Bookkeeping qualification

[Youhavegottobekiddingme]

I’ve worked in offices for my whole working life. Various admin tasks and for the last 22 ish years I’ve done accounts and payroll, along side day to day office admin
I'm considering doing the AAT course to be a qualified bookkeeper so I can look at doing this along side my current job.

Anyone on here have any experience of being a bookkeeper, specifically how easy it is to get clients?, is the job fairly flexible?. I know this will depend on area everyone lives in, but I was told recently there are a shortage of bookkeepers so that’s a good start I guess?.

I’ve looked at the costs and it’s not cheap but certainly not as expensive as some courses. Then there is the HMRC money laundering registration type fees to take into account and business insurance on top of the course fees.

Would really appreciate any advice if you have done, or are doing bookkeeping.

Thanks

I’ve not done bookkeeping as I’ve always worked for finance departments of large companies but I am a qualified accountant, having studied both AAT and ACCA.

AAT I cannot recommend enough, it gave me an amazing grounding in accountancy and what I learned in this course I still use all the time. If it’s something you’re interested in it is definitely worth pursuing.

Several people that I used to work with have started bookkeeping on the side, I don’t know how easy it was for them to get clients but they definitely have flexibility in the hours they work. With obviously Jan and Apr being the busiest times.

Thank you, I think one of my concerns is doing the AAT and being qualified is one thing. But I would be working on my own, so no safety net of an office if I had a query on how to do something.
it would literally be me, my office/sage accounts experience and my new qualification.
it is unrealistic to think I could go off and start this by myself once the qualifications are gained do you think?

I did bookkeeping with my AAT qualification - it was useful when the kids were young and at school that I could work for myself.

• AAT have a license membership where they will list you on their website. May be worth looking now to see what competition there is
• onboarding was gradual and mostly word of mouth, but a website did help. I advertised at critical times of year I.e. early Jan when everyone would freak out about their self assessments
• if you want to complete self assessments / vat / ct etc you will need to register as an agent with hmrc. This is free but you need your qualification
• it is a good time to start if doing self assessment too, as there is a gradual move to several submissions a year for each self employed person
• if you haven't looked at xero, definitely take a look. You can do a free course with them, and being completely online it is much easier to work from home. Quickbooks etc works in a similar way, not sure if they have a course. Both, I found, to be really widely used for bookkeeping in small companies.
• you will need to keep a record of continued personal development to renew your AAT license each year - it's just to show you are doing your best to keep on top of changes

Do you like sales and marketing? And networking. You will need to do some combination of this to get clients.
Actually the bookkeeping part is the easy bit.

Make sure you have good, professional letters of engagement and some admin systems in place.

As you know, you need to also do your AML due diligence on clients. If you are not qualified with an appropriate body who would supervise this, then you can register with HMRC.
You don't actually need to be qualified to call yourself a bookkeeper or an accountant (or register with HMRC). They are not protected terms.

Thank you @WorldMap24 some good advice, really appreciate it. Will look at QuickBooks and Xero etc

Thanks @VivX think I’d be ok with admin and whilst I’m not a huge ‘networker’ I could/ would do it. I think regarding the qualification, I want to be sure I have the knowledge to do it properly & can give people confidence in me as well. I think if I have those qualifications then it will hopefully stand out against bookkeepers that don’t.

Lots to think about and look into 👍🏻

I'm going to send you a PM regarding studying for AAT. Please take a look as it could be of real benefit.

I found you.

If you are thinking about being self employed I cannot recommend ICB enough. The qualifications are extremely thorough and technical and they offer a lot
of support in running a practice, AML. You could also join a branch and take part in branch meetings where there is a lovely network of bookkeepers to support you and chat to. They also have technical helpline.

I have also sub contracted for local accountants and built some great relationships and they will often help me if I get stuck (obvs I ask questions on a very general sense, I wouldn’t disclose anything about a client).

With ICB you can do tax returns inc for micro entities when you reach level 4. They also do a very good payroll management diploma. I outsource payroll as it’s cheaper and easier, and just do the payroll related bookkeeping and admin.

I’m aat qualified and really recommend it. I don’t do personal bookkeeping though so I’m afraid I can’t help with that.

I do recommend attending a college though, as the tutoring was invaluable with some of the harder sections. The absolute worst is costings at level 4. Once you ‘get it’ it’s fine but the first 8 weeks of it had all of us in tears at various points!

good luck

If you are with ICB they act as your AML supervisor so you don’t need to be directly supervised by HMRC. There is a lot of admin around it… but you get used it!

@Numbersaremything thank you! I’ve replied

@Pompompurin1 great info, thank you. Will look at ICB. I like that they offer support, that’s my main concern really, getting the qualifications but then having no one to ask if I’m unsure when doing something the 1st time. Don’t mind the admin ref AML, I’m a lover of form filling 🤣

@ItsOoooon thank, I’ve looked at college courses but there isn’t one near me, certainly for level 2 or 3 unfortunately. Would I have to do level 4 for bookkeeping or is that for people leaning more towards accountancy level?

You can’t qualify without level 4, that’s when you’ll do modules like tax. But to have MAAT after your name and register with the AAT you have to do level 4.

Make sure you know your limits and don't get pushed into doing work you are not qualified for.

Find a good local accountant to refer on to

I’d think long and hard about being a self employed bookkeeper.

Purely down to the increasingly demands of HMRC money laundering regulations, l left my corporate job in 2006 and did self employed bookkeeping/accountancy until 2019, at which point l found the costs and the regulations stifling. I got clients easily because I’m very familiar with the Construction Industry scheme.

At the point of deciding to walk away, my clients wanted to to retain me and l went on their books as a part time employee.

The accountant we use at work has said similar. That is be better to work for a company than do bookkeeping due to all the regulations now

I didn’t realise you had to do level 4 as well. That increases initial costs that I have to consider too. Thank you.

Yes it’s a lot more expensive. Luckily my work paid for mine. And you can’t use the letters without keeping your membership up, I did for the first year and then didn’t bother. I’d have to do CIPD now and pay to re register.

ICB you do not need to achieve level four to qualify and work. You need level 3.

You need level 4 ICB if you want to submit end of year tax returns / accounts…. But you can do a lot as a bookkeeper without ever submitting those.

You can be an AATQB (AAT qualified bookkeeper) without level four… but you need to be supervised and signed off by an accountant (supervised for 6 or 12 months I think?)

If you're thinking of doing it self employed, you'd need to take care to take on only clients that you're confident in terms of the services they want, their size, etc. Start with small, simple jobs and work up. Different book-keepers and accountants (and clients) work in different ways. Some clients may want someone to do everything (VAT, payroll, book-keeping, accounts, returns etc) which is probably outside your skill range at first. But others will already have an accountant doing their returns, accounts, wages, and VAT and just need someone to do basic data entry which would be ideal starter clients. You can learn a lot by doing the basic data entry but keeping an eye on what others are doing, i.e. how the VAT and payroll works, etc to build confidence that you could do it yourself. Everyone has to start somewhere. If you first got a job in an accountancy practice, you could accelerate your experience under the guidance of the more experienced staff which may be a better option to build experience and confidence to go it alone.

The AAT seem to do courses in bookkeeping as well as accounting now, but go for the accounting one. Do level 2 first, as level 3 will assume prior knowledge of level 2.

The majority of self-employed bookkeepers just work for one or more small businesses doing their day-to-day accounts, and won't get involved in producing statutory accounts or doing the tax returns for the business owners. Once you've finalised all the entries for the year, and run all the reports, usually the business owner will pass those figures on to their (chartered) accountant who will do the final profit & loss accounts and the balance sheet, file the stuff at Companies House and do the owner's tax returns. The only tax you might get involved in is the quarterly VAT return if the business is registered, and the payroll stuff, which you already know.

To be honest, most small businesses don't want to pay much for someone to do their books for them, they tend to view it as a menial task and don't really value the expertise of the person they engage to do it. So it is actually fairly easy to be vastly over-qualified for the work that's actually available.

Just last week I turned down an enquiry from a start-up business because I know they can't afford me. 😁

Which is basically what I do now in my job, day to day stuff such as sales invoices, enter purchase invoices, cash flow, BACS and bank payments. Then I do month end reports on Sage, these are for my manager to look through, but they go off to the accountant at the end of the year. I do monthly bank reconciliations as well & quarterly vat returns.

I’m old enough to remember bank reconciliations and vat returns before Sage. The cash book was HUGE 🤣

I think level 3 would be fine for me then. As long as I’d be qualified. I think I’d prefer to basically do what I do now in my job and pass on the ‘tax stuff’ to an accountant.

You can also try to get a L2, L3 then L4 apprenticeship, so would you current employer consider sponsoring you through that route? You could sell it as giving you the skills to support payroll etc at L3 AAT.

@BeNiceWhenItsFinished

To be honest, most small businesses don't want to pay much for someone to do their books for them, they tend to view it as a menial task and don't really value the expertise of the person they engage to do it. So it is actually fairly easy to be vastly over-qualified for the work that's actually available.

I agree with this, most people don’t realise what is involved do they, which of course means they don’t want to pay for it.
I think any job that people have the “I could totally do myself but I just don’t have time” attitude is always under appreciated and not valued enough. I spoke to a VAT inspector a few years ago, she went to visit a company. The man presented her with a carrier bag of receipts and sales invoices. She told him she wasn’t his bookkeeper, and gave him so many days to get it in order before she came out again. 🤣

Thank you all so much for your responses. Been really interesting and given me a lot to think about. Really appreciate it

I definitely don’t want to be an accountant and would prefer to offer day to day bookkeeping, doing month end figures, bank reconciliations and preparing vat. And then preparing their accounts for their accountant. I know my limits (& strengths).