Could please anyone advise me on how to become a bookkeeper?
I want to start new career as a bookkeeper and later might possibly move to accountancy as well.
At the moment I am working in hospitality sector and have never done bookkeeping or any finance course before so I will be absolute beginner. Could you please advise me on what training course would be the best ( preferably part time or e-learning) I am deciding between university courses or would training courses as for example pitman would be enough? what certificate and at what level shall I look for to achieve for beginning of my new career? what is better to study ICB, IAB or even AAT?
I will appreciate any advice and thank you very much in advance!
Premier training do distance learning in AAT. Give Nick a call and chat through your requirements.
As an alternative try Sonya and Eagle education. Also an excellent provider of AAT training.
There is nothing wrong with ICB or IAB which would give you a sound knowledge base but if you decided to move up to accountancy as you indicate ICB does not count much for exemptions. IAB gains a little more but for the amount that you will be spending to gain a qualification if your intention is to keep the door to accountancy open then you would have been better spending your money on AAT from the get go.
A few years ago I would have thrown the Open University certificate in accountancy into the pot to consider but that has got incredibly expensive... basically, the entirety of AAT is now cheaper that the OU certificate in accountancy which would only get you exemptions from the lower level papers of the AAT.
Be warned about this career change though that it will take over your life, change the way that you think and many who go down this path struggle to find work as there seems to be more people retraining into this field than clients to service.... However.... if you truly love this line of work and are able to differentiate yourself from the crowd then opportunities do still exist to build a career in this field.
Good luck with the career change,
kind 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.
Shaun has given you a couple of contacts re AAT and I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring if you were to consider the ICB route. We are not the only ones, of course, and you'll find Dave from Training Link on here and you'll get a full list of providers within the ICB website.
If you wanted to consider offering a comprehensive bookkeeping service, including payroll and self assessment options, then the ICB are well worth cosideration. They tirelesley promote the bookkeeping profession and you would have extensive support, both through ICB themselves or via the network of ICB Members groups.
If it is self employment you would prefer the ICB would put no restrictions in your way, and support as you set out on your own.
You never mentioned if you are looking at Self-Employment as a Bookkeeper or to work for an employer. If Self-Employed then for me it has to be ICB, As I have just posted in another thread Accountancy takes a lot longer to learn than Bookkeeping so you could gain your Bookkeeping qualifications and then still study towards Accountancy with CPD.
Be careful with college certificates as these will not be recognised by some regulated bodies such as ICB if they were gained more than two years ago, I would always suggest to study with a body such as ICB, IAB AAT and the likes and keep your membership up to date.
