Becoming Self-Employed - Signing off accountants report

Mentalmatt2

Hi all

I am thinking of getting some part time work to generate extra income. I am at a loose end as to what I can do as an MAAT member.
I have checked my current employer are ok for me to do extra work and know I will have to pay extra NI contributions.
I was originally just going to do book-keeping but was wondering... If I was to prepare the full financial statements for Small Limited Companies and Partnerships, would I be sufficiently qualified to sign off an accountants report etc on these?
Is there a legal requirement for an accountants report if the client does not require an audit?
Is there anything else I will need to consider while setting up?
P.S. I am new to setting up business so any help appreciated!!

Regards
Matt

burg

If you wish to engage in Public Practice and your total fee income will be over £1000 then you will need to apply for a practising licence from the AAT.

See here http://www.aat.org.uk/content/item1769/

You can indeed prepare accounts if you have suitable experience in these areas and are granted a licence for these services.

You will need to obtain Professional Indemnity Insurance and may well require software if you are wanting to create sets of accounts and Tax Returns. VT accounts software is worth looking at for a start up and then for Tax many use TaxCalc or FTax amongst others.

Mentalmatt2

Thanks very much for your reply, very helpful!
Happy Christmas and new year to you!

Regards
Matt

NeilH

Hi

Anyone can prepare the accounts for a limited company of any size, regardless of qualification (if any!), only the conduction of a statutory audit, insolvency and financial services leagally require specific qualifications.

You will (as stated) need to comply with AAT MiP regulations. Also, with regards to preparing an accountants report, some "users" of the report may require the accountant to hold a certain qualification status. What sort of reports were you considering signing?

Neil