Advice for new self employed accountant

[Catherine12345]

Hello all

I wonder if someone could give me some advice. I am currently on a career break to raise my family and am now looking to go back to work. I am qualified with ICAEW and have 17 years experience in industry but I let my ICAEW membership lapse in 2005 as I wasn’t working and didn’t want to pay the fees. I am now looking to set up a business as a self-employed accountant from home and have approached the ICAEW about rejoining. They have sent me the forms and I will need to pay a fee of about £1000.

I sometimes get carried away, wanting to study CIOT exams and offer a full range of accounting/taxation services. However, at the end of the day what I really want is to work from home and be available for my family. I don’t want to work full-time and I want to earn enough to be comfortable (i'm a single parent so no other household income is available)….luxuries are not required.

My question is whether I should rejoin the ICAEW and do CIOT exams? Both involve a considerable initial outlay and ongoing costs and I’m not whether I will get a decent return on the money spent.

Would I still be able to attract clients and obtain a reasonable amount of work without them? Are there any other organisations that I could join that would benefit me? I am technically up to date and am more than happy to pay for CPD. I aware of the money laundering regulations and will be obtaining PI insurance. Would ATT exams be worth doing or would the course content have already been covered when studying for my chartered exams?

Thanks in advance for any advice that you may be able to offer.

Catherine

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Hi Catherine

I'd certainly take a look at ATT - I actually did that after ACCA and found it of all the studies I did to be the most relevant to working in a small/medium practice environment. The tax is what you see in the real world.

I appreciate £1,000 is a huge sum of money and ultimately only you can decide if its worthwhile - personally I think it probably is. You worked hard for those professional qualifications and should reap some reward. I suspect ex-members who have chosen not to remain with a professional body will have a different view.

Very best of luck to you

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Do you actually have any practice experience?

 

[Strontium Dog]

As you have correctly stated as long as you register with HMRC for AML purposes, there is no need to be a member of a professional body.


However, having worked so hard to pass the exams, I would definitely rejoin if I were in your shoes. I assume you can get a Practicing Certificate ok ?

I wouldnt bother with any of the other bodies (thats not me being rude, I just dont think you need to). As for technical courses, again, just go on the ones which have a direct impact on what you do. A large part of CIOT exams you will not use.

As an aside, I thought if you wwere unwaged the Institute let you pay a reduced level of subscription.

EDIT : Crossed in the post with Nicola !

 

[englishbob]

Rejoining an institute is not a simple matter to decide.
You need to look at what it gives you for such a large fee.
Say it was advertising - would you pay that much?
How many clients will membership actually bring in?
Is all the hassle of putting on a "straight jacket" from all the rules and regulations worth it?
Far better in my mind to stay as flexible as possible, start your practise without re-joining and see how many clients you get.
That will be the main challenge in the first few years.

See how many potential clients are put off by NOT being a member of a registered body. Not many I think. There are lots of "unqalifieds" successfully doing bookkeeping and tax work.
After all, rejoining does not gain you a single piece of additional knowledge.
With money tight, I would keep the £1000 in my pocket!
Look at it as a business decision and not as a matter of course or even "well I can".

I was once a member of ACCA - in the end it offered NOTHING for its annual fee and CPD costs.

 

[elaine@cheapaccounting]

Personally I would seriously look at rejoining the ICAEW. From there you can apply for your Practice certificate.

The backing of a professional body, especially one of ICAEW standing goes alone way with client confidence.

You can of course practice without any qualification, practice certificate etc.

See my blog here ...

http://www.cheapaccounting.co.uk/blog/index.php/just-how-do-you-get-the-e-in-qbe/

I obviously support ICAEW as I am a member. Others will have different views.

 

[Catherine12345]

Thanks for some good advice.

I've decided to submit my application to rejoin ICAEW and apply for a Practicing Certificate at the same time (as per their advice). The latter is free for the first two years so that should give me enough time to establish whether I can make membership work for me. Then ATT I think as it looks like it will be most relevant to my work.

I'll let you know how I get on....

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Thanks for some good advice.

I've decided to submit my application to rejoin ICAEW and apply for a Practicing Certificate at the same time (as per their advice). The latter is free for the first two years so that should give me enough time to establish whether I can make membership work for me. Then ATT I think as it looks like it will be most relevant to my work.

I'll let you know how I get on....

Good luck Catherine - I think you'll find the ATT qualification really helpful

 

[DFL]

Not being rude, but I think you have just thrown away £1000.

As a business owner, you can't afford to do that too many times.

What are you getting in return? The ICAEW badge that 99.99% of business owners couldnt care less about.

They want pro active advice and support, transparent pricing, reliable service, flexibility and jargon free delivery but most of all effective tax advice and planning. Give them that and they won't care whether you are a member of the ICAEW or the Moonies.

ATT is an excellent qualification and will stand you in good stead to apply it to most small business requirements. CIOT is probably overkill - anything you don't learn through ATT can be bought in ad hoc in the rare event that it is ever required.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Not being rude, but I think you have just thrown away £1000.

I for one disagree with you there - I think it would be utter madness to throw away one of the best accounting qualifications an accountant can get (along with the ACCA of course) by not spending the money.

I don't think you'll regret it at all.

 

[DFL]

Nothing can take away the fact that Catherine took and passed the exams and qualified with them, this is about membership and what you get for what you pay. I am sure that in 12 months time Catherine will not feel like she has got value for the money paid.

I have just asked 5 diverse business owners what qualification their accountant has - not one of them either knew or cared.

Always respect your view though so we will have to agree to disagree

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Nothing can take away the fact that Catherine took and passed the exams and qualified with them, this is about membership and what you get for what you pay. I am sure that in 12 months time Catherine will not feel like she has got value for the money paid.

I have just asked 5 diverse business owners what qualification their accountant has - not one of them either knew or cared.

Always respect your view though so we will have to agree to disagree

Thank you DFL.

I've been an FCCA for about 10 years now and yes I do ocasionally question what I get for the membership but overall it has been and continues to be worthwhile and does bring many benefits (some not so obvious as others).

I also worked too damn hard to get those letters after my name to throw it away now!

I do appreciate what you say and yes we'll agree to disagree

Have a great weekend

 

[Lancelot]

Not being rude, but I think you have just thrown away £1000.

There is no waste. It is an investment. I was (am) lucky enough to get most of my studies paid by my employers but even it was to paid them myself, I would have done without a second thought even if I was to eat canned beans on a toast for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

 

[DFL]

Interesting that you see a good return for what you pay.

If I am wrong (stranger things have happened ) then I am not so blinkered as I can't acknowledge it.

So I can be clearer, what benefits will Catherine get for her £1,000.00?

 

[Lancelot]

I guess bigger clients would like to know whether she is a member of a professional body or not.

 

[DFL]

I don't mean to be arumentative but Catherine is not going to be working with bigger clients, she wants to create a part time, working from home practice.

She asked whether she would get clients without it and the answer is a resounding yes.

She asked whether there are any other organisaions that she could use and again the answer is yes.

The membership may benefit other users here but bespoke to the original poster, I really don't see how it would it this case and haven't been given any information to change my mind.

£1000 to me (especially at the start up stage) seems a huge amount of money to part with on the notion that some clients will be swayed by it - they won't.

 

[Strontium Dog]

I don't mean to be arumentative but Catherine is not going to be working with bigger clients, she wants to create a part time, working from home practice.

She asked whether she would get clients without it and the answer is a resounding yes.

She asked whether there are any other organisaions that she could use and again the answer is yes.

The membership may benefit other users here but bespoke to the original poster, I really don't see how it would it this case and haven't been given any information to change my mind.

£1000 to me (especially at the start up stage) seems a huge amount of money to part with on the notion that some clients will be swayed by it - they won't.

I said if I were in the OP's shoes I would stump up the £1,000 not for any marketing reason or to derive any "benefit" as you put it.

Merely because I believe people should take pride in their achievements.

In the same way I cannot understand people selling their FA cup winners medal, or Military Cross.

I realise I might be in a dwindling minority, but I think these things are important.

 

[DFL]

I agree with you, Catherine should take great pride at passing the extremely difficult and challenging exams, nothing can take that achievement away whether she rejoins the institute or not.

However, as a business owner, ego has to be set aside and weighed against cost to the business. Is that £1000.00 worth it for what she will get in return? I don't think it is. Will she get clients without the membership? Yes.