Hi Liam
Can you please add your name to the signature section so that it appears on your messages.

Welcome to the forum. Would be useful for you to have added some background about yourself - ability levels, qualifications, background.

To the question itself, or at least part of it......if a client is talking about all this being input into Sage (and its clear that someone called Graham is using it at their offices) then I would suggest they will want you to go into their offices and use their system. Can you clarify? If so then you do not need access to sage yourself.

There is a lot of information on here about various accounting packages which people on the site use. I use Sage myself, but be warned it very expensive and they have recently changed their product offering so that its purchased more and more on a monthly subscription basis rather than perpectual licences, but it depends on various factors which are to start with if you want the accountants/bookkeepers version, standard desktop or online (most people on BKN dont like online as a rule - see some of the threads on here which explain the reasons why), whether or not you want to monitor stock etc. VT is fast becoming more and more of a favourite on BKN, so would be worth a look!

Re your fees. There are a lot of variables here too - what is your ideal fee/your minimum rate; local rates; where based, amount of competition in your area (although I dont let influence my fees), per hour rate or fixed fee, value pricing/add ons, plus several other considerations. Some bookkeepers start at £8ph, but I absolutely would not get out of bed for that rate!!! One of the posters on here recently advised he achieved £90an hour - although I would suggest these are rare and certainly unlikely if you are just starting out. Have a look round at some of the other threads for some further ideas.