Hi, I am meeting with a sole practitioner accountant on Thursday to discuss possible outsourcing some bookkeeping to me.
As this will be my first meeting to try and get my first bookkeeping job, I'd like some advice/support.
What shall I take with me to meet the client? I have my qualification certificates from AAT and CIMA.
I don't know what to ask and what he may ask me. I know i will be nervous on the day as I am keen to get some work to get me started. Any advice on how anyone met their first potential client would be grateful. What to say and what not to say etc
Thanks for that. The only one I can't answer is how quick I can turn around the work. As it would be my first lot of work(if I get it) I won't know until I start unless the client says "I want it back by?"
Everything else I will be fine with. I just hope he has some work for me pretty soon. The sooner I get some work the more confident I will become in approaching other people for work.
I do hope to get some direct clients but for now I am happy to get work from Accountants.
By how quickly you can turn round I dont mean how quickly you can do the job. What i mean is that if he knows there is two days work involved if he gives you it first thing on Monday will you have it back to him by Wednesday ie you wont have other commitments that get in the way.
I don't know if it will make things easier or not but the guy lives just down the road from me, less than half a mile. I suppose if he got some work that he needed to get to me he could just drop it off.
I haven't got my PI Insurance set up yet but have had quotes for it. I don't want to pay out when I haven't even got any clients.
What level of cover do you recommend? (£50k). I got quoted £84 through AXA.
That seems a good deal or your can use Arlington which I think is linked into this site which is roughly about the same price (others will be able to advise)
I pay about £140 through QDOS for my insurance. Cant remember what the cover is but think is about £50k.
Not sure if you will need PI Insurance if you are only going to do subcontracted work at the moment as the accountants PI might cover you. You could check with him.
I'll ask at the meeting on Thursday. That will be good if I don't need it to start with as it will keep costs down. As soon as I get some of my own clients though I will make sure I am covered. Don't want to get in to a mess before I've got started.
I am going to approach other small companies as well to get some direct work. I should be ok doing bookkeeping and VAT returns to start with. Don't want to get involved with Corp Tax as i have no experience of it other than in exams. Will work my way up. Walk before I run so to speak.
One thing you should look at is your comment 'not going to spend until get clients' surely you realise this attitude does not look professional when trying to get clients in.
These types of thing should always be in place. I would also expect it to be a requirement of your regulatory body.
__________________
Phil Hendy, The Accountancy Mentor
Are you thinking of setting up your own practice or have you set up and need some help?
If so a mentor may be the way forward - feel free to get in touch and see how I can assist you.
I take your point on board about it not looking professional but I have no intention of doing any work without proper cover. I will also draft up a letter of engagement and/or sign agreements with accountants to say that i will not poach any clients directly. I have a lot of respect so would never do the dirty.
It's hard work trying to drum up business when you work full time and I have been looking to start this business for the past few month but have been time restricted. It may in fact be sometime before I do secure any work as I am only available to do books and find work to do books in the evenings and weekends. Also any active marketing again will have to be done evenings and weekends so as I say it will be a struggle but I am not a quitter.
After Christmas is out of the way I intend investing some money in a website and also putting some sales letters together to send out to prospective clients but at the moment there is a lot going on in my main job ie new systems implementation imminent and also covering for holidays/sick etc single handed.
Its going to be a slow process and is going to take some time to build up a small business.
Went to see the Sole practitioner accountant this afternoon. Mark you were right he is looking to off-load some bookkeeping so that he can concentrate on other stuff. His wife is doing the marketing and he has some good stuff in the pipeline for next year. We discussed 3 clients today for me to take over the bookkeeping once he has discussed with them and okayed it. He also asked if I would be interested in doing some Self Assessments and also wages/payroll as this is part of what he is looking at next year. I've obviously said yes I am interested. I did payroll some years ago and told him that I was a little rusty and he was not concerned he said he would get me up to speed. He is a local guy who lives approximately half a mile from me so and ideal location. Monies where discussed and while I explained what I was looking for he said he would pay me more for some clients that were already paying more for his services. He said he will not rip me off and pay me peanuts.
Whilst nothing is set in stone yet I do feel as though things went well and that he will pass on work to me.
I just need to get registered now with HMRC and MLR. He said he would help me with this also.
well done on landing what sounds like a fantastic opportunity,
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.
I've just had an email back from the sole practitioner saying he has contacted his client about me helping them with the bookkeeping and help with Sage Instants. He wants to speak to me on Monday to discuss how to move this forward. Finally I may have my first bookkeeping job. Yippee!
I now need to start to get everything in place. Insurance, MLR and practice licence.
Can anyone recommend insurance and who to get MLR through?
I have contacted my bank to speak to a business advisor to see about opening a separate bank account and see what other advice they may have for me.
Just need to practice on Sage instants now as it's been some time since I used sage.
Congrats Elaine, heres to the first of many!! **clink** lol
MLR cover you can get through HMRC, but if you have a prcaticing certificate and are part of a governing body thay may offer it as part of membership, I'm with IAB and they cover mine.
Insurance wise, i cant fault Arlington... VERY quick and you can have insurance setup inside the day with your policy emailed out to you as soon as its set up. And its cheap.... dont know the exact costs but your looking around 70-75 quid, plus the BKN subs of about 30. Well worth a look into if your starting out to keep costs low.
