I'm looking for some constructive advice on a possible future career.
At 58, I am having to change careers, due to health problems, for a second time. I am drawn to Bookkeeping/Accountancy, possibly part-time or self employed (I don't need to earn vast sums of money).
I've been doing some research and find there are several qualifications available and a wide variety of costs.
Having only limited funds, I do not want to waste any by making a wrong decission at the beginning.
bookkeeping is an area that you can get into with little initiial expense so long as you start with a bit of prior knowledge as to what it entails and you've come to the right place for that on this site.
Your age and health record may make finding permanent or even temporary work in this area near impossible as every advertised job is severly oversubscribed by applicants and really only those with considerable experience in this field stand any chance at all.
Considering the previous paragraph the remainder of the answer assumes that you will be working towards setting up your own small business providing bookkeeping services.
Provided that you are quite self motivated a training provider is not necessary and everything that you need to get through the exams of the various bookkeeping bodies can be learnt from the right books.
You need to give us a little more history about why you feel bookkeeping is right for you before we are able to advise the right books for your level of study.
I would advise that you take a look at either the ICB or IAB as a supervisory body as both of these qualifications can be achieved relatively quickly compared to other accountancy qualifications.
Whilst one does not need a supervisory body for most work in this area, being a member will ensure that you have the right training and when you set up in practice the right insurance and that you are covered for MLR (lack of which carries severe finanial penalties and a possible prison term!).
On the money side people are often disappointed at the variance between what training companies tell you will be the minimum that you will make and the reality as this is a quite competative market place with many people coming to it on the back of redundancy.
Those who love the subject matter and stick with it will generally come through. Those who thought that it would be good money for minimal effort generally fall by the wayside as the money that they were told that they would make by training providers never materialises and this business really takes over almost your every waking hour... Actually in my case it would probably take over less of my life if I didn't have this site up on one of my screens all of the time!
This is really signing up to lifelong learning as the more that you learn the more that you realise that you don't.
Before deciding to go down this path it might be a good idea to work your way through a book on the subject which will only set you back around £20 to £30 rather than the hundreds you will need to spend even without a training provider. If you can work through the book then this business is worth a shot. If you can't then look at the expense of the book as money well spent.
Please let us know your work history so that we can advise a good bookat your level to get you started and then we'll take things from there.
kind 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.
Hi Shaun, Thanks for getting back to me. I've had a bit of previous history, working as a manager for the Co-op about 30 years ago, so had to do all the returns for what, were then, problem stores. I've also done the books for an NHS club, including profit and loss. I had no problem with these and they were always signed off at the end of the year. I've done some studying with the Open University (just for fun and got a BSc) so distance learning shouldn't be a problem if that's what it takes. Part of that was an introductory mathematics course for which I got a distinction. I've always had a way with numbers, personal finances have always been in the black, despite two ex-wives As I said before, I'm not looking to make loads of money, in fact I can just about scrape by on my pension (from the ambulance service), so self-employed with a few small accounts will do nicely. I've started going through 'Bookkeeping for Dummies', probably not the best book on the subject, but available free from the local library (where I work at the moment) and dummies strikes chord I did some assessments on the internet for suitable job types, and bookkeeping came up on all of them, being a Virgo shows I tend towards perfectionism. I am self motivated! I manged to pull myself back up from ill health retirement 10 years ago and started a new career as a science technician and I'm sure I can do it again. It would be nice to work for myself as one of my main problems is with the managers I've worked for (present library manager excluded). Well, I think that's about it, excuse me if I'm waffling, just in from playing at the local Irish pub with about 6+ pints on board :-> Thanks again for taking the time to reply, it's nice to find someone who is prepared to offer help to others. Kindest regards Martin
unfortunately, as you've already identified the book that you've got isn't a very good one.
There are a few options to get you started along this path and once you've read one or more of them cover to cover I would advise looking at the ICB or IAB route (any of the following combined with numerous practice papers of the body that you choose will probably be all that you need to get through the exams).
Try these books to see which one fits your learning style.
1) Business Accounts for Bookkeeping and Accounting Courses by David Cox (ISBN 978-1872962634) - (Current Price £18.99)
2) Business Accounts by Frank Woods and Sheila Robinson (ISBN 978-0273718055) - (Current price £29.99)
3) Mastering Accounting Skills by margaret Nicholson (ISBN 978-1403992703) - (current price £10.38)
(the following two are a matching pair) 4a) Mastering Bookkeeping by Dr Peter Marshall (ISBN 978-1845283247) - (current price £8.73) 4b) Computerised Bookkeeping by Dr Peter Marshall (ISBN 978-1845283971) - (current price £8.90)
I always recommend (1) above, Bill (Wella) always recommends (2) but the reality is that there is little to choose between these two excellent texts (bit of variance in price though).
I find (3) quite dry reading but that doesn't make it a bad book.
(4) a+b would likely be all that you would need to get to AICB. Note that price is not necessarily a reflection of quality and each of the Dr Marshall texts is as big as the Nicholson one).
Here are some of the above books that you can have a look inside before buying / ordering from the library :
If you get into this seriously you will probably end up owning all of the above but for now you could end up with study overload and not progressing at all if you take on more than one of the texts (option (4) excepted as the two books should be viewed as one).
If you feel that you need a little more formal training before going forwards then try the Open University course B190 which is an excellent introduction to bookkeeping. However, if you take this route get in there quick as OU prices seem to be about to go through the roof!
Hope that helps to get you started Martin. Any further questions don't hesitate to post on here, there are almost always people around to help out (January and April however are not great times to post as that tend to be crazy season).
kind regards,
Shaun.
__________________
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.
