A Book-keepers Diary

Two months ago, I decided that it had come to that time when I could not continue to cope with the workload and business administration on my own. I would have to bite the bullet and hire my first member of staff. When I say 'it's come to that time', what I really mean is that I should have hired somebody 3 months before, because it had been a struggle to meet my deadlines and keep all of my clients 100% happy.

The reason I was so averse to taking on an employee was because everytime I thought about paying them, I immediately assumed that would mean eating into the, already small, profits in the business. I can see now that this was the wrong approach and that you have to believe that an employee will contribute to your profits rather than reduce them.

As I already run around a dozen company payrolls for my existing clients, completing the monthly payslips has been easy and surprisingly - paying my employee has been okay too.

The interesting thing is that by having an employee it has really focused my mind on things like chasing debtors and invoicing targets. By controlling these factors means that my cashflow has been greatly improved.

My advice to anybody that thinks they could do with another pair of hands is to do so immediately, because if you're thinking about it you're probably where I was 5-6 months ago, and it's a dark place, so take action now...and believe in your business!

For 2012 I have decided that rather than chasing after new clients I should first concentrate on keeping my existing clients happy, as without them my business simply would not exist.

I keep reading that I should be building my business and raising the profile, but I feel that if I focus all of my attention on acquiring new customers it will mean neglecting the needs of the ones that I have put a huge effort into getting in the first place.

Also client acquisition is a very costly process with the various marketing activities required initially to get a lead, then to hold a meeting (or rather several meetings) and if successful the dreaded sign on paperwork and then the real work begins.  

Therefore, my policy first and formost will be to maintain my quality and service levels to all of my existing clients in the hope that I will retain them as clients and in the long term, that they will become loyal customers that will require more services from me as their business grows and will refer new clients to me. As we all know, "Referrals" are the cheapest way to grow our practices. 

The next stage is to work out how I am going to cope with all the new work from my happy clients. I know that sub-contracting is an option, but this is a whole new subject for another day.

Happy new year to all my fellow book-keepers and accountants.

When I decided to embark on a career as a book-keeper several years ago, the pull of being able to work from home, whilst the little ones grew up, was a big factor in my decision to retrain and become a self-employed book-keeper.  The fact that I could choose the hours that I worked and when I went on holiday really made sense.

Now I’m a few years in, I’m finding that some clients want me to work from their premise and not from my home and that my regular weekly & monthly client work means that I cannot always select my own holiday dates, as I need to meet my pre-agreed commitments prior to going away.  More and more, it feels like my clients are the equivalent of my old boss, as at certain times they certainly dictate how my time is spent, are we ever truly self-employed?

It’s coming up to that time of year when my professional body requests that I pay them to renew my practice licence / membership and provide evidence of my Continuous Professional Development (CPD) that I have undertaken in the past year.

I dread completing my CPD record each year, not because I do not think that I have completed enough additional reading or training, but because the terminology of structured and unstructured training - still confuses me to this day.

Throughout the year I am constantly bombarded with invitations from my professional body and various other training companies to attend a variety of CPD events. They are designed to ensure that I keep up-to-date with this or that change, in a certain area of book-keeping, accounting or tax.

The reality is that book-keeping and accounting rules do not change drastically from year to year, as the double entry system does not appear to have been improved upon as yet. Of course certain rules on whether a particular item(s) is deemed allowable by HMRC may change slightly, but this is more of a tax issue.

That’s my moan for the week out of the way; I’m off to complete my CPD form to ensure that I retain my Practice Licence for another year.

Having used a well known accounting software providers offering for almost 10 months now, I’m back to square one and am reconsidering my options in terms of renewing my current contract for the Practice Management of my Book-keeping practice.

Whilst I can’t fault the technical functionality of the software I just feel that it’s overkill for my business at its current size and complexity.

So what are my options?

The way I see it, I have three possible solutions.

1.  Pick from a host of Accounting Software Providers offerings

2.  Use Excel and tailor my requirements to what I really need

3.  Create a manual system

I’ve discussed my dilemma with my friends & family and between us we have concluded that given the fact that my practice is still quite small, excel would appear to be the most viable option.

The only problem I have is that my excel skills are limited and whilst I can complete my clients book-keeping records ok, I have never built a bespoke practice management spread sheet(s) before, and I‘m not sure where to begin.

I’m now looking into night courses at the local college as I’ve been thinking about how I could improve my excel skills and this may be the push I needed all along.

College will also give me a little break, am I going mad, whilst my husband can watch the football and look after the kids.

Well I never thought I’d hear myself say it, but after just 3 short years without studying a book-keeping qualification, I am now very seriously considering hitting the books once again.

My husband thinks I mad, for which I can’t blame him really, especially considering the struggle we went through last time when I was studying. Back then though the children were smaller and we were less experienced parents which made everything seem more difficult.

Why my thoughts have now returned to studying again I’m not sure. I did ok at school, nothing out of the ordinary, and it wasn’t really until my early thirties that I took up book-keeping. In spite of the hard work and stress, I must have got the studying bug which I hear is hard to shift.

I have considered studying a non-accounting related subject. A personal interest is ancient history and a history degree seems appealing. However my thoughts keep returning to accounting, and following a conversation with a very pleasant lady at a Tax Institute, I’m almost ready to send off my application form.

It’s a similar situation to my reading material. Although I no longer have to read technical books (for the time being), I still find myself ordering business related books online. Some may say this is an unhealthy addiction (normally my non-accounting friends), but compared to my hubbies daily X-Box exploits – I think it’s quite normal!

Pleased to say the whole iXBRL saga went off without a hitch.

Unbeknown to me, both my accounting and tax software providers have been on the ball with this new development, and the accounts and CT600 were fired off to HMRC in a little over 15 minutes. Unlike my friends much larger firm, who use one of the market leading software providers and have had no end of issues. So much for the head start they had over me, I’ll stick with the smaller, and dare I say it, more book-keeper friendly providers!

Time for a self-congratulatory cuppa.  Now I need to obtain some more limited company clients so I can get some additional practice!

With the P35s finally out of the way, and the tax return deadline now a distant memory, it’s the time of year when my thoughts start to turn to my annual holiday. As a mother of a two year old I’m still in the enviable position of being able to take my holidays inside of term time. We’re still not feeling brave enough to take on the adventure of a plane journey with a tot in toe, so somewhere in the UK it will be for us.

This is the first year that I have to decide whether to leave my mobile phone at home. I love my iPhone. For work it’s fantastic, email on the go, internet browsing and even reading books (I’m officially addicted to the kindle app!). I’ll be as diligent as ever and let all my clients know well in advance of my annual break, with several warnings to problem clients. Regardless, I know that I’ll still receive emails from some clients during my time off. For all the benefits of the iPhone, one drawback is that my evenings and weekends are often spent replying to emails. This is ok when I’m at home, but on holiday, I’m not sure this will cut the mustard with my hubbie. I think this will end up being a last minute decision. Oh how I’d like to be in the position I was ten years ago, no email and no iPhone. How life was simpler back then.

I had what I thought was a very successful meeting with a potential client this morning. It was a lead from my website, which interestingly seem to be increasing slowly but surely over time. The potential was a one man band limited company who currently uses a much larger firm.

It was obvious he was looking for a cheaper fee, which I didn’t find too hard to offer as his current accountant seems to be charging far too much in my opinion. The client uses Sage which I’m happy to work with, and the records looked in good order.

So far so good I thought. The client was happy to sign my quotation and engagement letter, and we both parted on good terms. Then the phone rang. It was my new client’s wife asking if I would phone the tax inspector who was dealing with the investigation! Investigation, this hadn’t been mentioned to me during the meeting.

It appears that my new client is 3 years behind which has led to a full investigation. A quick review of the notes faxed across to me show it’s not going to be a pretty job. Looks like my client is no longer on speaking terms with his old accountant, so trying to determine where it’s gone wrong won’t be easy. Nor will explaining to my client that this work will not be covered by my original quote. Thank goodness for engagement letters! A pain to write up, but a god send in situations like this.

I know what you’re going to say, I’ve left it until the last minute and have only myself to blame. It’s not like my client portfolio is made up of hundreds of limited companies, just the one in fact. Unfortunately this one has an accounting year end which means I have to submit the Accounts and CT600 online. I’ve only just got to grips with submitting personal tax returns online, now I’m expected to tackle a whole new kettle of fish.

I’m lucky that I have a close working relationship with a firm of accountants in town. The senior partners’ children go to the same school as mine and it appears they’ve got to grips with this whole iXBRL saga a while ago. He’s going to show me the basics and then I’m on my own.

The joys of being a self-employed book-keeper!