[T-rex]

Are any of y’all interested in running your own CPA show at some point? I know I am. My days as an employee are numbered. I’m simply not employee material.

I’ll be licensed in CA once I pass the exam, but because I live in TX, I’ll need to get licensed here in order to practice here. The TX requirements differ substantially from those of CA, so it may take me awhile to get reciprocity in TX. In the interim, I figure I can start a side bookkeeping business since I don’t need a CPA license for that. I’ll fire it up once I’m certain that I’ve passed the exam. I actually had a small bookkeeping business long ago, so I have some idea of what I need to do.

If anyone else is interested in starting his or her own CPA practice or bookkeeping business, maybe we can exchange ideas here on how to round up clients, how much to charge them, how to protect client information, what the best software programs are, etc.

AUD - 95, BEC - 85
REG - 85, Rawrrrrrr FAR - 88
Used Becker for all sections.
CA candidate not residing in CA

[Jade CPA-to-be]

very interesting topic.

anyone knows if you can open a side bookkeeping business if you work for a CPA firm full-time providing bookkeeping services? this is my biggest concern.

thanks,

CPA Licensed in California- Class of 2013

[Anonymous]

@Jade CPA-to-be Depends on the rules with your specific employer, but generally, I would guess that a CPA firm wouldn't want competition from their own employee! My employer doesn't allow any outside accounting-related employment. However, if you were working in private accounting, you'd be much more likely to be able to have a “side gig” doing bookkeeping, taxes, whatever you chose.

[Anonymous]

Definitely interested in an update

[LoveEventing]

Love this thread! I had the same question about doing this while in public accounting. I have been thinking about going back to public, but would love to have my own business someday. It doesn't really sound like its possible to do both.

What is the best way to go about learning the different software out there? I have been helping a friend implement and use Sage, but I find it extremely difficult! It makes me feel like I would not be able to start my own bookkeeping business if I wanted to. It is one thing to know the journal entries on how something should be recorded, and another to know how to use these “user friendly” systems to record the transaction. Ultimately, I need a better understanding of how things get reported. It's especially difficult to try implement the software (that is clearly designed for a manufacturing environment) for a NFP entity.

BEC - 68, 76
AUD - 90, 91
FAR - 63, 83
REG - 55, 79

FINALLY DONE!

[Anonymous]

@LoveEventing Are you wanting to learn bookkeeping software, tax software, audit software, or something else? For bookkeeping software, to learn it, I'd pick up an old copy of QuickBooks since that's the standard name, and being out of date won't really affect you. My company uses a different Intuit product (EasyAcct), but I don't like it lol. For tax, I'd try to find a good software that can be purchased for just a few returns or pay-per-return, so that you can practice using it (for yours and your family's taxes, for example) without being out a lot of money. We use Drake at our office, and I really like it…and you can get 15 returns for $285, so it's a reasonable price to get practice without having to buy a full software suite. I don't know anything about audit software. 😛 But that's my thoughts for bookkeeping and taxes.

Oh, and someday, I'd like to own my own business, too…but not sure how to get from here to there. My current boss wants to sell to me when he retires, but I'm not sure I want to invest what he'll want to get out of it! I've considered working in private accounting and slowly building up a public practice around that, initially just doing a few returns and bit of bookkeeping out of my home…

[polar21]

I started reading all the threads, but man, you cpa folks are long winded. Why not look at buying out a retiring CPA vs. starting one from scratch? It would be near impossible to generate enough cash flow to start one from scratch. That is the route I am going to take. A friend of the family is looking to retire in 5 years at which point I will slowly buy him out. The financing arrangement can be whatever we both agree to.

[Author]

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