Any bookkeepers who can advise about courses?

[NowImmeagain]

I'm looking into changing career and have been looking at online courses for bookkeeping.

Could anyone advise me if these courses are sufficient to work self employed from home for small companies as bookkeeper?

www.reed.co.uk/courses/bookkeeping-book-keeping-course/236909

www.reed.co.uk/courses/bookkeeping-and-payroll-training/271352

Advice on other suitable courses welcome!

Thanks.

The 1st link is a level 1 certificate which is very basic, the 2nd doesn't specify a level. I wouldn't bother with them.

If you have no experience have a look at AAT. I career changed a few years ago and self studied level 2. You don't actually need any qualifications to call yourself a bookkeeper, many are qualified by experience but if you want to have the proper grounding (especially coming from a different career path) you're best looking at AAT. Some people don't take the level 2 exams but study the material then start from the level 3 exams because it's after level 3 you can call yourself a qualified bookkeeper

That's great, thanks.

Is it this one?
www.reed.co.uk/courses/aat-level-3-advanced-diploma/241457

Or this one?

www.reed.co.uk/courses/online-aat-level-2-and-aat-level-3-with-practical-accountancy-training/189451

Have a look at the AAT website rather than Reed. There's a short assessment you can do to find the level you should start at. There are loads of providers of the training - local colleges, accountancy trainers, face-to-face, online or blended learning. For level 2 I bought books and self studied, there's loads of resources online if you get stuck. I just booked exams as an external student when I was ready for them.
Level 3 I'm doing with first intuition who are very highly regarded as online providers

Don't go through Reed. Most colleges run accounting and book-keeping courses, you can do GCSE, A-level, City & Guilds or AAT. Some colleges do courses on how to use Sage, which is one of the main accounts packages. I dare say most colleges can run courses like that online at the moment.

Before you do a course, buy this book and read it from cover to cover. You can get second-hand ones very cheaply on Ebay or elsewhere. It explains all the basic principles step by step, a chapter at a time:

Business Accounting Vol 1 by Frank Wood.

Thanks, very helpful!

Be aware that formal book-keeping "courses" are often not particularly relevant to real-life book-keeping. They tend to be very theoretical and don't really deal with the realities of being a modern book-keeper. They're a good start to get the basics but won't really give you the skills/abilities to actually "do" the job. I'd be very wary indeed if you are planning to set up as a self employed book-keeper as clients aren't really interested in perfect double entry book-keeping and more interested in VAT and payroll advice, management accounting, etc. I'd second that you'd be better looking at doing the AAT training/qualification as it covers a broader range of abilities.

AAT for sure :)

Good luck!

AAT association of accounting technicians is what you need.

@Kazzyhoward

Be aware that formal book-keeping "courses" are often not particularly relevant to real-life book-keeping. They tend to be very theoretical and don't really deal with the realities of being a modern book-keeper. They're a good start to get the basics but won't really give you the skills/abilities to actually "do" the job. I'd be very wary indeed if you are planning to set up as a self employed book-keeper as clients aren't really interested in perfect double entry book-keeping and more interested in VAT and payroll advice, management accounting, etc. I'd second that you'd be better looking at doing the AAT training/qualification as it covers a broader range of abilities.

If you don't have a thorough understanding of the basic principles of double-entry book-keeping, you cannot be competent at VAT or management accounting.

Payroll is a different animal in its own right anyway. I've managed to work in accounting for over 30 years, and have successfully managed to avoid doing anybody's payroll. Yuk.

Thank you for all the replies. I'm looking into AAT level 2. Do you think this is sufficient to work on a self employed basis? Also how much experience or knowledge will be expected at that level?

To be self employed and licensed I’m sure you either need Level 3 or 4 OP.

Level 2 wouldn't be enough, have a look at the website to see what is included in each level