I am trying to get a feel for the bookkeeping market. Are there lots of bookkeepers out their looking for work? Please be honest!
There are endless adverts for AAT courses and bookkeeping courses in the newspaper. Is the market flooded with qualified bookkeepers/ accountants Who lack experience?
Several of the ads on this website for bookkeepers have drawn little interest- why? Are the bookkeepers/ accountants on this website at full capacity?
Am I right in thinking that the role of bookkeepers in any organisation is undervalued?
Views and opinions on the above would be very appreciated.
people reply to the posters offline rather than online so it's not often obvious the number of replies being receieved.
Some posters specifically want local bookkeepers which is not always where the available bookkeepers on this site are. I certainly don't think that anything would go unanswered in Ayreshire, Edinburgh, West midlands, Staffordshire, Manchester or the area around Bristol as we have lots of members in those area's.
On the whole capacity question there are lots of unemployed bookkeepers and also bookkeepers who are earning less per year than the software that they need to buy.
there are however also success stories and there are big differences in statistics from one area to another.
The real issue is that a lot of people are turning to this on the back of redundancy. Bookkeepers without experience have only price as a means of winning work and as mentioned, often they fall into the fools paradise of having lots of work but not making anything from it.
Most businesses looking for bookkeepers are in reality looking for accountants but are looking to pay less than you would expect a bookkeeper to charge.,, Worst part is that they can get away with it due to the issue of supply vs demand.
I cannot comment about the offered courses but I will say that this reminds me of the scenario in the American gold rush where the only people making any money were the ones selling the picks and shovels, not the one's digging for gold!
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.
Thanks Shamus
I appreciate your posts they always give good insight!
I have been doing a little research recently and the whole bookkeeping accounting qualifications are confusing. It is never clear what each qualification produces? Would someone who is AAT qualified be insulted by being branded a bookkeeper. The word bookkeeper is not mentioned anywhere on their website. What exactly is an accounting technician? That is a rhetorical question!
Clearly it is difficult for professional bodies to sell their qualified staff to small businesses as there is so much variation in what the bookkeeper/ accounting technician/ accountant can do.
Perhaps this may raise a lot of backs but wouldn't it be easier to say people with x qualifications should be considered part of the day to day function of a business up to trial balance or draft accounts and anyone for has y qualifications does the filing and value added stuff. Then everyone plays a part in the process?
I think small businesses need educating more in the function of bookkeepers and accountants, but when we ourselves are confused it is like the blind leading the blind!
You can only possibly be at capacity if you're not willing to grow your business. Surely when you get to the stage where you cannot do anything else you'd be looking to take on staff, or before you reach this stage if you're clever about it.
Regarding the comment about ads and sales people who tell you that you'll be rolling in money within a year of doing their courses, don't believe it! I fell victim to one of these silver tongue smoothies, as did a few on the forum. If you're willing to put in the hard work and time you'll get there, if not you wont.
I don't agree with the point you make about clearly defining roles based on qualifications. I've met many good people who are qualified by experience who I'd work with any day, and some very qualified people I'd avoid at all costs. Letters don't make you good at what you do, though I accept that there can come a time where you may need those letters to get another step forward.
Shaun makes a point about people ploughing their redundancy into courses, that was me. Having said that I disagree that, at any time, price was my only lever to gain work. In fact I've never been the cheapest, but neither have I been twiddling my thumbs because I'm a bit more expensive. Even people who are not marinaded in the industry can bring something to the party.
I am not suggesting bookkeepers should have clearely defined roles due to their knowledge limitations, I agree with you there are loads of really good bookkeepers out there with bags of experience.
The issue I am trying to address is that each qualification covers different ground, and if training for further qualifi actions, additional limitations to what you can and can't do are applied. So when recruiting (st or ltd) you need to study the individuals licence carefully to understand what they are and aren't allowed to do. This is confusing to bookkeepers let alone the recruiting business.
The other issue this would address is to stop various qualifieds treading on each others toes. ACAs should leave the paper bag jobs to AAT or ICBs or bookkeepers in general so they gain the experience and the ACA better spends their time on more technical issues.
