Any self employed accountants/payroll people?

Hi

I have being thinking about doing this for a while now. ie going out on my own and preparing accounts/payroll for small companies and soletraders.

Has anyone out there done this?

If so could you give me any advice. I am ACA qualified with a few years practice and a few years industry.

What software do you use>

How mush do you charge per job

I was thinking of doing payroll first, then maybe some book keeping until I got the hang of working for myself as these would be my strong areas - NOT audit

Thanks for any advice

Hi Áine

While I can fully understand why you wish to avoid auditing, it doesn't make much sense for a chartered accountant to be doing payroll. You will not be earning what you could be earning.

You should be offering full accounts preparation and tax. Not bookkeeping and payroll.

The Institute have a few people employed in Practice Advice and you should consult with them.

Brendan

Thanks for the reply Brendan,

I am going to begin small, offer book keeping and payroll, then offer accounts and tax, as I build up clients

This is my first time going out on my own and I want to get it right, and build up confidence both with myself and customers.

Thanks again

Hi Áine

Best of luck with the new venture.

If you are able to do everything, why not offer it from the outset?

The biggest barrier to starting a new business is getting clients. You can be the best accountant in the world, but if no one knows it, you will go bust.

If people come to you looking for tax/ audit advice, are you going to turn them away because you are not ready?

In fact, thinking about it, I would start the opposite way, offering tax and audit advice with payroll and bookkeeping as an added extra.

How much do you charge? That's up to you. When I worked in EY 13 years ago, it was €1,500 minimum for a tax return. Today, I hear of people getting it done for €150. You have to decide what your target market it and charge accordingly.

sage is a very popular software but I was talking to a guy last week who was giving out about it. Big red book is another one.


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie

A few thoughts.

Are you giving up an existing income to start this or will the income from this business be an extra. I just don't think you could give up an existing income and expect to make an income to replace it from day one. Unless you have an existing client bank to begin with you are not going to generate a turnover in month one.

The cash-flow from a business like this is terrible. You can have clients who expect you to do a years accounts and pay you after the end of the year. It is possible to manage them better than that but client expectations can be difficult.

To set up as a registered auditor requires certain set up costs and ongoing regulatory costs. Unless you have the clients to pay for this from day, one thats difficult. I think your approach may be wise.

You are concerned about getting it right. To be honest this is not going to be a problem. You are not going to have clients with difficult accounting challenges. Your problems are going to be getting clients and getting them to pay you.

If you have enough income separate from this to live for 2 or 3 years, get stuck in. If you don't things will be difficult.

Sage, for the support.

Clients want o know about cloud based accounts and about accounting apps. Its no harm to read up on those. Though again Sage seem to have those well covered.

Thanks SBarrett and cremeegg for your advice

I really do not want to go down the audit route and to be honest I dont think I have enough tax experience to be offering advice. I will offer income tax / vat returns services and other smaller ones , but not advice.

cremeegg I currently work fulltime so I would be doing this on the side to begin with,

The main query I have is what to charge for my services....

As you are ACA qualified, it will be compulsory for you to go through the hoops of obtaining a practising cert, including having professional indemnity insurance from the outset. This is a significant uprfront and ongoing cost, and I'm not sure if it would be economic for a part-time business.

Yes I am ACA qualified, that is another reason that I do not want to offer audit / tax services. I do not want to the upfront cost or hassle of this to begin with.

aine said:

The main query I have is what to charge for my services....

Click to expand...

Ask others who are doing the same as you want to do. Why not get in touch with your professional body and see if they can put you in touch with others so you can pick their brains on the dos and don't dos when starting off.


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie

Thanks all for your advice btw, it is appreciated

will keep everyone posted on my progress and hopefully maybe able to give some advice to others starting

T McGibney said:

As you are ACA qualified, it will be compulsory for you to go through the hoops of obtaining a practising cert, including having professional indemnity insurance from the outset. This is a significant uprfront and ongoing cost, and I'm not sure if it would be economic for a part-time business.

Click to expand...

This is a very important point. As an ACA member you need a practising cert and professional indemnity insurance to offer ANY service to the public, not just Audit services.

The only way to avoid this is to let your membership lapse.

Dear Aine, I am FCCA with my own firm - and am looking for an ACA who is articled who would do some part time work for me - doing my VAT/P30 returns etc, also doing bookkeeping work. I have PI insurance, and also to sign off the odd very small audit job - would you be interested?

aine said:

Hi

I have being thinking about doing this for a while now. ie going out on my own and preparing accounts/payroll for small companies and soletraders.

Has anyone out there done this?

If so could you give me any advice. I am ACA qualified with a few years practice and a few years industry.

What software do you use>

How mush do you charge per job

I was thinking of doing payroll first, then maybe some book keeping until I got the hang of working for myself as these would be my strong areas - NOT audit

Thanks for any advice

Click to expand...

Hi Aine,

Best of luck with the new venture, it's a big step.

I'm looking at this from the perspective of a potential customer as we're an SME that has grown to the point where we have to make a decision to employ a bookkeeper/accountant or outsource the work to a company. I've been looking at this in some detail recently and believe that there is demand in this area for someone who provides good quality work at reasonable prices.

From what I have seen there are companies in this area who will (for a fee) take over the complete finance function of the business or at the lower end just complete a sub-function i.e. run payroll. Currently we are looking at easing into it (much like yourself but from the opposite side) and initially would be interested in outsourcing:

- general bookkeeping
- VAT and RTD Returns
- P30 Returns
- weekly payroll

As a prospective customer reviewing your service I would have reservations about it being a one-person shop (especially if you were doing it part-time only). Also the same reservations expressed earlier regarding PI etc.

I definitely think there is a market for what you are suggesting but I think you need to commit to it rather than tread carefully.

We use Sage 50 and looking to upgrade to their cloud offering which is due out on December 8, 2014. I found it difficult to work with initially but wouldn't move away from it now, some great functionality.

Hope this helps and all the best.

aine said:

Hi

I have being thinking about doing this for a while now. ie going out on my own and preparing accounts/payroll for small companies and soletraders.

Has anyone out there done this?

If so could you give me any advice. I am ACA qualified with a few years practice and a few years industry.

What software do you use>

How mush do you charge per job

I was thinking of doing payroll first, then maybe some book keeping until I got the hang of working for myself as these would be my strong areas - NOT audit

Thanks for any advice

Click to expand...

Hi Aine,

I am in a similar situation to yours outlined above however, I am specialising in payroll only for the moment. Like you I have no idea what to charge clients. Do you mind me asking if you found our what the going rate is for payroll services? Or bookkeeping in general? Also how have things panned out for you? Any advice for a first timer would be greatly appreciated

Hi Aine,
how are u getting on with yr new venture? i am thinking on the same lines. I am FCCA and wants to start off my own little work in payroll and accounts. But i am stuck at the same point as you were months ago, how much to charge etc. Please advise me any tips from your experience. regards

Just wondering if anyone who posted on this thread actually went ahead with setting up their business? I am currently in process of doing the same. I am going to offer outsourced financial control and bookkeeping services and tax further down the line (currently finishing a diploma in tax). I am ACA with several years experience in practice and industry at management level. I don't have issues with pricing but looking for advice in terms of gaining new clients. Everyone says it's word of mouth. That's well and good if you have a few clients but if you are starting off it won't work then!! Any advice anyone? Much appreciated.