My name is lee and I am just starting out in bookkeeping.
I work as a customer sales advisor in a self storage comperny and I deal with some day to day accounts work.
I have a business and admin Level 3 NVQ and several other Qualifications.
Last year I hit the book and thought my self basic bookkeeping in about 2 months with books from the Library and then I passed level 1 bookkeeping with City and Gilds. After speaking to ICB I found out I need to pass there Lvl 1 before I can move on to Lvl 2 Manual and computerised. (What I need to do sole trades accounts)
I want to become a self employed bookkeeper while keeping my current job, and take on a few sole trades accounts for the weekends to top up my wage, and then pass Lvl 3 M and C bookkeeping and be able to do Ltd Comperny. As I have more demand, I can give up my day job and develop my bookkeeping business.
Im sure I will need a lot of help on the way, so im hoping I can get so good advice!
careful not to believe everything that training providers tell you about levels of demand and available rates for bookkeepers.
Best approach is to keep hold of the day job and look at bookkeeping almost as a hobby business until you start getting quite a few clients under your belt.
Real life is not at all like the booksl. Clients tend to be looking for cheap accountants who offer a full service rather than bookeepers per se. I know that there are cases on here where clients are asking their bookkeeper about their business form and tax matters which whilst we may have a basic understanding of the subjects that is generally at a lower level than accountants.
Are there any opportunities with your current employers to expand your experience? Maybe a transfer into the accounts department?
Another alternative that you may want to look at if you are going to move away from the day job is temping. You can gain a lot of varied experience. I gained an incredible amount in a credit control department but that was more luck than anything else as many credit control departments are really just call centres.
Don't look on your City and Guilds as having been a waste of money. It's put you in a position where you understand many of the basics which mean that you should be able to get through ICB level's I and II relatively easily.
It's going to be important for you to learn some relevant software skills. Whilst Sage is an industry favorite it's incredibly expensive where you have multiple clients (if you don't then things will be pretty bleak!). Other alternatives where you can have multiple clients in the purchase price include VT Transaction+ which is a site favorite and Quickbooks Pro which to my mind is not as good a product as VT BUT it has an awful lot more training material available for it.
I would also say that Excel is a must have. You could do with developing more advanced Excel skills. The book "Excel 2007, Data Analysis and Business Modelling" is a particularly good one for getting you up to speed.
Good luck with you career change but be warned. Whatever you believe now your minimum first year turnover as a trained bookkeeper will be, divide it by your shoe size and you'll be in the right ball park.
The longer you trade, provided that you do a good job for your clients they will become your unpaid sales force and things do get easier... Just don't put that deposit down on a beach condo in Thailand just yet!
Happy to answer specific questions or point you in the direction of old threads on the site when you hit specific questions.
All the best and look forwards to chatting soon,
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.
Thank you for your replies, well I dont know if my MD will let me join the Accounts as my department is short staffed and there accounts team are full staffed.
I am glad I went on the C and G coerce because I was not 100% sure about every thing. I did however fell I was ahead of the other people in my class. I spoke to the ICB and the lady said if I wanted to do a level 2 manual bookkeeping course I will need to pass lvl 1 but I will only need to take the test online. My plan is to keep my job and when I have my Lvl 2 M and C bookkeeping I will ask around my local sole traders to see if I can take on there books. I think if I get to Lvl 2 I would be in a better position to get an accounts/bookkeeping job. I would like to go temp but I need the study income as I have to pay rent/bills/kids/debt and im getting marred in 21 months. I think I will aim for 7-8 months to get to Lvl 2 and then I can slowly build up my business, or at lest have a bit more money to afford a half decent wedding.
I know it will take time to build up so I will do it on the side, or if demand picks up I can do the bookkeeping and then get a part time job.
I know I wont be able to just sit back and let the money role in but I am a hard worker and im sure my plans will change over the next few months as I learn more about bookkeeping.
Welcome to the forum and good luck with the studying!
I know it's a little way in the future, but when you have your Level II manual and computerised qualifications and start looking for clients, don't forget you will need to take out some PI insurance. I think you can get it cheaply through the ICB and of course you will need to obtain a Practice Licence so that you are covered for the MLR through the ICB.
Welcome to the forum and I wish you well with your career path. I think I may have sent you information from our company email. It is always good to network on forums and in person at Bookkeeping seminars, the ICB have their annual conference on the 17th and 18th November in London where members and non members can attend, why not give them a call, one of our students who started her practise in January has several clients from networking and attending these seminars and she is up for the ICB student of the year award. Good luck with the pending wedding.
weddings aren't so bad to save up for... It's the divorces that cost a fortune! lol.
When it comes to you getting PII there are many offerings out there but invariably it comes down to two very reasonably priced ones.
There's Trafalgar that covers PII for most of the supervisory bodies. And then there's this sites PII (see special offers above).
Both come in at similar prices although to get the cheaper insurance through BKN you also need to be a member although that only adds £24 to the price.
The lower priced insurance will only cover you where your annual turnover is less than £15k. It also only covers you for work that you are deemed qualified to perform. So if you were ICB level II and gave advice on going limited then of course it would be beyond what the PII covered you for which is basically bookkeeping, VAT and Payroll work.
All the best,
Shaun.
P.S. save your wedding money and go get married on honeymoon. Saint Lucia seems a seriously expensive holiday but combine it with getting married there and when compared to feeding a couple of hundred distant relatives that you wouldn't normally talk to it's a really cost effective sollution.
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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.
