Freelance Bookkeepers within your company what sort of software are you using, please? Or do you use your clients system? How does it works if you have many clients and only one software? Forgive me if that's daft questions but I'm just starting my business. I asks local accountants if they need extra pair of hands with their books and they're asking what system I use? So far I've been using my clients software but maybe it's time to get my own. What's the best practise, please?
Please do the usual intro and add your first name to your profile.
For future - your question title is too generic, it should indicate what help you need. If you take the time to look round the site you can see the other sorts of headings.
You need software that can handle multiple clients, not a single company/business.
What do theses Accountants you are speaking to use and what do your clients use, what are you confident using?
Edited to correct typo
-- Edited by Cheshire on Tuesday 6th of February 2018 09:44:01 AM
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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
Update on the intro (sorry my ipad was playing up as I was trying to post this morning!
Usual stuff we ask for - what prof body do you belong to, do you work for yourself or in a practice/ firm, are you a bookkeeper or accountant, what qualifications, how long in role, where up to in your studies-what exams passed/with what body/in midst of doing, whereabouts in the Uk are you based, what you did before this role? That sort of thing. Helps get to know you but also how best to pitch answers.
Also - to add your first name so that it appears under the signature bar on your posts via Edit profile --->signatures)
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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
Thank you for your reply. Sorry for all missing stuff, it's my first forum post ever.
I am an AAT licenced bookkeeper. I basicaly just finished setting up my company and start looking for clients. I passed all AAT levels and now debating between ACCA and CIMA. Before that I was working in finance department at different hotels, different cities for 7 years. Now I finally bought a house and I'm based in Milton Keynes. Working at different hotels gave me a chance to learn different softwares i.e Sage, Quickbooks, Xero, Tally etc Accountants/Bookkeepers don't really want to give me any advices for some reason :) so I thought I'll try here
Thank you Agga
-- Edited by AggaBM on Tuesday 6th of February 2018 12:54:37 PM
Hi Agga Before we go any further you need to remove the link to your website as advertising is not allowed except for long standing regular contributors. (via edit post)
Also - you say licenced bookkeeper which I take to be AATQB, but then you say you have passed all AAT levels which I take to be MAAT - can you clarify please.
-- Edited by Cheshire on Tuesday 6th of February 2018 12:09:37 PM
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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
Welcome to the forum. I use VT+ which allows unlimited clients and costs around £150.00 as a one off fee (Slight word of warning though, you may not be able to use it for VAT clients after April 2019) Other alternatives are Quickbooks Desktop or Sage. Have you asked the accountants what software they're using? It's possible they want you to have the same software, which is why they're asking what you're using.
Will you be doing self assessments or just bookkeeping? (like Joanne I'm confused as to whether you're AATQB or MAAT) If you're going on to do ACCA, beware of Rule 8, as you're unable to go beyond trial balance if you become a student.
Good luck with your venture. I was going to mention the website, but see Joanne's already done that. Stick around and keep posting though, and you will be able to link it at a later date. However, just as a heads up, you say you have set up a company. If you have, the registration no. and registered address should be on your website.
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
I'm a MAAT but I have AAT bookkeeping lincese as well so I can use their logo on my website, their supervise me with money laundering and lots of other stuff.
I've done few selfassesment this year (I have HMRC agent code) but now when it's quiet I'd like to gain more experience in bookkeeping.
I'm a sole trade. I called it company but it's really just me at the moment :)
The accountants I contacted mentioned Xero because it's cloud based
Thank you for your comments, I'm getting so excited now, It's crazy
Thanks for the clarification. Most accountants now seem to be plumping for Xero, but it's not cheap. It's good that you can offer self assessment, as there is limited call just for bookkeepers in the small business sector. Being able to offer a one stop shop from bookkeeping to self assesment, or CT600 gives you a bigger advantage, however (as previously mentioned) ACCA will restrict you to just bookkeeping until you qualify, and then it's another three years or so working under supervision before you can have your own practice.
I would try and build as much of your own work as possible, and ensure that if you need to buy software to work with accountants, the cost is justified.
EDIT: Supervision time changed from 2 years to 3 years. Thanks Joanne.
-- Edited by Leger on Tuesday 6th of February 2018 03:05:56 PM
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
Hi Agga
As John says - if you are going down the ACCA route you will not be able to go beyond TB so you need to choose your clients carefully and you may need to dump some of those self assessments as soon as you become a student - they are much much stricter than the AAT in this regard (fines and expulsion are common for breaching regulation 8).
Be careful using the word company. This relates to Limiteds.
Most Accountants will be wary sharing information because you are their future competition.
You do not need to use cloud based to get work from Accountants. Many dont use it!
My approach would be - tell them that you have experience on x,y,z and then ask which they prefer you to use. That way you are less likely to miss out on any work they might put your way. When you get to talk in more detail you may need to find out what versions they have of specific software, especially sage and quickbooks who do not restrict themselves to cloud based but also offer desktop versions. Eg Sage has sageone (cloud), sage essentials, sage 50 - the latter is split into more products).
Sage/SAP (desktop, but with cloud capability if required) are still one of the most used at the bigger than 2-3 man band types of Accountancy businesses.
If just looking after your own clients but using your own software, VT+ as John says is worth investing in. We are all just waiting for the workarounds for MTD (same for ANY software at the mo)
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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
Last question, probably daft but how do you get individual clients, please? I tried reach to accountants, i posted ad on few websites, now I'm thinking maybe flyers?
For selfassesment was easy, I just made a facebook page but now I'm stuck
have a dig around the site as the software issue and the howto getclients has been covered quite a few times.
Throwing it back - what do you do with flyers when they come through your letterbox? Mine dont even make it into the house - they are picked up in a big clump and dumped straight in the paper recycling bin.
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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
When I was trying to get started I left my business card and flyer adverts in lots of different places (getting permission first), talked to anyone who would listen and joined a local bookkeeping group. I found a group for start-up businesses and got 2 clients who then recommended me and a few more came from that. It's taken me a couple of years to get a good mix of clients but I'm enjoying being able to do what I enjoy; does get a bit frustrating but keep plugging away.
I have Sage 50 - don't have any clients who want to use it! I find working with VT+ so easy, definitely recommend it. I have a client who, after watching me doing the work, decided she wants to reconcile her own bank account each month - she loves it!
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Janet
They keep making the system idiot proof but then make bigger and better idiots!
If you've got one of them monthly mags come round, try that, but it's a slow burner. 3 years ago I advertised for 10 months with no interest but then over the last 2 months of the campaign I got 3 self assessment enquiries which I converted. The income covered the whole campaign and I've had repeat business from 2 of them every year since.
Come March I will be finally doing my new website and setting up a facebook page, so it's good to hear you got some clients through facebook.
Word of mouth though is by far the best way and the vast majority of my clients have been recommended to me. That'll come as you gain more clients.
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
