Hi everyone,
I'm Kim and I'm looking into doing book-keeper part time after helping a friend with their account ( was meant to be a one off think that has kept going lol)
I have completed my BAcc accountancy this year at Uni so would appreciate any advise from members on how to set up as a book-keeper as I feel after a lot of consideration this is the route I would like to take. I have been reading posts with interest about who to reg with such as ATT, ICB but am unsure how to go about this any help would be great thanks.
when working with clients on a freelance basis your number one priority has to be registration for Money Laundering either through a professional body or direct through HMRC. To not have it carries severe penalties including unlimited fine and imprisonment.
There are many qualifications to choose from. Some take years, others are a lot quicker to achieve.
The common bookkeeping qualifications for those interested in working for themselves are ICB or IAB.
To have the option to work for other people you really need to be looking at AAT as a minimum.
For accounting qualifications you should really be looking at ACCA or CIMA
The top level accounting qualifications are ACA (a global term incorporating ICAEW, ICAS and ICAI).
For tax specialisations you should look at ATT and CTA.
A very good combination for a bookkeeping practice to have would be AAT and ATT which would really give you the oportunity to move from bnookkeeping to accountancy.
Other bodies worth considering include IFA (which is a nice move into financial accounting usually from IAB although they are currently on a recruitment drive to gain PQ's from bodies such as the ACCA and CIMA (which is now CGMA but everyone still knows them as CIMA)) and also AIA.
Before making any decisions as to which route you have decided to go post your thoughts on here and people will be happy to point out the benefits and shortfalls of your chosen path.
Provided that you are offering nothing beyond bookkeeping to trial balance, VAT and Payroll work there is no reason that you could not go register for MLR with HMRC and register as a student with the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) taking exemptions from some of the early papers (at least F1, F2 and F3) if you feel that your accountancy degree has prepared you for the ACCA level of study.
Others on here will advise one of the bookkeeping qualifications which you would be able to attain much more quickly but you need to sit back and think what you really want from this career including why did you do an accounting degree if you only want to do bookkeeping?
I appreciate that your degree has probably taken a lot out of you and you may be looking for a rest from that level of study. If so then maybe do AAT but note that would only give you the same exemptions from ACCA as you already have with your degree.
Please supply more information as to your objectives and we will try to help you onto the right path even if it might not seem like the right one at the moment.
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.
Thanks for your input, my degree did take a lot out of me and I can say hand on heart that I studied day and night to get the best possible out of it and yes I now feel I need a break from the constant study. This is one of the options I have been looking into along with working and doing my ACCA exams, however I keep coming back to bookkeeping as I enjoy it.
I have been looking at all the pros and cons of bookkeeping and I know it's going to be a long process before I see any return and I am prepared for this. In your opinion would it be better if I had a bookkeeping qualification or would I do just as well with my degree. If so what sort of work would I be able to offer clients. Also would it be better if I have some practical experience doing this other than doing my partners account and a friends accounts as I appreciate that doing them has only given me a little experience. Is there any bookkeepers in the forum from Ayrshire in Scotland that would be able to advise me if the market is flooded with bookkeepers so to speak at the moment.
Both Kris McKulluch and Peasie are Ayrshire boys so they would be the best ones to talk to on that matter. I do get the impression that they don't suffer with the same level of competition that we do here in the sunny Midlands but sure that your about to change that
Rather than doing the ICB or IAB have you thought about just working your way through some old study materials / exam papers to ensure that your higher level qualification has not skipped on some of the basics.
The BPP AAT revision companion for units 1-4 is a good starting point to ensure that you are comfortable with double entry and the basics from the manual side.
Also worth checking out is the freely available past exam paper for ACCA paper F3 to ensure that doesn't give you any problems.
If you are ok with those then a bookkeeping qualification isn't going to add that much to your skillset / qualifications and from my experience the qualifications mean nothing to clients who at a push seem to understand chartered or certified is something good.
Clients just seem to assume that if you are working in this arena then you must obviously be qualified. The qualification is very much more down to giving you confidence than them.
From your previous qualifications I would say that if you did decide that you wanted a bookkeeping qualification then not to bother with a training provider but rather just register and then sit the exams as you self study. (you can't do that with AAT but they are the exception).
Good luck moving forwards,
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.
That's what I was thinking that a bookkeeping quilification may not add anything other than given a client more confidence in my ability. I will take your advice and have a go at some of the pass papers and I already have a fair few of the acca ones, also the route I took to complete my degree was doing my hnc, then my hnd and finally my 3rd year and hon year at Uni this was due to me having a young family and I was only doing a year at a time rather than committing to 3-4yrs at Uni so this meant that even tho we studied the same material 1-2yr I've had a lot more practical question given than what you would normally have at Uni (very good lecturer and ended up dreaming about double entry lol).
I may also have a wee chat with the boys from Ayrshire if you would be so kind to point them in my direction.
