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Dell


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Hello to the Forum - New Member
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Hello there,

I am Dell and live in Berlin, Germany.

Surfing the net over bookkeeping info, I have come across your Forum and appreciating the support, both technical and general, that people do exchange, the tone of the conversation and the Forum structure itself, have decided to give a go by asking possibly, for some feedback.

This is the background.

With ICB certificates Level I/II (and a BA in Business Studies/HE Certificate in International Business), I landed here a couple of bookkeeping jobs.

As a controller for a small business, my main task was reconciliation, reconciliation and reconciliation: daily cash outlays to purchase invoices/expense notes; sales invoices to quotations - sales orders returns; statements to bank accounts etc.

Additional responsibilities included chasing overdue customers and using excel to keep records of sales staff sold items and calculate/total their monthly commissions.

Later for an international company, duties included: checking customers payments of monthly instalments/charges/residual amounts; closing accounts with zero balance or investigating their discrepancies; using the suspense account for payments adjustment/correction.

Now being at home out of work and recovering from an op, I would like to keep work skills trained, with the sight of being hopefully hired either in a practice or in a company's accounting department.

To try to extend my practical experience, I have offered remote volunteering bookkeeping to British charities (local, national, international ones) but living abroad turned out a main obstacle.

Then for the theoretical side, I am considering gaining an ACCA Accounting and Business Diploma.

Now in your opinion, what could such a qualification bring, from a bookkeeping perspective, in terms of complementary knowledge applicable to the everyday work routine? And with such a qualification, which kind of different tasks could I be effectively entrusted with, respect to the ones lineal to my current qualifications/experience?

The second question is please, which UK industries/sectors would you see in the near future needing more the assistance from local small/medium bookkeeping practices (for instance IT - as for the web-focus of present times or Hospitality - as for the drive from gastronomic offerings such as ethnic, tradition-based, alternative etc. restaurants) and which set of main skills should a Book Keeper, to proficiently cater for, be tooled with?

Many thanks for your attention and have a good evening.

 

Best regards,

Dell



-- Edited by Dell on Monday 28th of May 2018 05:47:54 PM

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Cheshire


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Welcome to the forum.

Quite a lot to cover off in one response on a short week due to a bank holiday!

Questions back - what is your aim in terms of long term service delivery? From the UK or from Germany? Bookkeeping or actually looking at possibly doing Accountancy (ie anything beyond Trial Balance)?

 

(Edited to correct typo)



-- Edited by Cheshire on Tuesday 29th of May 2018 12:54:12 PM

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 Joanne 

Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017 

Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.

You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Leger


Master Book-keeper

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Welcome to the forum Dell.



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John 

 

 

 Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
Artois


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Hi Dell, welcome to the forum



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Doug

These are only my opinions of how I see things and therefore should not be taken as advice
Dell


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Joanne, John and Doug hello and many thanks for your welcome.

Joanne, here we had a bank holiday right last week with the weather being exceptionally good this spring long, with sunny days and summer temperatures; on the other side of the coin, last year spring/summer, the weather was exceptionally rainy, almost every single day....

Anyway coming to your questions: in the short term I am bound to Berlin, in the medium term, about one year, I could leave the country.

I really liked the bookkeeping tasks carried out in the first, small company and it is upon that that I would like to make my related knowledge more complete by treating other bookkeeping areas too; on the downside mine was a lonely figure, meaning not contemplated to have contact with customer,s trying to build professional relationships and enjoying it.

That said, now it is bookkeeping (if the opportunity to further in it of course arises), a later stage I would keep a door open on accountancy possibilities.

Regards



-- Edited by Dell on Tuesday 29th of May 2018 03:58:33 PM



-- Edited by Dell on Tuesday 29th of May 2018 04:01:22 PM



-- Edited by Dell on Tuesday 29th of May 2018 04:01:55 PM

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Cheshire


Master Book-keeper

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Hi Dell
The problem that you have in terms of getting experience from the UK whilst in Berlin is mostly an issue of remoteness.

Remote bookkeeping as a self employed person is possible and in fact undertaken by a few on here, but there needs to be ad hoc meetings, even if only at the outset to conduct your due diligence checks, whilst other meetings can be held via other methods, so having to fly in would start to chip away at your profits.

Remote bookkeeping as an employee I cannot see working, unless you have previously worked for that employer and they are happy to set up a special arangement so they dont lose a valued member of their staff.  I cannot see a new (to you)  employer, charity or otherwise progressing such an undertaking (just a big headache in terms of contracts/payroll/trust and other issues alone, never mind the lack of experience).

Coming back to the UK - hoow are matters progessing with regards to Brexit? Would you need a work VISA at that time? If so, would you be likely to get one, given the market saturation with bookkeepers?

Employers are looking for recognised qualifications. EG In industry - Finance Director status - CIMA or ACCA. Bottom end of the chain - ie data input, you could get a job with no qualifications, but again given the industry has a million and one applicants to choose from who have qualifications then having no recognised ones makes it harder to get a foot on the ladder, so at this end and upwards (if you dont go down the Chartered route) then look at the AAT.

For working in practice as an employee - start with the AAT, work your way up to wherever you wish to be (ACCA if you want much more earning potential/knowledge/on the job fun!).

Pinching a couple of lines from Shaun (our Moderator) from a recent post:-
''For getting a job think seriously about moving to the AAT (also as suggested by Doug). ICB is geared very much towards the self employed and some accountants regard it as an anti qualification. Thats nothing against your training but rather the ease with which people get to a practice certificate then set up in direct competition against those who may have spent ten years becoming qualified then needed to gain 4,620 hours working in practice post qualification to be able to offer their services to the public. Unsurprisingly, any CV that mentions the ICB goes straight in the bin.

No learning is ever wasted and whatever knowledge you have acquired to date will put you in good stead for whichever body you decide to move to. Or if you decide to stick with the ICB and beome self employed. But if you go with that latter option read the posts on this site which will give you a better idea of what to expect of the role of a bookkeeper. Which for the self employed seems very much to be judged to be a cheaper accountant. (just as much knowledge but at a fraction of the cost).

I am not saying that there are no employment opportunities for those with an ICB qualification, but rather that they are much more restricted. For example, look on the Reed website. There are currently 6008 advertised AAT job... And 14 ICB! Which I feel demonstrates that the market.''

(Reed is the premier finance related employment agency - Ive highlighted that part of Shaun's comment, but its a powerful message in terms of getting the qualifications you need)

Do you have any contacts within UK Accountancy practices?  If so they should be your first source of contact for jobs/practical experience/introductions etc.   Especially those that maybe have German ex pat clients, or those with dual nationality.     

Only other thing I can add at this point - if there is only a slight possibility of moving back to the UK, ACCA is MUCH more portable than AAT generally worldwide as far as Im aware.   So its worth digging around to see if the AAT is accepted in Germany, in the event you end up back home again or decide not to come back to the UK.

How are you planning on keeping up on the relevant tax legislation in the UK whilst you are away/CPD?

 



__________________

 Joanne 

Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017 

Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.

You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Dell


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Hi Joanne,

many thanks for your answer and above all for enlightening on some aspects I wasn't aware of.

Kind regards,

Dell





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