I been searching through this forum as many people appear to be starting out on the road to become bookkeepers, but my circumstances may be slightly different so I wondered if any of you seasoned members can give some pointers.
I will try to set the issue out logically.
Background
I have worked in Banking (in the City) for 32 years - please don't all boo at the same time !
I 'retired' about 18 months ago at a relatively early age (48), but was so bored (and Mrs S wanted me out of the house as I was getting under her feet!) I went back to the City on a Contract basis.
I decided recently to terminate that contract as I was not enjoying it.
Having been around so long I am familiar with double entry bookkeeping (I even ran the global reconciliations area for one Bank) and am fairly good with numbers etc.
Goal
To find a role that I can do based at home. Therefore, I have no desire to become an 'employed' bookkeeper - I have looked on the ICB website and this forum appears to point towards that rather than IAB (certainly AAT as that appears to drive towards employment if I have understood it correctly) if I want to be self-employed.
Questions
1) Is it feasible for someone of 50 (although I can't believe it myself) to make a late career change into this field?
2) Is there a call for the self-employed 'part-time' bookkeeper or is it oversubscribed in this area?
3) What sort of rates do we look at in the South East (this is a secondary consideration, but wouldn't want to slog my guts out for £3 ph !)
4) I have seen a franchise, but wondered what the initial outlay would give over and above a bit of study so have disregarded this route. Is this correct?
I think, deep down, I am looking for some reassurance that if I undertake the studying (and assuming I pass) then I will not have gone down a blind alley, bearing in mind that I don't want another full-time career, but something that I can do for 4 - 5 hours a day. I say that now, but I have always thought that working for yourself you are more likely to put more of an effort in so it could turn out to be 'full-time' if the work expanded.
You comments would be much appreciated as I think I have reached a crossroads. The thought of going back to the City does not put joy into my heart, and conversely, the idea of me staying at home all day positively terrifies Mrs S!
Many thanks
Edit : I have just ordered the 'Kaplan ICB Practical Bookkeeper - Beginner to Intermediate' to verify how much I don't know about the subject!
-- Edited by spiceke on Saturday 31st of December 2011 04:29:52 PM
Worry not, your not the only banker on here. I know of at least two more myself included.
Answereing your direct questions :
1) Is it feasible for someone of 50 (although I can't believe it myself) to make a late career change into this field?
Yes. Your just a spring chicken (at least thats what I keep telling myself as we're both the same age!).
2) Is there a call for the self-employed 'part-time' bookkeeper or is it oversubscribed in this area?
Quite oversubscribed due to the number of people believing the hype from some training providers.
There is a lot of competition for every position and it can be quite difficult to make a profit from this business.
The work is also not nine to five and can be quite intense.
Do you have much of a background knowledge of bookkeeping as the learning curve can be quite intense even for people such as ourselves from a financial background.
3) What sort of rates do we look at in the South East (this is a secondary consideration, but wouldn't want to slog my guts out for £3 ph !)
Industry average seems to be around £15 per hour mark although some get more and many get a lot less than that.
4) I have seen a franchise, but wondered what the initial outlay would give over and above a bit of study so have disregarded this route. Is this correct?
Not sure of the question here can you rephrase. There have been many franchise discussions on the site so a quicjk google of the forum might give you the answers that you are looking for.
The Kaplan book is a good start but if you decide to go forwards with this I've got a few more for you to add to your Amazon shopping basket.
Got to go but hope to talk later,
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.
I am working towards changing career from working in the public sector to bookkeeping/accountancy. I'm about 6 months into the process.
I'd agree with what Shaun has said, but I'd like to add the following.
You talked about working 4 - 5 hours but you will have to spend time getting new customers, professional development and so on. So, based on 5 chargeable hours a day, expect to work for about 1,100 hours annually. At £15 per hour, thats £16,500 annually. Take off business expenses (software, IT, marketing and so on) and you are not talking about earning much money at all. Are you prepared for that?
The business model only starts to become viable whem you can provide a wide range of accountancy services. This means not just studying for Level 2 of the ICB's qualification, but going as far as you can with the ICB and possibly going further, perhaps by taking AAT or even, the ATT tax qualifications, if you can.
Also, it might make sense to spend a period in employment in private practice to get some real life experience before taking on the responsibilities of going it alone.
What what is becoming clear to me is that bookkeping is definitely not an easy way to make money!
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.................just an ICB student, at the moment.
I was in banking before having my children and started my bookkeeping business about 18 months ago, when my youngest was a year old.
For me, though, bookkeeping is only part of what we offer, my banking experience means that I can offer a wider range of complimentary services and that's where there is more money. I also employ some bookkeepers who do most of the bookkeeping work now, so again that's where there is more to be made IMHO.
We're on the south cost and average rate for bookkeeping here is about £15 per hour - for some clients, I charge £20 but that's generally where there is more technical knowledge required than basic bookkeeping. We charge a lot more for some of the other services we offer. After costs, and taking into account the large number of unpaid hours I do (going networking, doing my own bookkeeping and invoicing etc) my hourly rate at the moment is pretty low but that's part of growing a business and the projections and plans are encouraging enough for me to be happy to have this return for now.
I'm in a similar boat in that it's additional services that are bringing in the money but I feel mainly down to the restrictions placed on me by the ACCA (Bookkeeping to trial balance, VAT & Payroll services only).
One of my other services is offering development of automated sollutions using Excel macro's and I'm making far more out of that than the bookkeeping side of things. Only issue there is that the work tends to be one off's rather than continuous income.
I'm actually thinking of dropping payroll or at least outsourcing it as there doesn't seem to be any real money in that area at all and it's an awful lot of unrelenting responsibility for very little return.
Might replace payroll with training services as at the moment I do seem to spend a lot of time training staff.
Happy new year and I'll up that tally of ex bankers to four that I know of on the site now.
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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.
You as well Helen, This is turning into a club for ex bankers.
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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.
Thanks all for the quick, friendly, and informative replies.
Shaun, re the Franchising. When I looked at this a month ago (admittedly in a very fleeting way) there was a company that would get me set up for £x. It did not appear to need any formal qualifications. However, now I have looked into it a bit more I think it would be a better use of my Capital to fund my training / qualifications / advertising.
I have based my views on what maybe a very niaive viewpoint i.e. my knowledge of double entry bookkeeping, pc literacy (Excel to a relatively high standard) and what my own Accountant does for me (as a recent Contractor I had to set up a Limited Company, ensure the contract is outside IR35 etc) etc.
Ray2000, re your comment '...... it might make sense to spend a period in employment in private practice '. Would this be imperative do you think? One of the goals is to come out of the 'employed' environment.
You have given me some food for thought and I will wait expectantly for the arrival of the Kaplan book from Amazon to see all the other areas I am lacking knowledge in. Of course, this will be coupled with surfing this forum.
What additional services do we offer? Well the aim is to be a sort of one-stop-shop for micro and small businesses. So we do various business support things, from business start up support and company formation to systems set up, training and coaching, and what I suppose is a sort of management consultancy but for self employed people/those running small businesses.
We also offer a more specialised tax service (through my husband who is ATT qualified) and company end of year (we currently have to outsource the company final accounts, I've been waiting for ICB level 4 to come in so that I can do it myself but it keeps getting delayed, so at the moment I prepare it all but then send it to an ACCA accountant who checks it and signs the reports etc).
Almost always, our clients come to us for either day to day bookkeeping or for a business start up or review meeting and other things tend to develop from there.
Well, I'm not a banker. I'm a software tester who likes numbers.
I am looking ahead to something that can be done post-retirement to supplment pension income (I am 52). As well as perhaps contracting as a tester I am also looking at book-keeping and want to give myself time to study and acquire the necessary qualifications (and upgrade the qualifications).
I started one correspondence course, as a taster, and found that the course was misrepresented - no assessments, no tutor support, no qualification! The materials sent to me were less than the content of a basic how-to book.
So, my reasons for joining this forum is to hear about others' experiences and recommendations. Also, I should have checked websites like IAB beforehand. But, you know how it is, I just got the 'red mist' and bought the course!
