Hi Carol,

welcome to the forum.

Sounds as though you've got the perfect background for going solo.

Looking at your history I would assume that your best route would bee to go MAAT MIP and get your MLR cover that way.

There are lots of threads on here about networking and marketing. If you've got specific questions we may be able to point you at particularly useful ones.

Unlike many I know that you will be going into this with your eye's open fully aware of the realities out there. However, just to say that it would be a good idea if you kept the day job until your client base is sufficient to replace any loss of stability of income (there often being a nasty timing gap between doing the work and getting paid for it).

I think that for starters you should be looking at getting your MIP status sorted.

Registering with HMRC as an agent.

Finding the right software for your business (the convince me that I don't need sage thread is a good read for that).

Finding good PII cover (Arlington give a discount for full members of this site).

Then it's trying to find under which rock your potential customers are hiding which is all down to networking, advertising, approaching freinds and family who own businesses etc.

Just be wary of poaching clients from your existing employers and check any restrictions in your employment contract as to where you can trade. Whilst restriction of practice makes it pretty unlikely that an ex employer can force you to shut down if you set up business topo close to theirs the last thing that you want is to going into a legal abttle when you are just trying to set up shop.

Good luck with the new venture and many hours of happy reading of the old threads on this site. Amongst the jovial banter it really is an absolute treasury of information.

kind regards,

Shaun.

Bob me over a message (via my profile) with your contact details. I don't want to put in public what I'm looking for - not sinister!

Kris has some resources via his signature/profile and look through the back posts on the forum.

Hi Carol,

sorry, was off doing stuff ready for the morning.

I work as a consultant in the banking, insurance and high finance sectors and also as a bookkeeper en route to (hopefully) becoming an fully functional accountant.

I use the limited company business model and work out of offices rather than home but home was where I started.

Business cards are always a good idea and they're so cheap from Vistaprint.

As far as how you make your income from this, the business model very much varies from business to business.

Some work on client sites using client systems.

Others work on their own systems in the more traditional client comes to you manner (the option that I encourage).

Many have a combination of the two. The key really is to be adaptable to the needs of the client.

pDm has a Saturday blog on here that is very geared towards the marketing side of things (networking / linkedin / twitter / etc. (actually, I wouldn't have a clue to where to start on that last one myself... The whole idea of short replies is totally alien to me as you can probably tell!).

To make this viable you basically have to offer the full spectrum of accountancy services cheaper than accountants aimed at the micro and SME markets

The bodies that you are with (AAT & CIMA) that won't be a problem (ACCA restricts my services to bookkeeping to trial balance, VAT and Payroll which isn't enough for a viable business in itself making me dependant upon other area's of the business until I can get an ACCA practice certificate).

I've not come accross a client who wants a spreadsheet set up for them. Mostly they've done it themselves and need us to then sort things out. As you know, nothing worse than a client who believes that they know what they are doing!!!

I do spreadsheet development for people but that tends to be the very complex stuff and much nearer to IT development than accountancy.

Generally the work that you do will be using accounting packages such as Sage, Quickbooks or SAP (Generally that latter one is for larger clients). For your own systems VT Accounts is certainly worth looking at as it's very cost effective (99 companies for under £200) and to my mind is a lot more user freindly to those who know what they're doing than Sage is.

If your going to offer Payroll try Moneysoft Payroll and 12pay. Both excellent bit of software at reasonable prices so all in all very much down to which feels best to you.

Got to go, will catch up tomorrow.

kind regards,

Shaun.

Hi Carol,

I started my company back in 1990 after going as high up as a management consultant with the company that I was with that I could go (not so much a glass ceiling as standing on the roof and think well where next?).

Since 2002/3 I've been a single parent with sole custody so it made sense to steadily change the direction of my company away from industry and more towards the SME sector so that I didn't have to work away from my boy that much.

That side of things very much started out with a bedroom converted to an office but I think that moving to offices was the best move that I've made for the business as the position of the offices is advertising in itself. A substantial presence seems to make me more stable in the minds of clients and to be honest, when working at home I end up cleaning and tidying rather than working and studying. (even though I enjoy the work & study and not the cleaning. Weird isn't it!).

You've come to a great little site with some really helpful posters who will answer just about anything that you throw at them without ever being condescending (that's not something that can be said about some of the other sites out there).

When you're past your exams (good luck with those by the way) have a read through some of the old posts relevant to your situation (a google search of the site always brings back a good selection) then feel free to bump them or post follow up questions in new threads.

For every question you ask on here there are perhaps a hundred or so readers who want to ask the questions but for whatever reason don't post themselves so always assume that no question is too silly to ask as if you want to know the answer then there's a hundred people out there dependant upon you asking it.

I think that's one of the really good thing about the blog that I mentioned in the other post as it takes you through the anguish of someone setting up and trying to find their first client via all of th pit traps of starting a business. A year down the road I'm absolutely sure that they will have a good stable of clients but the blogs posted now will always be there to show new starters the way forwards by other peoples successes and failures.

Oops, I'm off on one again.

talk in a bit. Lets see if there are any techy questions need answering

kind regards,

Shaun.

KennyK wrote:

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I am about to retire and have just passed my AAT Level 2 Bookkeeping Certificate assessment as as a way of working towards part time bookkeeping (probably on a self empoyed basis) as a way of getting some additional earnings and still having some gainful employment. Although not accountancy qualified, much of my working life has been involved with managing budgets, raising and paying invoices, and preparing associated journals. I would be grateful for pointers as to what I need to have by way of professional practice certificate, insurance etc to be properly equiped for the role?

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 Hi Kenny,

There are plenty of threads on this forum that already cover much of what you're asking.

Most important and most basically you must have MLR supervision before undertaking any work. There are a whole lot of other considerations too including insurance, memberships, and what services you're qualified (and/or competent) to offer.

Have a good look around this forum. It's a gold-mine of information.

pDm