Having the spent the last 12 months studying with the ICB with the intention of being self-employed and having just sent off for my practise licence I'm thinking about aiming for AAT in the next 12 months. Is that a good or a not so good idea? reason being I want to be able to offer accounting services beyond what bookkeepers traditionally do.
personal view is yes although others may argue that at level IV ICB is now breaking into traditional AAT territory.
I was actually having a chat about this with a chartered this week and after I explained who the ICB were (you will find that a lot with Chartered accountants!) the conversation around what they were permitting members to do ended up with him going on about it being no different to those not qualified at all being able to offer accounting services.
As you would imagine, despite my giving the ICB a hard time here I did defend their position against being classified the same as unqualified's which personally I thought was grossly unfair (I was thinking of ICB members such as Bill (Wella) who could probably have given the Chartered a run for his money on his knowledge base).
But I digress, the thing that I took away from the chat was something that I have heard before from Chartered accountants. They have absolutely no idea who the ICB are, Where they do, accross the board, know who the AAT are.
That surely says that regardless of the argument as to whether a qualification is enough for the services that you want to offer, if one expects work to come from accountants then it makes sense to have a qualification that they have heard of.
Its actually an argument that I know well but from a different angle. I use VT software, absolutely love that software which to my mind does everything that I need it to better than Sage did (which I used previously and hated).
Accountants that you work with generally want you to use Sage and no amount of arguing about the quality of VT+ will make them change their mind.
Same issue is true of ICB vs AAT.
On the bright side, there is nothing to stop you being both ICB and AAT. You practice under ICB whilst training under AAT then when you have completed level IV you have the experience required to go straight to MAAT MIP at which time you can drop the additional expense of ICB (unless you feel that the additional networking opportunities are worth the additional cost).
Its a plan, I'm sure that others may disagree with it but its a start point that should at least get people thinking about and discussing the subject.
all the very best of luck with your new practice Simone,
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.
Thankyou for the advice Shaun, it feels right to me for a couple of other reasons that i don't want to get into, i have a huge respect for the ICB but AAT does seem to be far more recognised with chartered accountants and is also a route onto a chartered path - although that's way beyond me anyway - I think the level 4 is as tough as my brain wants to go
I am wondering about how i market myself - or rather my company that offers these services though - I'm sure others have also been in a similar boat? but the ICB suggest very specifically marketing yourself as a book-keeper rather than be offering accountancy services although they will train and qualify you to do self-assessment and year-end accounts. I get the impression that that's because they have had members aiming for bookkeeping work whilst their name implies generic accountancy services and then having to turn enquiries away. I don't want to turn any potential clients away and hopefully I could outsource anything that i'm not skilled/licensed to do until i hopefully get the MAAT MIP however I don't want to falsely describe myself as an accountant or give anyone that impression - so what would you advise in terms of marketing.. a bookkeeper that also does payroll/self-assessment/year end for sole traders or generic accountancy services?
very interested to hear anyone's take on this
-- Edited by Simone on Saturday 3rd of October 2015 09:19:47 PM
The vast majority of accountancy organisations and most accountants will value and recognise AAT qualifications, so these are certainly the best and most advantageous qualifications to obtain.
Firstly describing yourself as an accountant is wrong, it isnt a protected term, unlike doctor, and if you are doing self assessment and year end accounts you are effectively acting as the accountant.
So is it better advertise yourself as a bookkeeper who can do accountancy services, or an accountant who also does bookkeeping? I personally would go with the latter.
You would probably need to come into AAT at level 3 though, as there isn't any management accounting in the ICB and you would need this grounding to start level 4.
Nick
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Nick
Nick Craggs FMAAT ACA AAT Distance Learning Manager
Thanks Nick! I'm definitely going to be aiming for the AAT MIP and will be in touch with first intuition in the next day or two. I have to say the marketing side of being self-employed is far more important and tricky then i realised - with all these established bookkeepers/ AAT MIP's and lofty chartered types carving out a little niche where I feel confident is far more more tricky than I realised.
