I can help with book-keeping & payroll etc

grahamliza4

Anyone got queries on book-keeping, payroll, basic accountancy&tax issues or similar I can help.

I'm a self employed book keeper and have got loads of useful info I've picked up over last two years about running a business, making it work around family, money, etc as well. My clients are all small businesses so pick up useful stuff from them too.

I'm just about the highest level of qualified book-keeper you can get - I'm actually a part qualified accountant but training s-l-o-w-l-y due to kids so wont qualify for a while yet. I also have a payroll management diploma.

I ALWAYS check these forums for advice - almost every day - and i wanted to give a little back. I notice loads of posts on here asking various Q's so just to say I'm here and I can help. I notice some ex-employees of the benefits office put a similar post on another board offering advice.

So fire away! Will try and get round to checking this every day and will try to reply to everyone, even if just to say I dont know!

ukbill69

Thats very nice you offer your services on here, we need more people like you on here, as long as your services are free then you will be ok with the rules of this website.

dang

Hi grahamliza4,

Ive got a question, but its regarding training to be an accountant -

Do you have any info on the steps i need to take to become a qualified accountant,from my reasearch so far, it looks like i need to take a 3 part AAT course and then look at the ACCA course.

Is this the way you are training?

I am toying with the idea of doing the training on a part time basis,and if I did would hope to have passed the AAT within 3 years.

Any advise you can offer would be a great help, as i am still trying to make a decision on my future.

Thanks For any help.

mikewebs

Hi there

I am currently studying the AAT NVQ course and would highly recommend it! It teaches you how it should be done and how to do to it in practice not how a theoretical accountant may want to do it.

Also, if you want to carry on and study for chartered status with ACCA you get some exemptions from the first stage (not sure how many but https://www.ACCAglobal.com would tell you).

I have learnt far more on the AAT course than I did on a business studies degree course and I have also made some good friends. Hope this helps you decide.

davesignum

Not sure where to put this but I would appreciate your input!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=4714880#post4714880

Thanks!

HariboJunkie

Oooh. you may regret offering your services. i bet i will win the prize for aither stupidest or most repeated question.

Timmne

dang wrote: »

Hi grahamliza4,

Ive got a question, but its regarding training to be an accountant -

Do you have any info on the steps i need to take to become a qualified accountant,from my reasearch so far, it looks like i need to take a 3 part AAT course and then look at the ACCA course.

Is this the way you are training?

I am toying with the idea of doing the training on a part time basis,and if I did would hope to have passed the AAT within 3 years.

Any advise you can offer would be a great help, as i am still trying to make a decision on my future.

Thanks For any help.

What qualifications do you have at the moment? If you have three (I think) A-Levels you can get straight onto the ACCA course. Otherwise you'll have to do AAT. The cost of doing AAT compared with the benefits of having the qualification make it not worth doing if you can avoid it. Having said that it does give you some good training on most areas of finance along the way.

AAT wouldn't necessarily take you three years as it's quite simple if you're working in accountancy anyway. The key with AAT is to push yourself through it faster than you'd like as it's nothing compared to the higher level qualifications like ACCA or CIMA.

I've done AAT and am now doing CIMA and learnt the difference in difficulty the hard way!

What is it you're planning on doing with your qualification once you've done it? AAT, ACCA and CIMA all have good standing in the accountancy world. AAT is likely to get you a low-medium level job such as purchase ledger or assistant accountant and pretty much guarantees that you'll be on >£13-14. ACCA would be good for working in practice at a traditional accountants whereas CIMA is more industry related and is seen as a good general management qualification. Minimum salaries for ACCA and CIMA are aboud £25k and £30k respectively (around where I live anyway) so it's worth considering jumping straight to the higher level ones if you can.

What stage are you at at the moment - school leaver, job change?

dang

Hi Timmne,

I'm 30 so my school days are distant memory :-)

I run my own business, but in a sector that is taking a real bashing - and probably will for some time to come. So my reason for looking into the course is if / when I need to get a new job I will need (to keep my current standard of living) to be looking a jobs paying £40k + per year. The only way I can see this happening, is if I can get some actual qualifications on my CV.

I do have 3 A-levels, 1 A,1 C and 1 D.

As I said in my other post, i am at the stage of toying with ideas at the moment - I feel like I am throwing ideas at a board and seeing which one sticks.

I do work full time now, so whatever i do decide would have to be at night school - or weekends.

Thanks for your post, I will look into the CIMA, it would probably be wise for me to look for a more general qualification, as it would leave me more choice when I do need to get a new job.

Timmne

dang wrote: »

Hi Timmne,

I'm 30 so my school days are distant memory :-)

I run my own business, but in a sector that is taking a real bashing - and probably will for some time to come. So my reason for looking into the course is if / when I need to get a new job I will need (to keep my current standard of living) to be looking a jobs paying £40k + per year. The only way I can see this happening, is if I can get some actual qualifications on my CV.

I do have 3 A-levels, 1 A,1 C and 1 D.

As I said in my other post, i am at the stage of toying with ideas at the moment - I feel like I am throwing ideas at a board and seeing which one sticks.

I do work full time now, so whatever i do decide would have to be at night school - or weekends.

Thanks for your post, I will look into the CIMA, it would probably be wise for me to look for a more general qualification, as it would leave me more choice when I do need to get a new job.

I'd get some money put aside then if I were you - rather expensive is CIMA! (actually they all are!) I would look into it too - sounds like you're reasonably enthusiastic so I'd use that up before you lose it!

I do CIMA at the weekends (about 3-4 days per module over 2-3 months) and the exams in the week, but this is only one day per module so it's not too bad. Cost wise CIMA is £450 per paper at Financial Training (where I go) for the management stage and not a lot less/more for the lower and higher papers. With 15 exams this can add up! It's also a further £55-60 for exam entry so you'll have to bear that in mind too.

It sounds a lot but it's absolutely a speculate to accumulate thing. On day one of passing your exams you'll be on £30k but probably more like £35-45k depending on the area/industry. Some jobs will pay for study too so look out for those!

Hope all this helps!

grahamliza4

After posting I promptly forgot all about it and only remembered today - oops. Sorry everyone!

Well, the quickest route to Chartered Accountant is AAT followed by the ICAEW's ACA. But finding somewhere that offers the course is hard, as most places do either CIMA or ACCA.

http://www.icaew.co.uk/careers/facts/whatistheAAT.htm

The rules are if you have two A levels (be they chemistry and latin or English and art) you can skip year 1 AAT (referred to as AAT2) and start at level 2 (AAT3). Then take year for each level (AAT3 and AAT4) then do the ICAEW thing.

However I know people who went straight in at level 3 and are now failing spectacularly. The reason for this is level 2 is where you learn the 'double entry' book-keeping system - the foundation of all accounting. So if you are clueless to start with do level2. There are colleges in some of the bigger cities that compress the three year course into 18months. I assume this is less for full-time study as I've done a level per year on 1evening at college per week.

So far AAT has cost about £600 per year, plus entry fees (£35ish a time, at least 2 rxams a year, more in final year).

After AAT there's the option of ACCA (£2000 per year for two years here).

Additional courses - SAGE, Payroll, etc can range from £100-£500 depending on the level and of course where you are.

Would NOT recommend being a trainee in Practice for very long - pays pittance, and continues to do so until you qualify. I'm self employed and doing very well. What I'm selling is my time and it seems to be in demand right now. SAGE pays especially well as people buy it thinking it'll be easy to use and it's not for some so £££££££££ to be made there. Payroll pays well too. Takes me half hour to run payroll for company of 20 and the money I make from that is, well, if I was on hourly rate it would be well over £100 let's say.

Really really liking this self-employment!

:rotfl:

MickKnipfler

Can you please explain when a Ltd Co pays NI and Corp Tax?

I mean: If I pay a modest salary monthly, do I pay the PAYE and NI as I go or at the end of the year?

Also: the surplus funds, I will decide at some point to pay either as divi or into a SIPP. obviously that decision affects the corp tax. Do I pay that at the end of the year when I know my profit?