Hi Ahmad,

many on here would have you believe that experience is the be all and end all but one has to ask, how does one start where one doesn't have access to a role in practice before starting?

A lot of successful bookkeepers have started off with little or no experience. This makes the first few months quite hairy as real life is considerably different to the books.

Be very wary of the expectations of clients. Often when they look for a bookkeeper they are really looking for a cheaper accountant.

As you're coming from the ACCA route (How part qualifed is part qualified in your case?) you will be restricted in the services that you can offer to bookkeeping to trial balance, VAT and Payroll regardless as to what you are allowed to do under your IAB practice licence. (No accounts, no advice, no tax work, etc. Oh, yes, and absolutely no mention to clients of any association with the ACCA until your a fully qualified practicing member).

I'm also PQ ACCA (finalist) and at times it can make things quite difficult to the point where I gave up in frustration about a year back and am just on the point of relaunching with a different business model.

One option that many on here miss is that you could sub contract your bookkeeping work to an experienced bookkeeper whilst you concentrate on building your bookkeeping business.

It's also going to be a good idea to try and build some good relationships with local accountants. Passing them clients for final accounts is always a good olive branch. This will also help you to get into a position to have your two years post qualification ACCA signed off by a suitably qualified accountant. (Your going to need to ensure that the accountants that you deal with are suitably qualified or the supervision won't count towards your ACCA membership).

Good luck and don't forget to keep us all posted as to what you do and how you get on,

kindest regards,

Shaun.

Hi Tim,

it's really Draconian restrictions which take no account of the fact that many students may already be members of other supervisory bodies.

Some people such as Frauke have been given conflicting information by the ACCA but phone back, get a different bod and they'll just point you straight at bye law 8 which is quite clear as to what is allowed and what is not with no exceptions.

I think that it was GinnyBee who got an answer from them that went beyond that to suggest that even registering as an agent warrants disaplinary action (which normally means an £800 fine) and possible exclusion.

It all gets bundled under the way that one is expected to behave as a student of the body which goes well beyond the qualification and into your private life as anything done even by a student that could be deemed to bring the profession into disrepute is looked upon extremely seriously.

There is a get out of jail free clause for student pranks that will likely just result in a slap on the wrist but beyond that they want their mebers and students to be absolutely squeaky clean in all areas of their lives.

The relaunch for me places more emphasis on Payroll and other services. I've made quite a bit knocking up Excel Macro's and automating processes (another one of those things that everyone thinks that they can do because they can use Excel as an end user) so I'm adding it as a service for smaller companies.

On the bookkeeping side it takes a lot to ensure that you stay within the letter of the ACCA requirements as clients expect advice and accounts prep. I'm hoping that the accountants that I deal with will be happy for me to go full service with pretty light, hands off supervision from them. When in frustration I walked away last time I gave them my clients at no charge on this understanding so fingers crossed they won't renege on their promises.... Otherwise it might be time for horses heads in the bottom of beds! lol

You are right about the restraint of trade but it's the ACCA's qualification and so they get to set whatever rules they like however unfair they may seem. One is free to leave the ACCA at any time in which case the restrictions are off. But whilst you remain under their umbrella you have to dance to their tune.

All the best,

Shaun.

Hi Tim,

no probs. I quite enjoy an occassional venting of my frustration at being able to do a job but not being allowed to do it!

my understanding is that CIMA are the most open to members doing a full spectrum of bookkeeping services on a self employed basis whilst being students. Anyone else reading this would of course need to clarify the situation directly with CIMA.

On the experience side, with the ACCA there is some flexibility as to when you gain your experience but there are a huge number of points that need to be signed off before you can become a member then you need to do a further two years post qualification under a qualified accountant in order to gain a practice certificate.

I've got all my pre qualification experience signed off largely from head office work in the banking sector (where every other bod seems to be a chartered or chartered certified accountant). Thankfully under the old student training records (STR) audit was not compulsary as I cannot see any way that I could have gained experience in that area.

Under the new system Audit is compulsary so if I'm not fully qualified by next December when my STR expires it looks like I'll be looking at the other bodies to see who doesn't need audit experience. (I've no intention of ever being an auditor anyway even though I've taken Audit as options papers... One of those cases where its a "just because I can doesn't mean that I want to").

I actually copied bye law 8 in its entirety on here as we had so many bookkeepers who were PQ's asking the same questions. See this thread :

http://www.book-keepers.org.uk/t42084174/the-services-that-acca-students-can-offer/

Talk in a bit... Ooh, nearly at 2500 posts. Think that I'm a master next. Best think about changing my avatar to something suitable for that post.... I'm thinking Yoda maybe.

Shaun.