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One of the most common things I hear from bookkeepers is some version of the same frustration.

"Why won't they just send what I've asked for?"

You've told them what you need. You've reminded them. You may have even written it all down in a checklist and sent it across. And still, every month, the same missing receipts, the same unanswered emails, the same last minute scramble to get what you need before the deadline.

It's exhausting. And it's easy, in those moments, to conclude that the client is t…

Starting a bookkeeping practice is one thing. Running one is another.

Most bookkeepers I speak to who are a few months in and hitting the first walls aren't struggling because they lack technical ability. They're struggling because they're operating on a set of beliefs that feel true, sound reasonable, and are quietly making everything harder.

Here are the five I hear most often.

1. "I need more experience before I can charge more."

This one is almost universal and almost always wrong.

Experience mat…

For years, I worked around my clients.

If the paperwork arrived late, I stayed late. If someone dropped everything on me the week before a deadline, I absorbed it. If a client hadn't sent anything for six weeks and then sent everything at once, I found a way to get through it.

I told myself it was good service.

What I was actually doing was teaching them that there were no consequences for chaos.

The change I made sounds almost too simple when I describe it now. I gave every client a slot. A specifi…

When you start a bookkeeping business, attracting the right clients feels like the biggest challenge. Once you get them, the next hurdle is getting them to pay you what you’re actually worth.

If you’re struggling to get £20 an hour, let alone £40 or £60, you’re not alone. Almost every bookkeeper goes through that phase.

But here’s what I’ve learned since first writing about pricing years ago.

Underpricing isn’t just about confidence.

It’s about positioning.

It’s about structure.

And it’s about the typ…

I still hear bookkeepers say, “I get most of my clients from word of mouth.”

On the surface, that sounds reassuring. It suggests a solid reputation, happy clients, work that speaks for itself. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with referrals. In fact, they’re often the best type of enquiry you can receive.

But when I dig a little deeper and ask what marketing they actually do, the conversation usually goes quiet.

There’s no plan. No consistent activity. No defined message. No clarity about who …

The client who dumps a box of receipts on your desk the week before the tax return deadline.

The client who asks for your advice and then proceeds to do the exact opposite. Every. Single. Time.

The client who seems to disappear until you’ve sent enough “payment overdue” reminders that you start to wonder whether you imagined invoicing them in the first place.

If you’ve been running a practice for any length of time, you’ll recognise at least one of these. For years, I thought they were just part of…

Starting your own practice can feel daunting.  Each new thing you oncover adds another million tasks to your to-do list.  

In this short article, I hope to answer some of the burning questions you'll have about starting your own practice.

What is a bookkeeper?

Before we get started, I think we should address this one.  What is a bookkeeper and what do they actually do?

Not so long ago we'd probably have said that a bookkeeper takes the prime records (invoices, receipts, bank statements) of a…

⚖️ The FCA Takeover: Why the End of Professional Body AML Supervision Is Long Overdue

For years, the UK’s accountancy and bookkeeping professions have lived under a fragmented patchwork of anti-money-laundering (AML) supervision.  Professional bodies, each with their own interpretation, paperwork, and penalties, have acted as both the guardian and the enforcer of AML compliance. Add HMRC to that mix, and things became confusing.

Now, with the government’s decision to hand AML supervision to the F…

Pricing is one of the trickiest topics for bookkeepers. Charge too little and you’re overwhelmed and underpaid. Charge too much and you risk scaring off the kind of clients you’d love to work with.

There are dozens of pricing methods out there, but one I’m particularly fond of is menu pricing – giving clients a clear set of options, often three, so they can choose what works best for them and their budget.

But what happens when a new client comes to you with a year’s worth of bookkeeping that’s ne…

When discussing bookkeeping software, the spotlight typically shines on household names such as Xero, QuickBooks, or Sage. However, quietly gaining traction among knowledgeable bookkeepers and small business owners is VT Transaction+, a solution offering remarkable value and simplicity.

VT Transaction+ is a bookkeeping software designed explicitly for ease of use and practical functionality, especially tailored for small businesses, sole traders, and professional bookkeepers. Unlike more complex …