With the continued push by the Australian Taxation Office to extract every dollar from hard working Aussies, there’s an increasing demand on bookkeepers to help business owners keep on top of the bookwork.
So are ready to start your own bookkeeping business?
There are benefits to being your own boss. You can choose your working hours, you can choose your clients, and you can even cut down your travelling time by working from home.
It all sounds very easy. Maybe you’ve been doing the books for your boss, or your husband or your relatives and friends. Without being sexist, statistically most bookkeepers in Australia are female, with teenage children, and have been doing the books for their husband’s business.
Many bookkeepers who fit this profile believe that they are now experienced to set themselves up in business. As discussed earlier in this blog, understanding how to use an accounting software package does not make you a bookkeeper.
You may have completed a MYOB or Quickbooks training course, and been told that you’re now ready to set yourself up as a contract bookkeeper.
In The Classroom It Sounds Great
When you’re sitting in the classroom, and the lecturer is trying to grab your interest while explaining the intricacies of a Profit & Loss account, he / she may just slip in the fact that upon completion of the MYOB or Quickbooks training course, you’ll be ready to go out into the big wide world and earn $30,000 part time. It’s never quite so straight forward, but it sounds good when you’re in the classroom.
A Registered Tax Agent recently contacted us looking to expand her business. We’re working on finding some new clients, establishing a business name and professional identity to meet the profile of the clients that she’s looking to attract.
Just as a small business owner wants to make sure that they engage a competant bookkeeper, why shouldn’t you, as a bookkkeeper, ensure that you are attracting the right clients to suit your business plan?
Most bookkeepers don’t even have a business plan, and certainly no marketing plan. How many book keepers realise that you can pick and choose your clients? You need to be selective, because there’s only so many hours in a week, so why take any client that comes along? You’ll find that the clients that give you the most grieve happen to be those that are struggling to pay their bills, and do not really value the work that their bookkeeper is doing.
If you start your bookkeeping business believing that you will be setting up a bookkeeping system for your clients, and that you won’t need to follow in the footsteps of another bookkeeper, then it’ll be a long time between drinks.
If the idea of picking up the pieces from another book keeper, or sorting out the mess made by a small business owner who’s been doing their own books, is too frightening for you, then you are certainly not ready to go out on your own.
If you haven’t got a handle on reading a Profit & Loss report, or cannot understand a balance sheet, then you probably need to make sure you master the basics of accounting before you start your own book keeping business.
Before starting a bookkeeping business, you need to do some preparation, because as a wise sage once said:”If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail!” You can contact us for more information
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1 response so far ↓
1 john // Jan 4, 2008 at 12:48 am
I wouldn’t start a bookkeeping business unless you have a lot of experience in that field. Are you good with computers? Do you know how to use Excel and QuickBooks? Can you process payroll and figure payroll taxes and sales taxes? Do you know how debits and credits work? Do you know how to make journal entries? Do you know how to do accounts payable and accounts receivable? Can you reconcile a bank statement? If you can do all these then you should have a good start in getting clients and taking care of their bookkeeping needs. If not, then you might want to take some courses at your local junior college (basic accounting, Payroll accounting, Excel and QuickBooks). Good luck!