I work part time in an Accountancy practice from 9.15am until 2.45pm. I only earn £750 per month and to be honest its not enough but I love my job and the experience it brings. I've been thinking of starting bookkeeping from home alongside work but just wondered if this is a bad idea. I have office space at home and have from 3.30pm onwards weekdays and all day saturday and sunday to work.
I would also like to offer a payroll service but I understand that this doesn't really make much. Can anyone recommend a payroll package that would be cheap enough to give clients a good payroll service but also make a small profit.
I'm hoping to make my £750.00 wages up to £1200 - £1500 per month if possible :/ any advice would be appreciated.
While I was doing my AAT exams I worked for an accountancy firm part time. Then I started taking on work to do in the evenings. It worked well and when I had a few regular clients I gave up the job and just carried on working from home. That was a year ago and I am now working almost full time at home and loving it.
I offer payroll and it doesn't make a huge amount of money yet as I only have a few clients for that but it's quick and easy to do so on a per hour basis probably earns its keep. I use Moneysoft but others on here also recommend 12pay.
so your basically looking for an additional £5400 to £9000 per year.
Lets go with the £9k as thats quite achieveable but you need to think of things from the opposit end of the spectrum. Not I need x amount coming in but rather what clients do I need in order to attain x amount.
Your figures will incorporate both once a years or monthlies which will mean having to think of things on an annual rather than monthly basis.
Assuming £15 per hour thats 600 hours that you need to fill with paid work during the year / 50 hours per month / 12 hours a week (assuming 50 weeks).
It won't happen immediately but will build over time and it will also happen like a snowball rolling down a hill with nothing for a while then a couple then more and more as word of mouth brings in new clients.
Each client will require a different number of hours per month. I think of them as units rather than hours but its the same thing.
IN order to visualise your goal have one of the cheap tesco whiteboards close to your desk with a 12 month plan on it (months along the bottom, units up the side (use units as mentioned above rather than clients as one client may need 4 hours per month, another may only need 1 so just going on number of clients would be incorrect).
If in a month you do not hit your own plan you are behind schedule and need to push harder for clients. If you hit your plan do not slack off bringing in new clients as in the current economy one or two of those you gain you will lose.
If you do not have a plan to work to the tendency is to think about the hours to fill and not focus on the framework to fill them.
The actual price you charge may be based on something other than hours but at the end of the day the finite resource that you have available to you is time (#2) so you need to use it wisely and ensure that you are making your set minimum return for the hours worked which after a year the aim you have is to be making (an average of) £180 per week from 12 hours work (#1)
I say average as in this business some mmonths are much better than others espechially where you are looking after a numebr of annual clients.
Even for the annuals save yourself any credit control issues and try to get them on standing order on the grounds that they can call you at any time of the year even though you only process their books and records at yearend.
Teaching my grannie to suck eggs here I know but ensure every client signs an engagement letter to keep in their permanent file as your get out of jail free card,
hth,
Shaun.
#1 that really sounds better than it is as the lay person reading that might think Ooh, 12 hours £180 that means that if I work 48 hours I'll get £720 per week so I've got a job that brings in over £37k per year... But they don't factor in that you need to find the clients to fill that time.... Wonder if thats where some training companies get their figures from for how much you will earn as a bookkeeper, lol.
#2 even Ron Baker in his thesis on burying the billable hour admits that everything is based on time as for service industries that is our finite resource.
See here for Rons study on value pricing which is somewhat different to the way it has been portrayed on here in the past
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.
Hi Noola I received recommendations for Moneysoft and 12Pay from this website and ended up opting for Moneysoft as it seemed to give me a few more functions. Its not expensive, has great help files plus videos to watch and its easy to work your way round it. It took me a little while to get the first batch of payslips to print right (just on plain paper) but I think thats more me being a technophobe than anything else. Their helpdesk is fabulous, although I found out that they do not work over the weekend but if you get stuck you can usually rely on other members of this forum to help you out at weekend! They will do a free months trial - I used that and then just bought the licence and carried on seemlessly.
Shaun has some good suggestions. I work mostly from home even for clients who initially thought I might work in their premises initially - I just prefer it, although if a client clearly wanted me in their office then I wouldnt say no, so you will have to factor that into your plan - anything is do-able as long as you set up a good system between you and the client to get the information you need. One word of caution - be careful not to overload yourself at 'peak' times eg VAT period ends - as long as you keep up with the work flow, then it should 'flow' rather than being lumpy and manic at those peak times - its just needs self discipline (especially in this weather!!)
Good luck with it
__________________
Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
I used to work full time (07.30-4.00pm, early finish on fridays - 40 hrs a week) as a financial controller and then 4.30-7.00 for my accountancy/bookkeeping practice for 4 years. I was planning to wind down the practice, but instead it seem to grow steadly instead despite my efforts (I put my fees up and told clients to find someone else if they were not happy with it!).
But eventually I was bored doing my job, which although it paid really well, I found I was stressed all the time due to office politics, and I used to spend a least 3 hours a day just surfing the net! Eventually I got the courage to ask my employer if I could reduce my hours as I could do the work they needed me to do in half the hours I was supposed to work - and I needed the extra time for me (!).... They refused and suggested I give up my part-time practice instead. When I was first employed by them, I had to declare the work I was doing for my practice to ensure there was not a conflict of interest, and I did receive written confirmation from them that it was OK for me to have this additional work outside my employment.
I decided I'd rather not start work at 7.30am anymore and resigned from the job. I had to give 3 months notice, during which time was not allowed to tell anyone I was leaving. It was such a relief not to work for anyone else in the end.
I would suggest putting it in writing to your employer confirming what you are doing, to cover your back. Just ask for their written confirmation that it will not cause a conflict of interest with them. As an employee you do have a legal responsibility not cause you employer any major problems with what you do outside work, or they could use it as grounds to sack you in the future.
Thanks everyone for your replies. Its nice to know it is actually do-able!
I'm going to set up in January and just take baby steps really until my Level 4 AAT is finished. Does anyone know what services I can offer as I'm only Level 3 qualified x
Thanks everyone for your replies. Its nice to know it is actually do-able!
I'm going to set up in January and just take baby steps really until my Level 4 AAT is finished. Does anyone know what services I can offer as I'm only Level 3 qualified x
I'm in the same position - just finished AAT Level 3.
Who are you going with for MLR supervision etc?
AAT won't give you a licence until you have finished level 4 and have 1 years full time experience.
ICB costs over £300 for a licence because you have to pay for exam exemptions and IAB costs about £170 so I am unsure what to do?
I'm in the same position - just finished AAT Level 3.
Who are you going with for MLR supervision etc?
AAT won't give you a licence until you have finished level 4 and have 1 years full time experience.
ICB costs over £300 for a licence because you have to pay for exam exemptions and IAB costs about £170 so I am unsure what to do?
This is what confuses me. I don't understand the difference between having a licence and not having one. Is there only so much you are allowed to do? Or are you even allowed to freelance at all?
my impression is that it is very similar to the CIMA arrangement in that you can pretend that you have absolutely no association at all with the AAT and in making no mention are allowed to offer limited services provided that you get MLR cover from HMRC.
In order to associate yourself with the AAT you must be an MAAT MIP.
unfortunately the AAT keep answering these questions then deleting their own answers. I'm going to stop putting pointers and just cut and paste their replies in here... Ooh, but luuckily Steve (Rhianach) is one step ahead of me as thats exactly what he did. Just found this in an old post :
I'm an AAT student member - can I be a MIP?
While you are studying for your AAT qualification, you can set up in practice. However, certain restrictions apply until you become a full member:
You may not advertise in connection with the AAT. You must only undertake work within your competence and seek professional advice where necessary. You must abide by the our Guidelines on Professional Ethics. You are strongly advised to take out professional indemnity insurance.
Thats what it says concerning students.
What does member in practice' mean? If you're an AAT full or fellow member offering accountancy, taxation or related consultancy services to the public in the UK or Channel Islands, you must become an AAT member in practice.
and
Why does the AAT operate a MIP scheme?
If you're working for yourself, it's vital that your clients have the utmost confidence in you and the services you offer.
Our member in practice scheme enables us to:
regulate all full and fellow members who are in practice provide tailored support to members in practice demonstrate to the public and the industry that you're competent, highly trained, and committed to high standards of ethics and professionalism.
According to an old post on here (not one of mine) if you are a member or even student of any professional body then you are not allowed to have MLR cover from HMRC... But I think thats a bag of crap as if HMRC will not cover you when you ask how can they pursue you for not being covered.
However, that said, considering the source of that post I felt obliged to repeat its content even though I believe it to be totally wrong.
__________________
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.
