Should I take the plunge?

kazzymac

Firstly a bit of background - have never worked in practice only in industry (10 years experience). I have been a full member for 4 years. I am employed at the moment with a ltd co and use Sage to complete their VAT returns, credit control, prepare monthly mgmt accts, forecast & budgets, bookkeeping etc. They employ an accountant to prepare the year end returns/accounts as basically I do the leg work for them to do so. I have had the thought about becoming self employed and basically taking their work with me plus getting a few extra clients - they are open to this idea. I understand that I need insurance and having under 6 clients wouldnt need prof cover. One minute I am excited and the next lose confidence in myself. Could I basically do the same job as I do now for but for myself and offer book keeping services to others with the idea that an accountant produces year end accounts? I am not confident with tax issues other than through experience gained through ltd co. So I guess I would appreciate your thoughts on - is this a feasible option? Should I just offer book keeping services? Any thoughts/advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.:001_smile:

sheelagh

Hi

The work you describe is pretty much the same as I do. I started out visiting clients offices, but now I do all the work from my own office. My background is also in industry.
If you know how the various aspects of an accounts department work and fit together you can do this successfully. One aspect I have found difficult to cover adequately is credit control - Good credit control can demand daily attention which is not always practical. I now refer my clients to a dedicated credit control provider.
If you exchange your employment for a self employed contract, make sure that you do actually fit the description of a self employed person in the eyes of the revenue. This might be difficult to do if you continue to work fixed days at their premises and use their equipment. Once you have built up a number of clients it should be easier to demonstrate your self employed status.

Where are you based?

kazzymac

Thanks Sheelagh for your reply which was very helpful. I am based in Norwich and the plan is to work 3 days a week for the Company I am with now and find clients for the other two days which hopefully will get around the self-employed/employed problem. I will be renting a room in an office which should help with this issue too. One thing that i am spending ages (probably too long!) to decide is which route to go down ie self-employed/ltd co and also a name for the business. In my eyes i will be doing more than book-keeping but not really offering full accountancy services - I seem to fit in between at the moment!