Any book keepers here?

[bookendedbylife1]

Hi there, I'm thinking of training to be a book keeper over the next couple of years. I'm early 50s and know that I'd like to reduce my ft working hours in about 4 years time, and am thinking of becoming a self employed book keeper for small local businesses. Does this sound feasible? My current job is unrelated. I'm numerate but I don't have any finance experience. However, I'm good at sales and marketing, so the finding clients side wouldn't faze me.

I wouldn't be looking to earn £££. I'm thinking more of it as a way to earn a small income as I get old(er). I'm happy to invest in training courses.

Thanks for any advice.

I was a Bookkeeper until a year or so ago. The Qualifications to be a bookkeeper mean you can do the accounts up to Trial Balance. Most businesses want someone who can also do their Self Assessments if they're Sole Traders or their Corporation Tax if they are LTD. I did the extra qualifications in order to be able to complete those, and also Payroll which again is separate. A lot of Bookkeeping is digital now and quite easy for the smaller companies to do themselves, although I did get quite a bit of work from those who had got themselves into a mess by trying to do so.

The training still has you doing manual ledgers as well as the computerised way (so that you have a comprehensive level of understanding what it all means)

I studied with Ideal Schools, which wasn't super expensive, and I can recommend them. If you have any questions, feel free to ask or message me.

Thanks CitizenZ, that’s very helpful. I will take a look at Ideal Schools.

If you don’t mind me asking, were you self employed and if so, do you think it’s possible to make a living from it?

Yes, I studied for the qualifications whilst I was in completely unrelated full time employment for much the same reason as you are considering going into it.

I went straight into being a Self Employed Bookkeeper as I already had some clients waiting (family & Friends) In all honesty it was a baptism of fire doing it without any real experience, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but it is possible, because I and many others have done it that way. Joining Facebook groups for Bookkeepers/Accountants was invaluable, both for when studying and when you inevitably come across situations you haven't dealt with before.

I’m AAT qualified and have worked for small businesses directly under chief accountants for the last 10 years or so as a bookkeeper.

considering working for myself in the future so will follow along but if I can help with regards to qualifications / what I currently do I’m happy to answer questions.

I might be wrong but I understand you have to have a level 3 qualification in bookkeeping to be self employed - I think it's to do with money laundering regs etc.

You local council might have book keeping courses for free depending on your current employment status.

I don't think I'd like to jump straight in with no experience, so maybe volunteering in an accounts /finance office to gain practical experience may be beneficial.

Indeed you do. I had level 4 before I even practiced, because I wanted to do more than Bookkeeping to trial balance. I became a Member in order to get Money Laundering supervision with ICB.

I think free bookkeeping courses would be very basic, probably more suited to those running very small businesses, but it might be a good start to see if it suits you.