Hi Elizita,

welcome to the forum.

This has been the subject of quite a few recent posts. Namely that people do not realise that it's near impossible to get the experience neccessary for membership of the accountancy bodies until they've already spent a small fortune on training.

You need to refer to your AAT rules as to what services you are allowed to offer prior to qualifying. Certainly whatever you do in a self employed capacity you will not be allowed to mention your AAT status in any literature.

Also, experience gained in a self employed capacity unless directly supervised by a suitably qualified person will not count towards your experience requirements but such work may make you more employable in combination with your AAT studies.

If you offer work in a self employed capacity then you will need MLR cover and it is also advisable to get PII. The MLR can be done directly via HMRC or you could join a second supervisory body such as the ICB but then you will have a second set of restrictions such as having to pass additional exams in order to offer Payroll and Self Assessment services which if you were not a member you would be able to offer without passing any exams.

However, if you are going self employed I would say that it is definitely better to be under the umbrella of a supervisory body geared towards self employment than not as if you get in trouble they have legal departments there to help you out and believe me, in this increasingly letigous society it is very easy to get in trouble very quickly.

Eventually your AAT will pay dividends but at the moment I fully appreciate that this is all very confussing and frustrating and not at all how the training providers sell their courses to people.

Good luck with moving your career forwards,

kind regards,

Shaun.