I am currently working towards AAT exams by doing distance learning with the aim of eventually earning some money by doing bookkeeping at home. How far along the AAT courses do you think I need to get before I try to start recruiting some customers? What are the key things I need to do to set up my own business - should I be a Ltd or sole trader etc. How easy is it to get the mandatory one year's experience in order to become a full member? How easy is it get customers? Is it possible to make a good living out of this type of work? Any top tips would be useful. Thanks.
I would suggest that its not simply about qualifications, its about how much experience you have already, whether you are working in accountancy at the moment and your level of confidence. In general, the more you have, the better.
For example, if you have no accounts experinece you might be better getting some experience as an employee under your belt.
I'd also suggest that getting the mandatory one years experience depends on what you have done before and where you live in the country.
Hourly rates for self employed bookkeepers vary widely depending on skills/ experience/ and geographical location. Rates quoted on this forum start at £9.00/ hr to £20+ /hr.
Its worth pointing out that a lot of these types of issues - and some you might not have thought of - have been discussed before on these forums. Its worth taking an hour or two to do a bit of searching around because I think there is a lot of very good advice here.
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.................just an ICB student, at the moment.
I'll also think you'll find you wont be able to practice (have your own business) till you have the qualification, and the insurance AND the certificate to practice. I have looked into doing this with the IAB but need insurance etc before i can practice... :(
I'll also think you'll find you wont be able to practice (have your own business) till you have the qualification, and the insurance AND the certificate to practice. I have looked into doing this with the IAB but need insurance etc before i can practice... :(
Take a look at the advert at the top of this page. Join the Book-keepers Network (for £24 a year) and you can get PI insurance for £78.
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Never buy black socks from a normal shop. They shaft you every time.
Whilst Peasie is quite correct and PII would be available to you for £78 (plus £24 BKR membership), please don't take this the wrong way but I don't think that on the back of OU B190 alone you are quite ready to start your own practice just yet.
I appreciate that you are MIAB but that was membership based on exemption. How are your computerised bookkeeping skills? Whilst the manual side is important to understand what is going on espechially in relation to journals and opening balances butmost of your time will be spent using various computer packages. When you work freelance there is noone to teach you and when you work for someone else they don't have the time to teach you.
I'm sure that you will go on to become a very good bookkeeper and maybe even an accountant but B190 (and even B292) are just first steps.
In this case I'm prone to saying that whilst you may have been given MIAB status I think that the ICB has the correct approach in just giving exemption from the level I paper and you really need to prove yourself with the manual and computerised level II papers.
If you fancy a challenge, buy Computerised Bookkeeping by Dr Peter Marshall. It has both ICB and IAB computerised exams for both levels II and III in it which you should do regardless as to whether you actually do the real things. If you can do those then you know that you are ready, if you can't then you need to do more study of the computerised side before going it alone.
My comments are not meant to put you off but just to advise caution as whilst PII covers you generally, if the insurers feel that you acted beyond your level of knowledge in creating an issue you may find your insurance null and void leaving you to foot the bill and in these letigous times that can be a very hefty bill.
I hope that you take these comments in the manner to which they are intended rather than them being negative which I am sure is how they come accross at first reading,
kindest regards,
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.
All of B190 is computer based... Excel with a Sage instant accounts CD to gain a Certificate through Sage. So im sorry if this sounds 'funny' but i fail to see what you mean by computerised accounts (i do know what they are... I dont follow the context), IAB obviously have decided that you gain enough experiance through studying B190 to grant you these exemptions?!
As your a moderator and expert on these matters how about you send me something to look at, and let me prove to you that B190 isn't a basic as you make out. I could be wrong, but quite frankly you have got my back up and this is probably the first forum i have joined, in my 10 years or so of trawling forums, that has made me feel worthless! and im only on my, what, 6th or 7th post!
-- Edited by ClawzCTR on Wednesday 6th of July 2011 06:55:52 PM
EDIT: Plus you seem to forget me saying I did B292 Financial accounting, ok i failed that but that through no fault of my own due to personal problems. 292 had a whole essay based on creating account, FROM SCRATCH, from which I attained a grade of 100%!!
-- Edited by ClawzCTR on Wednesday 6th of July 2011 06:58:51 PM
Gary I don't think Shaun intended to upset you, in fact he said "please don't take this the wrong way". Shaun himself has done OU B190 (amongst other qualifications) so he does know what he is talking about.
TBH I think what you should be doing is thinking about gaining experience rather than training. Setting up as self-employed with all the qualifications in the world does not help when you start doing the book-keeping of many and various different organisations. The real world is nothing like the questions you have to answer in exams or the scenarios they make up to test you.
I think that you have totally misread the intention behind my replies (I replied to all three of your messages and you should view them all together).
I have repeatedly stated that B190 is an excellent introductory course but the emphasis has to be on introductory. It sets the scene for B291 which really add's meat to the bones.
I'm actually slightly confused from your posts as to whether it was B291 (financial accounting) or B292 (management accounting). The former will help you in the work of a bookkeeper the latter less so being aimed more at accountancy.
Getting B291 would justify MIAB but I can't see B190 alone waranting such. That it does is not the question, the issue is whether it should.
Maybe one approach might be to sit down and do the IAB papers that you would have had to sit to get to MIAB and see how you do using only material from B190?
Also try the ICB level II and III computerised papers to see whether you should have been given exemptions from those?
As Sheila rightly mentioned I have also done that course. As with yourself, when I did it Sage was included in the package but it was down to you whether or not you did the sage module and with 52 weeks to do B190, B291, B292 and another module on accounting and management theory that has no current equivalent there just were not enough hours in the week to do it within the course time. However, even if I had done it, the Sage module was based on learning sage, not applying that knowledge.
ICB levels II and III computerised bookkeeping are based on psuedo real life scenarios. That's why I suggested the Dr Peter Marshall book to get you up to speed in computerised accounts by using old ICB and IAB papers.
When I talk about computerised accounts I'm talking about applying knowledge to real life scenario's not merely knowing how to find your way around Sage which is only half the challenge.
Your posts as a whole came accross that you were attempting to find the fastest exemptions route to a practicing certificate and I have tried to warn you of the pitfalls of that. You also wanted to know why your not getting any call backs from employers.
I have pointed you to a good text to get you through B291 if you are having problems with the OU materials and I have indicated another book to help to master the computerised side of bookkeeping.
I have suggested that you consider temping to gain experience and I have told you why you have not had replies from employers.
I've tried to be honest and helpful with you which I appreciate may have contained things that you did not want to hear.
Whether you take any notice of the help that has been offered in my three previous replies to your posts is completely up to you but as mentioned by Shiela, the intention was never to upset you or put you off bookkeeping as a career move.
I'm sorry that you've not taken my posts as they were intended but when you are not quite so upset by what you think was written come back and read them again with an open mind and you will find a lot of sound advice and no intention of slighting your efforts in them at all.
Hopefully this short reply has given some clarity to my previous three responses which as mentioned at the start need to be viewed as a whole rather than individually,
kindest regards,
Shaun.
-- Edited by Shamus on Wednesday 6th of July 2011 10:31:10 PM
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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.
