

Missey · Veteran Member

New member

kjmcculloch · Guru

Firstly, welcome back.

I think the question you have asked is extremely common, but very difficult for anyone other than yourself to answer. You say you feel competent, but I'm guessing just not confident.

When you decide to take the plunge your confidence will grow. Whether that is now or later wont matter. The most important piece of advice I can give you is only to take on work which you feel you are competent to complete, there will be no bigger knock to your confidence at this early stage than taking on work you are unable to do. Start small and build on it.

Hope this helps.

Kris

lor · Guru

Good advice from Kris I would say, if you have any spare time with working and studying at the moment then you could start by offering bookkeeping services only, or the services that you are competent to offer and start from there. Or you could wait until your studies are finished which is what I did, then you may have more knowledge and be able to offer more services, but then again if you start now you will build up your confidence for when you finished your studies. I guess it depends if you have the time and confidence to do it now.

Missey · Veteran Member

Thanks Kris and Lor

I have been so inspired by your threads over the last year or so. It really has kept me motivated in moving forward.

Missey

ICBUK · Guru

Hi Missey,

One thing I would add is make sure you have MLR supervision. It might be cheaper to wait and get this from the AAT (check with them as I don't know what they charge) rather than paying £120 to HMRC.

But otherwise yeah go for it, as Kris says you confidence will grow quickly if you keep within your comfort zone.

Good luck!

James

Missey · Veteran Member

Thanks James. Good point

BackOfficeGroup · Guru

Missey

You also need to be aware of the restrictions as to what you can do with your memberships. I have no idea about the AAT but worth checking.

P

semsley · Guru

Missy. if you have friends or relatives it might be best to test our your skills on them before putting yourself out in the big wide world. "Doing it for real" if really far removed from scenarios written for exams.

Rhianrach · Expert

Missey wrote:

Hi All

I am a newish member (i was prevously logged on as bubsy but the site seems to have lost me and so I am now logged on a Missey). I am qualified up to level 2 IAB and am currently studying (distance learning) AAT (intermediate level at the moment) and doing well.

Hows that going Missy, I will be starting that level this weekend myself distance learning just wondered how hard/easy it is?

lor · Guru

Hi missey, that is good point made by James, I am with AAT, and I think it cost me about £25 for money laudering regs and also you can then get professional indemity insurance though trafalgar which if you are with the AAT it is about £50, alot cheaper than other insurance providers, so yeah this would be another upside for leaving it till after completing AAT, you will have to weigh up the pros and cons.

I notice you say you are on intermediate level, I have done AAT and when it comes to technician level I found it became a hell of a lot harder and needed more time for study and revsion and alos theres that project unit 10, which i thought was ok to do just time consuming. I think it will be very brave of you to start a business and do the tech level of AAT, but perhaps you could practice on friends and family like semsley has said above.

hope this helps it is up to you at the end of the day, let us know how you get on if you decide to go ahead!. GOOD LUCK!

Missey · Veteran Member

Hi Rhianrach

I'm enjoying it but sometimes it's a hard slog working full time and studying. I am fairly disciplined but as Lor suggests it gets harder at I go along and I Know that the Tech level is even more difficult.

I think the key is to really committ to the study (I do at least six hours a week) on a regular basis which helped me to feel confident when sitting the exam/simulations. If I wasn't working full time I think it would speed things up a little.

I hope you enjoy it. Let me know how you get on and if you need any help let me know.

Missey

Missey · Veteran Member

Thanks Lor, I think you are right. I can imagine that the tech level is much more difficult and time consuming. I barely have time on the weekends what with studying and catching up in the house so I really don't think it would be a good idea to chase clients at this stage.

I just need to think what friends and family to practice on.

I'll keep logging on to the forum as I find it really helpful.

Thanks again

lor · Guru

hi missey, I did aat in the evening at college whilst working full time and it was difficult especially when there were exams and your friends and boyfriend wants you to go clubbing!. Even worse if your exam is near christmas time, but I got through it and i'm sure you will, you sound like you are organised with everything so you should be ok.

I think when I had finished college there was a void, all of a sudden I had these extra evenings that is when I thought to myself I need a new venture, so I decided to start self employed work also.... now almost 2 years on I am still working Full Time as I find self employed bookkeeping is like buses there aren't any for a while then they all come at once. So I need full time work to keep a regular income and then top it up now and then with my bookkeeping business, this has worked best with me. My dream is to just do my bookkeeping business, but I haven't felt it has been the right time as of yet. 2 years on and I now feel confident and have an idea on what to charge and how long certain jobs take etc, it has been quite fun actually, even though it is work, it is good that I am able to do it was home when I am ready.

Good Luck again!

lor · Guru

Missey, one more thing if you would like any pointers with regards to things to do with AAT (e.g unit 10 project) then I can help you on that, I passed technician in august 2008, so I don't think a great deal should have changed since then!

When do you start the technician level if you don't mind me asking?

Missey · Veteran Member

One more thing Lor. On a practical level and considering that I have finished my FRA at intermediate level, can I assume that this is enough training at this stage for me to be able to do someone's books up to P/L and B/S for year end or will there be more units covering double entry bookeeping at tech level.

In other words, would the AAT skills I have at this stage be enough for me to do a basic bookeeping job whether for friends or a small business or would I be jumping too quickly at this stage (apart from the time and committment involved).

Thanks

lor · Guru

I would say after completing AAT Intermediate then you should have the knowledge to do peoples accounts to trial balance then pass on to an accountant to complete the rest. You may be able to produce a profit and loss and balance sheet but I may self at that stage would be inclined to have it checked over by an accountant until you have built up some practical experience in bookkeeping. I noticed you say that you work in a different field are you planning to move to accounatncy in your job?, sorry to sound nosey trying to get an idea of your plans then I can answer your questions better.

what i am trying to highlight is make sure that you have practical experience also, its good to have aat qualifiaction but until you do it in the real worl, that is when you do the learning etc

-- Edited by lor on Friday 20th of August 2010 01:14:17 PM

Missey · Veteran Member

Hi Lor

I've only just completed FRA and Unit 31 at intermediate so I still have ECR (unit 6), Unit 15 and Unit 32 to complete for intermediate. I also have completed IAB booking up to level 2. I need to complete intermediate by July 2011 because of the AAT changeover and I dont expect to have finished Tech level until at least July 2012 because of work committments.

I work for a law company (intellectual property) within the administration team which involves some finance (issuing invoices, forecasting budgets for clients, providing estimates etc) but I have no experience working within the accounts department although I spend a lot of time chasing them.

After completing IAB I felt Iwould like to do basic bookeeping for small business in my area but really wanted a better grounding and understanding of accounts hence AAT. I am really enjoying the challenge and would like to eventually set up business as a full AAT member. I also have the added experience of being able to provide l secretarial/administration should they want it.

I would like to start getting some experience now but I don't want to take on too much because as you are aware, studying and working full time amongst other committments leaves me with little time to really give clients the service they deserve.

On the other hand, if I could perhaps offer to do the books for one person perhaps for free this would give me the experience I so need. Or maybe I am being too hasty and should wait and trust that all will happen in good time by 2012.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much Lor for your suggestion with Unit 10, I might actually take you up on the offer.

Watching how you and others have grown over the years on this forum has inspired me with confidence.

Bye for now

lor · Guru

just got back from holiday in Pentewan Cornwall, read your post above and agree that doing the bookkeeping for one person at the mo would be a good idea then you will be able to build on this if you feel you are able to.

It sounds like you have alot of accounting quals, did you start with IAB then decide to change to AAT?, if you build on your practical experience then you will be on the road to having a few clients of your own, good luck. Just take it one step at a time and you should get there, don't take on anything you don't feel confident about doing. any queries you can also ask on here for clarification which is what I have done previously.

I have been inspired by lots of people on this forum also. It seems strange to think back to when I started it wasn't that long ago, but I have learned so much.

-- Edited by lor on Sunday 29th of August 2010 01:15:23 PM