How to Start a Bookkeeping Business

If you enjoy working with figures and know your way around a spreadsheet, setting up a bookkeeping service is a possible home business idea. If you are an experienced bookkeeper, even better, but as long as you have the basic skills, this is a relatively easy business to set up.

Why Start a Bookkeeping Business?

Many small businesses and sole traders are not good at keeping track of finances and are happy to pay someone to do their bookkeeping. Others who have the skills will reach a point at which they need to outsource in order to free up their time for their main business activities. After all, they didn't start out as carpenters, hairdressers or aromatherapists because they wanted to be number crunchers.

You can run this business entirely from home, by using the internet or you can go out and about to pick up work from local clients, or a mixture of both. Many clients will order all of their supplies online which means they will have digital invoices and receipts which can be easily forwarded to you.

You will need to be well organized and able to keep very precise records, as accuracy is essential. Customers’ financial details must always be kept confidential and you’ll need to send in your spreadsheet on a monthly basis and keep records up to date, so that they are ready for the accountant to prepare the client’s taxes.

What You Need to Start a Bookkeeping Business

 If you need Bookkeeping Software in the US:  
 (Scroll Down for UK)

You can advertise locally for clients or contact small businesses in your area either by phone or letter. You should have some business cards printed and design a brochure listing your services and prices. A website is a good idea, especially if you want to be able to attract customers from a wider area. You can learn basic html and build a site using a free html editor such as nvu. Or you can pay to have someone create a site for you.

Buying Bookkeeping Software in the UK

Check out Bookkeeping Software on Amazon UK:

Check online for similar businesses to see how they advertise and what they charge.
Look out for on and offline networking groups which will help you find clients and join your local chanber of commerce.

Once you have your first few clients, you will get referrals by word of mouth, but this is a business which can be started in your spare time with your first client, allowing your to test the business before giving up your day job. There are so many people starting up their own small businesses these days that you should have no problems finding clients for your bookkeeping business. Once you have enough clients, you can think about going part-time.

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