Hi everyone, it's been a while since I posted, but I've been lurking in the background. Basically I'm still trying to get going with my business, the last 6 months have been crazy with my day job and family life, but some sort of normality has returned so back to it!
Basically I need some kind of 'work experience' to practice what I have learnt but have had no joy gaining any. Looking online I've found a couple of courses where you pay for some experience, they send you some accounts and you complete the work and send it back. Does anybody have any experience of these?. There are a number of them on the reed website but they may be scams?. I know it sounds crazy to pay for something like this but I definitely need some kind of real world practice.
Are you part of an awarding body such like the AAT, ICB, IAB, IFA? Etc etc etc.
What I'd do if you feel like the lack a little confidence, firstly, keep your money in your pocket.
Join your local branch network, ask someone to check over your work.
Ask many questions here too. No questions are silly, especially when first starting out, even if it's just to confirm your thoughts.
People will gladly help you out if it is shown you've at least tried to form the correct answer and not solely posted a question without doing any leg work yourself.
This forum is awesome for asking basic questions, right through to the more complex - although for the deeper questions you will need to know the basics first, in particular in regards to tax.
__________________
Johnny - Owner of an overly-active keyboard.
A man who can read, yet doesn't, is in no way wiser than a man who can't.
Ditto what Johnny said. Also - you talked last time about getting a voluntary role - any luck? I would suggest you try one of the larger charities as thats where a few cut their teeth (so it seems) but also consider some of the smaller ones, even a larger than usual scout group or some such would start the bookkeeping thought process off.
How about the other suggestions made at the time of your last post? (Johnny - Phil was ICB - not sure if he is now!)
NEVER EVER EVER Pay for the work experience. There have been a few mentions on here and other forums and they all say what i have just said.
Best thing is to ask absolutely everyone you know for work - and I mean everyone, as all you need is that one client to start you off and at least one person will know someone who needs a bookkeeper.
As well as asking questions on here - check out the daily posts and see if you can answer some of them without looking at what other people have posted (I dont mean on the forum itself necessarily, but in you head!)
__________________
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
Hi guys, thanks for your insights. Yes I'm still with the ICB but have been looking at the AAT Bookkeeping qualification because I think I can just swap over to that now as I've got level 3 ICB. You are both right, I would be mad to fork out any money on these things, I was just convincing myself that this would be a good route to go down, I just needed other people to tell me how stupid it would be.
I've tried looking for voluntary work, but even these want someone with experience. I will keep going, now things are a little less hectic I will get back to reading up as much as I can, and Joanne I do quite regularly try to answer some of the posts, hopefully one day I will feel confident enough to actually post responses on here
Have you tried local kids football clubs. Offer to do their book keeping etc for free. This will then be checked off by their accountant. Might also be a good way to get in with the accountant for further work???
Hi Debbie, that's a good idea, I think I need to sit down and make a list of all the local clubs and groups I can find and contact them, and then I just need to pluck up the courage to go for it and start contacting potential clients in the areas I'm going to concentrate on. It just scares me to death!
