Can I use Accountant title even though i'm not qualified?

Hmmmmm

Exactly what I was thinking

Legal & Ethics & Insurance

Legally, there is nothing stopping you - you just can't title yourself as a "Chartered" or "Chartered Certified" accountant... those are legally protected titles.

Ethically, I have an issue and something you need to think about. By titling yourself as an Accountant, you're portraying yourself to the public (your potential clients) that you have qualifications, skill and experience they'd normally expect from an accountant. If anything at all goes wrong, the first thing your clients will say, whether it be to you or to their solicitor is "he/she was an accountant ..." and then you're in trouble because of this civil perception of skill and experience they will rely on.

The final issue I'd like to share is: wht about your insurance? Very few insurers would provide PI cover as an "Accountant" without providing them with membership of some recognised professional body. Without PI you're honestly running the gauntlet.

My advice is: title yourself as a Bookkeeper/Tax Service - it's in your best interest and the interest of the public. Please.

YES YOU CAN

Ignore these other muppets

there is no legal reason why you cannot call yourself an accountant, if you want to succeed you will need to be called an accountant.

anyone regardless of qualifications or skill can call themselves an accountant, in fact my dear old granny is about to launch her own accountancy practice at the ripe old age of 93, why because she can!

Any muppet with a calculator

Is permitted to call themselves an "accountant"

If however you are really a competent bookkeeper who can cut and paste numbers onto a self assessment return (well its easy enough isnt it!) then make 100% sure you have someone who actually knows what they are doing you can refer matters to or you will be failing your clients.

It doesn't take much to get into more technical areas.

Yes, you could call yourself an accountant

as the title is not protected and clients would probably call you one whatever you styled yourself. I get called an accountant even though I keep saying I am primarily a tax practitioner.

You could call yourself a bookkeeper (for which you do not need a qualification but could have one) or you could promote your practice as a provider of business services and not lie awake at night worrying about your title. However, if you want to call yourself an accountant there is no law against it.

Why not . . .

. . . . call yourself a director. That sounds just as impressive. Most haven't the faintest idea of their legal responsibilities so you will be in good company.

All that drivel..

..just to get your punchline in.

Genius..

..not.

Yes, you may be perceived as badly as Members of Parliament!!!!

MP's have proved themselves (collectively, some yes, some not) as unethical in their dealings and general demeanour with the public (those who vote for, or despise them). Have they set the new benchmark of tainted credibility. If so, why not embrace their aproach to work life issues and do whatever you want to do. Ignore the public at large. Build your own silver plated nest. So you are not qualified, so what. Most people in life are not qualified for life anyway, just move on and have a laugh!!!!!

As with the term "Engineer"

As an Engineer, who has seen the title soundly abused over the years, I have a certain feeling of Schadenfreude with this question.

Ho hum...

Accountants?

Amazing!

If you have 30 years experience you shouldn't call yourself an accountant.

If you have a handful of letters after your name, you can call yourself an accountant.

I have met many people who have CCAB letters after their name, but who were almost unidentifiable as accountants!

Clients will trust in someone they believe in, and who does a job.

Get off your lofty perches - respect is earned!

Too many cowboys...

For those who missed it, there was a petition last year to try and stamp on this sort of unethical behaviour. The petition read :

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to prevent unqualified accountants, tax and financial advisors providing services unless they have professionally recognised qualications.”
Lawyers must have Professional Qualifications but anyone can currently provide services calling themselves Accountants, tax or consultants etc without Qualifications”

And here is the governments response :

"The Government is not persuaded that introducing statutory regulation of those who provide accountancy services would justify the costs to business.
The Government is aware that the professional accountancy bodies have suggested that the term “accountant” should be restricted to those who hold recognised professional qualifications. However, there are a number of potential drawbacks to introducing legislation to restrict the use of the term “accountant”. These include practical difficulties about who should be allowed to use the term, increased regulatory burden and increased costs for business and anti-competitive effects in the form of restricted choice, higher prices and reduced innovation in the supply of services. All of these consequences would particularly affect smaller businesses.
As with most services, users may wish to check whether the provider is a member of an accredited professional body before making a decision on who to engage.".

As usual the government is wrong (my opinion) so perhaps the way that this really needs to be driven is by HMRC rather than downing street directly. If HMRC would only deal with properly qualified accountants (and bookkeepers) then the market would simply eradicate the unqualified regardless of whether or not it was technically legal for them to call themselves accountants.

Try to look at the situation through the eye's of qualified accountants. They've spent four plus years, a small fortune and countless nights and weekends study to get those elusive letters after their names. They come out of the exercise as well rounded financial professionals able to dispense credible, well balanced advice.... How do you think that real accountants are going to think of people just calling themselves accountants?

If you want to be an accountant, qualify as bookkeeper with the ICB (so that you can get indemnity insurance). Then sign up with the ACCA whilst working as a bookkeeper (the services that you can offer would be severely restricted).

Build up a portfolio of clients so that an accountancy practice might be interested in you then exchange your clients for a trainee accountant position with a practice whilst completing your ACCA exams. Once you've got three years signed off experience and your exams under your belt, then you can call yourself an accountant.

On the downside your time working as an independent bookkeeper doesn't count as experience towards being an accountant except in some quite specific circumstances requiring your work to be supervised and signed off by a qualified accountant.

And if you still think that your already an accountant just because you've been working at it for some time why not take a glance at some past papers from the ACCA website (papers P2 and P6 would probably be representative of the services that you offer).

I'm not trying to offend or upset anyone but you all have to realise that by not bothering to get qualified your short term gain due to a crazy legal situation is bringing this profession into disrepute. Thankfully all of the major accounting bodies are working towards getting this issue resolved.

Good luck with getting qualified. It's really, really hard but in the end it's worth it.

You don't need to, just be honest

I have my own business, which isn't just general book-keeping, I also put together sets of accounts & deal with self assessment. I do not profess to being an accountant. I market myself as offering accounting services and when I meet a client for the first time, I make it quite clear I am not qualified. I will not bullshit anybody, if they ask me something I can't answer, I will either find out or I will suggest they should speak to someone qulaified. This has worked for me and I deal with sole traders & Limited companies. When I deal with Limited companies, I deal with book-keeping, wages and usually the director's personal tax return. I then submit everything at year end relating to the companyaccounts to a qualified accountant to deal with. My expererience comes from being in accounts for over 30 years and yes! I am even thinking of studying towards an accounting qualification.

It's not rocket science

Accountancy and tax is not rocket science. As long as you know your double entry and know where to look for information (there is plenty) you can advise clients.

All these qualifications don't mean anything. Passing Exams only proves you have a good memory and that you know 50% of the stuff!

The tax rules keep changing so exams become obsolete very quickly.

So just research the info and call yourself what you want.