I'm new too! - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

G-Day · Member

I'm new too!

Wella · Expert

Welcome Jide

Looking forward to hearing from you in future posts.

Bill

YLB-HO · Guru

Hi Jide, lovely to "meet" you.

I'm looking forward to reading your posts.

gbm · Guru

Hi Jide,

Welcome to the forum.

betty121 · Senior Member

Hi Jide,

Great to have a fellow Glaswegian on the site. Hello from Partick. I'm also studying AAT and hoping to start up on my own in the next year or so. Are you at college or studying via distance learning? I wish to all the best in your new business and hopefully you can let me know what the Glasgow market is like, how busy, rates etc.

Elizabeth

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi Jide,

Sorry missed you yesterday but I wasn't around much. belated welcome to the forum from me too.

I know that from your introduction I'm probably teaching my gran to suck egg's here but in the excitement of setting up your business don't fotget to set up your MLR cover.

Good luck with your new venture and looking forwards to chatting in the coming months.

All the best,

Shaun.

G-Day · Member

Hi all and many thanks for your very kind and warm welcome. I am truly really excited about my new to be status and Shaun...yes....I'm sure I will forget to set many essential things in place such as my MLR and PI cover and thats why I need people like yourselves to put me right!

So, that brings me to my first query...I have already completed this MLR with a former employer ( I worked briefly for a bank some years back) does that not count anymore? Having to pay HMRC £120 seems a lot of money for something I have already gone through....any thoughts or advice on that.

Secondly, PI cover, any ideas how much I should insure myself up to? I have got a couple of quotes ranging from £120 -£150 for £100000. Although I'm not hoping I'd put myself in a situation where I would have to be sued by anyone, but is £100000 adequate cover for someone who is just starting up.

If anyone has had any great deals recently can you kindly let me know.

Regards

Jide

G-Day · Member

Hi Elizabeth,

yeah....great to meet a fellow Glaswegian on the forum. Sorry I don't know how I missed reading your post before I replied earlier on...anyways I am doing the AAT Diploma Pathway through distance learning, its a lot of hardwork and I sometimes struggle for time and energy and moreso everything about the qualification is changing and I am not yet grasped how that affects me and the exams I have already done.

I am continually and endlessly researching the market in Glasgow...I am sure there will always be space for two more bookkeepers!

Oh! BTW...I'm on the southside of Glasgow!

Jide

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi Jide,

100k should be more than enough start up cover. The amount of cover really needs to reflect the level of clients that your dealing with as PII really relates back to negligence claims for which there must have been an enforcable duty of care, that duty must have been breached and loss must have resulted. The loss must be qualifiable and you are responsible for putting the wronged party back into the position that they would have been in had the breach not occured.
Considering the above, if you only deal with small clients then £100k should more than cover you.
Needless to say, the larger your clients turnover the more risk involved and the higher your PII cover needs to be (regardless as to your companies turnover).
On the MLR front you are registering your business with HMRC so anything that has gone before has no bearing on that. I know from personal experience that whenever I start a contract with a financial institution I have to do the MLR course again which is real frustrating when you are actually covered for MLR and know more about it than the people giving the course! Afraid that this is just one of those scenario's where you are going to have to grit your teeth and pay up I'm afraid.
One other point whilst I think about it. Check what services your AAT student membership allows you to offer. I know from bitter perseonal experience that my ACCA status means that I can only offer bookkeeping to trial balance, VAT and Payroll (and no business advice at all) which frustrates the heck out of me when I also held ICB membership which allowed me to do far more
Talk in a bit,

Shaun.

G-Day · Member

Thanks Shaun for the insight. I guess I am going to have to cough up the money to HMRC then. Although, I find it a bit bamboozling that one can't give some form of advice to your clients with all these different accounting bodies having different criteria. I know I'm not setting out to give any business or tax advice, but during your consultation with a prospective client or even one you already have on the books, one should be able to say to the client whether it would benefit the their business to be VAT registered on not based on what you see going through their books. Would I always have to say " Go ask an accountant and get back to me".They'd probably be thinking what I'm I paying you for, an accountant could as well be keeping the books then! .

Anyway, thanks for the advice, I'll certainly check what and what not I'm able to do or say before I see myself getting into trouble. I was actually thinking sometime ago maybe I should be doing the ICB instead of AAT, but I thought the AAT was more widely recognised than ICB, I may still switch as I think I only want to be a bookkeeper not really a chartered accountant...do the ICB offer any exemptions at all.

Jide

ICBUK · Guru

Hi Jide,

ICB do offer some exemptions from the AAT qualifications if they were taken within 2 years. You may be required to take an additional entrance paper, which is scenario based, to support your application.

If you are already half way through your AAT you might as well stick with them and swap over when you have finished. Unless the ICB has more available test centres in your area?

Under the ICB you can give some advice, but not corporation taxation advice for example. The word 'advice' covers quite a bit, but as long as you stick to what you have covered in your course you would be ok. For example, if your client asks if you can claim back the VAT on something, that technically could be described as tax advice but would be ok.

G-Day · Member

Hi James

Thanks for the information, I will look into ICB route in more detail at some point, as the AAT is undergoing some changes regarding its qualifications and I am not exactly sure how that pans out for me. I guess I have a lot on my plate right now, and I think I want to concentrate on starting up my bookkeeping business. The qualifications anyhow is just to back up my practical experience anyway and assure my clients that I know what I'm talking about and doing.

Regards

Jide

ICBUK · Guru

Ah sorry miss read your post, didn't realise you had experience too.

You could get exemptions via the work you have been doing, but I guess that would kinda defeat the point of getting qualifications smile

although you would still be able to use the crest etc and just do the tests when you have more time.

favour · Member

Hi G-Day,
I have just started bookkeeping and accounting business in Glasgow, and was looking around to see if i will find a bookkeeper in this forum from Glasgow. i am happy to find you. i will like to know what business in Glasgow is like, and how one can get clients quicker. and what the price is like.
Blessing

NikkiJ · Veteran Member

Hi Jide,

I'll be following your progress in setting up on your own with interest. I'll be doing the same in a few months hopefully!!

Nikki

Figurate · Senior Member

Hi Jide,
I'm nowhere near Glasgow (as I am in Northampton), but hello anyway and good luck with setting up your new business :)