Becoming self employed (ACCA)

Looking for advice about how to make the leap from industry

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Hi,
I'm interested in setting up my own book keeping or accounting business so I can work from home around my family. But I'm completely lacking in experience and confidence, I don't know where to start or how to make the leap from industry. I'm ACCA qualified with 10+years experience. I appreciate it's not going to happen overnight and am prepared to put in the time and effort to get there.
Does anyone have any advice? Or recommend any self study courses?
Would be really grateful for any advice about how I can get started.

Thank you.

Replies (6)

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By tom123
26th Feb 2017 13:44

Almost all of the work you are likely to undertake (at least at the start) will be compliance/tax based.

Probably best to look at increasing tax knowledge in the first instance. Perhaps think about ATT

Check your institute's rules on practicing certificates - and what you can or cannot do without one.

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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
27th Feb 2017 08:31

The ACCA are going to want you to have some relevant experience before issuing you with a practising certificate and letting you loose on Joe Public. Gaining all-round experience in a practice can be rather a slow affair, all the more so in a larger practice, because there's every chance you'll be assigned to one department and end up with one year's experience three times over rather that three years' experience.

Otherwise you could resign your ACCA membership and practise via an ICPA licence or similar, which should afford you with MLR cover and PII. But be warned, it's a steep learning curve if you go it alone as an all-rounder in practice. Do you have any particular experience or skill you could develop that would make you a go-to expert in one small area of accountancy? That might just offer you a fast-track alternative.

Such as? Oh, go on then. How about recommending and setting up accounting systems? Maybe extend that to internal controls and overseeing - I'm thinking of your industry background. MTD is going to have a profound effect on the way many small businesses keep their books and records over the coming years. Or, on a different tack, can you produce decent business plans? Or, if industry has sharpened your people-skills, working directly for top management as a troubleshooter filling skill-gaps / knowledge gaps ad hoc.

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Replying to I'msorryIhaven'taclue:
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By DJKL
27th Feb 2017 10:19

Just to advise, ICPA is not a regulating entity re MLR.

However the combination of say ICPA re its member services/PII/publications etc and HMRC re MLR works (It is how I practice)

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Replying to DJKL:
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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
28th Feb 2017 08:40

DJKL wrote:

Just to advise, ICPA is not a regulating entity re MLR.

That's interesting; they're so switched on with publications, PII, and other member benefits I'd naturally assumed they'd offer a practising certificate and a MLR ticket.

DJKL wrote:

However the combination of say ICPA re its member services/PII/publications etc and HMRC re MLR works (It is how I practice)

So, for our ACCA protagonist, it's either HMRC or 'exempted in' membership of one of the lesser accounting bodies who offer practising certificates / MLR tickets (such as eg the AAT, IFA, or AIA). I wonder whether those bodies are as strict as the ACCA over wanting three years' relevant experience in the public practice field?

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Replying to I'msorryIhaven'taclue:
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By NeilRH
28th Feb 2017 09:06

I'msorryIhaven'taclue wrote:

So, for our ACCA protagonist, it's either HMRC or 'exempted in' membership of one of the lesser accounting bodies who offer practising certificates / MLR tickets (such as eg the AAT, IFA, or AIA). I wonder whether those bodies are as strict as the ACCA over wanting three years' relevant experience in the public practice field?

Even ACCA don't insist on public practice experience, the approved employer experience can be in industry. I'm not familiar with the IFA or AIA requirements, I've seen the AAT's (and there seem to be accountants who "jump ship" from one of the senior bodies to AAT) and they don't require a specific time frame but require an applicant to submit details of their experience to demonstrate competence in the areas they wish to practice, the licence only covers these areas. I've also seen the ICAEW's, they only require two years relevant experience as a member (no mention of approved employer) and require the applicant to complete a self declaration/questionnaire of experience to determine their suitability for a practice certificate.

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By NeilRH
27th Feb 2017 10:16

Regardless of your experience to date, if you want to retain your ACCA membership you'll need (as has been mentioned) the ACCA practice certificate (working without one is a common cause of membership expulsion). The only way to gain this is with an approved employer (which can be in industry) and you'll need three years, as I understand it the certificate will "licence" you to only carry out work relating to your particular experience. The ACCA allow back-dating of employer approval and the experience record, so you could potentially capitalise on your experience to date, if it is relevant to the work you wish to provide.

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