Advice for a noob

[mogga71]

Whilst true it doesn't help. So here is some slightly easier advice for when you've got your first contract

1) Set up your limited company - straight forward
2) Open a Natwest / Mettle bank account for that company
3) because you bank with Natwest / Mettle Freeagent is free
4) find an accountant that will for a fixed fee (definitely not monthly) provide the advice you need and check VAT submissions and do your end of year returns.

I hear you eek .... but the thought of me doing my own accountancy work when I first started out would have worried me immensely. Surely the vast percentage of outside ir35 contractors (90% ish) must use monthly accountancy services ... or am I just way out of date?

[eek]

I hear you eek .... but the thought of me doing my own accountancy work when I first started out would have worried me immensely. Surely the vast percentage of outside ir35 contractors (90% ish) must use monthly accountancy services ... or am I just way out of date?

They do and using one seemed completely risk free until March this year when HMRC decided that (in HMRC's opinion) two monthly accountancy services were actually Managed Service Company Providers (which you really don't want to be).

So if you had asked this question in February my advice would have been to pick an accountant and use one - now because of Churchill Knight & Boox clients being investigated as Managed Service Companies - Contractor UK Bulletin Board I can't say that...

[mogga71]

if you've changed accountant at some point I would think that also reinforces your position as not being part of an MSC. Just a thought..

...or doubles your chance of employing a supposed 'dodgy MSCP' accountant? I wonder who most of the Churchill and Boox guys are currently switching to or if they are simply going to do the basic book-keeping themselves?

[northernladuk]

You just hire an accountant to do the paperwork. Don’t stress about it or use an umbrella voluntarily.

Glance through a book or online tutorial before the interview. If you get the contract then consider reading the book properly.

It doesn’t matter much if you are any good or not since you will often only be in a place for six months or a year.

Good luck!

Nowhere near enough. You are still legally responsibile for your companys accounts. Just hiring an accoutant doesn't cover it. Just look in the accounting section. Plenty of areas to balls up through ignorance even with an accountant. Accountants also make mistakes.

[northernladuk]

Does he work in any other industry? I don't think he can tell us that his job is the most stressful job you can get right now.

It's actually my job that's the most stressful job ever and you can't say otherwise because you don't do my job.

Are you relating this stress to the type of work and missing the woke environment they have to work in now? To be fair if I had to list my preferred jobs in order then Academia would be right at the bottom due to the environment, not particularly the job. I don't think I'd last a day before I offended someone so wouldn't touch a job like that with a 10ft barge pole. There are different types of stress and, bearing in mind your last attempt to compare types of stress, I think you are missing a big point.

[SueEllen]

...or doubles your chance of employing a supposed 'dodgy MSCP' accountant? I wonder who most of the Churchill and Boox guys are currently switching to or if they are simply going to do the basic book-keeping themselves?

I was surprised by the number of IT contractors who didn't do their own basic booking.

I've always have and so have the other contractors I know. Part of the reason I was told to do it was due to the number of small business owners I've met who have said they have been ripped off by their accountant.

With software like Freeagent and online banking it is now a piece of piss.

I've also always done my own VAT. I did initially get help from my accountant and the HMRC helpline. I went on a day long VAT course with an ex VAT inspector (which they no longer do). People on the course asked every single tax question they could think off regardless of whether it was to do with VAT or not. There are many people on this forum and on other small business/accountancy forums who helpfully give relevant links to tax rules and VAT rates.

[sirus21]

Two things that aren't true:

1. Being an academic in the UK is the MOST STRESSFUL job

I don't find the job stressful in the slightest. However, many people in it will say otherwise; typically, they are career academics who have never had a job outside of academia.

[malvolio]

I don't find the job stressful in the slightest. However, many people in it will say otherwise; typically, they are career academics who have never had a job outside of academia.

Stress is in the mind to a large extent. In my real job I could easily bugger up a £70m programme if I made a mistake or mis-interpreted what the end client wanted. That focuses the mind. Equally I volunteer at a National Trust property and last Tuesday I was given a change of role - instead of covering a single room I was to take a party of a dozen or so interested people around the whole property and make it interesting with no preparation other than my own knowledge of the estate and its history: 30 minutes of impromptu, structured explanation of 850 years starting now...

I quite enjoy the challenge of both scenarios.

But I gave up working when I finally tired of dealing with the same old mistakes by the same old incompetent "professional" middle management that infests UK businesses and public sector institutions. Resolving a difficult situation once is satisfying, but after 20-odd repetitions - then it gets stressful...

[PCTNN]

Any advice on the best way to prove that I am good?

Sure. You say you've been an academic for 7 years? Hide that information at all costs.

[PCTNN]

Thanks James; I guess for UX and user research - the academic side would be a selling point.

No it won't. I've read many posts on LinkedIn where academics complain about companies/clients not wanting them and sometimes clearly giving that as a reason for binning their resumes.

I myself have had the chance to work with a few User Researchers with an academic background and I honestly have nothing positive to say about them, their working practices or approach flexibility. Nothing at all. Nada.