thinking of doing accounts for childminders

Hi there, Im thinking of doing book keeping and specifically for childminders seeing as I have done my own before. I have seen a course which would cost about £600 over a year so am researching for demand first really. Would you use a newly trained book keeper? Im not even sure if you legally have to be trained or can just self-learn so am going to look into that but would def. Do some sort of course. How much would you pay for someone to do your acct and submit them? Have you used anyone before ... Any other advice/comments? Thanks

Personally my accounts are quite simple so I'm happy to do them myself but I'm sure some others would appreciate this kind of help

I am also happy to do my own until I got into a partnership situation.

Good luck with your new venture

I do mine myself, lady near me offers this service (bit not just for childminders) at £45 an hour, I'd have to work two days to pay an hours fee.

I have an accountant do mine it's £150 a year. He does it all I just hand him a handful of receipts and a chart saying how much I made each month. Then he does whatever he does and I get receipts and a little booklet back which he's told me to keep.

To be honest he's been the family accountant for years. I would do it myself if it weren't for the fact my whole family is self employed and uses him. When he retires (he's a very old accountant) I will stop using one and do it myself.

Thanks everyone, that's what Im wondering is that the accounts are quite easy to do in relation to all the other paperwork we have so it may be that most childminders are happy to do their own. Or it could go the other way, with all the paperwork pressures they may be glad to off load one of the jobs that they can off load.

Its also tough because Im aware of what I can earn for childminding, its hard work, but there isn't another job that I can do at home with my kids in tow that pays that amount ..... Does anyone know when we find out if all these proposed changes (ratio's etc.) are actually coming into effect?

I'm a new childminder and have never been self-employed so I'm trying to get my head around accounting. I don't think I could afford to pay for a service on a long term basis, but I might consider paying someone for a short term service to teach me how to do it all properly and help me get going :)

by the time i had collected togther/filed all the receipts, found all utility bills etc, worked out how much i pay towards my pension and what i gift aid, plus a list of income ... i'm basically there myself!

i will admit though, the first tax return i did, i went along to the local tax office open morning ( !!! ) and went through it with an advisor! the second year i went along and just got the advisor to check i'd done it properly and the 3rd year, they didn't run the open mornings any more !!! ..since then i've managed on my own, and actually, i find doing it online alot easier than doing the paper return :D although i'm not sure if i like the instant response of how much tax you owe !!! :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by vix84

Hi there, Im thinking of doing book keeping and specifically for childminders seeing as I have done my own before. I have seen a course which would cost about £600 over a year so am researching for demand first really. Would you use a newly trained book keeper? Im not even sure if you legally have to be trained or can just self-learn so am going to look into that but would def. Do some sort of course. How much would you pay for someone to do your acct and submit them? Have you used anyone before ... Any other advice/comments? Thanks

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Bookkeeping is one thing, doing accounts and tax returns is another.

Nearly all childminders do their own bookkeeping - which is keeping records of income and expenditure in an orderly manner. It is difficult to see how you could do this for somebody else - you would need them to give you records of income, and of food and mileage costs which covers 90% of the work.

To do accounts and tax returns properly you need much more knowledge and experience than you would get on a £600 bookkeeping course. There are people who charge for doing this without that knowledge, or the expense and commitment to stay up to date with the ever-changing tax regime - I often find myself correcting what they have done, sometimes claiming back thousands of pounds in overpaid tax :(