How do you start a bookkeeping business? Nine steps for the UK, in order

The short answer

To start a bookkeeping business in the UK, get trained, choose a business structure, and get anti-money laundering supervision and professional indemnity insurance in place before you take on a client. Then decide who you serve, set a price, and tell people you are open. You do not need an office or much money. You do need the supervision, because bookkeeping for other people is regulated work under the money laundering rules.

The nine steps below are in the order to take them. Steps 1 to 5 make the business legal and safe. Steps 6 to 9 make it earn. Most people can work through the first five while still employed, and open to clients once the supervision and insurance are confirmed.

1. Get the training clients will trust

Start with a recognised bookkeeping qualification, even if you have years of experience in a finance team. The National Careers Service profile for bookkeepers lists several routes into the work, including college courses and apprenticeships, and does not name one qualification that everyone must hold. It points to three professional bodies for training: the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT), the Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers (IAB) and the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB).

Pick one body and follow its route. The choice matters later, because the same body can become your supervisor, give you a title to use, and list you in its directory. Each sets its own bar for running a practice:

• ICB. The Practice Licence is open to members at set grades who are in good standing, and membership must be renewed on time each year.
• AAT. The licensing page says applicants must demonstrate technical competence, follow its practice assurance standards and be fit and proper persons.

2. Choose sole trader or limited company

Most new bookkeepers start as sole traders, because there is less to set up and less to file. The GOV.UK guide to setting up a business gives the main differences.

• Sole trader. You can start trading straight away. You are personally responsible for all of the debts of the business, and you must keep records from the day you start.
• Limited company. The company must be registered before it starts trading, and it must file accounts and tax returns. Its owners are responsible for the debts of the business only up to the value of their financial investment.

Decide this before step 3, because your supervisor licenses the business as it is set up. ICB, for example, says changes of entity must be reported within 30 days and that a new licence fee is payable when the entity changes. Choose a business name at the same time. If you are licensed for bookkeeping only, do not put "accountancy" or "accountants" in it.

3. Get anti-money laundering supervision

This is the step people miss, and it is the one that matters most. HMRC's guidance on registering as an accountancy service provider lists professional bookkeeping services among the work it covers. An accountancy service provider must register with HMRC unless it is already supervised for money laundering purposes by a professional body. So you have two routes.

• Through a professional body.HMRC's list of supervisory bodies includes AAT, ICB and IAB. ICB says you need to hold a Practice Licencebefore you start running your own bookkeeping business, and that supervision under the Money Laundering Regulations is included in it at no extra cost. AAT's licensing page says all self-employed AAT members offering bookkeeping or accountancy services to clients must hold a valid AAT licence, and that AAT is the anti-money laundering supervisor for its licensed members.
• Directly with HMRC. If you do not belong to a supervisory body, you register with HMRC. HMRC charges for this: see its page on registration fees for the current amounts, which include a charge for each of your premises.

Supervision is not only a certificate. HMRC's page on your responsibilities under the regulations says a supervised business must assess its money laundering risks, keep written policies, controls and procedures, and carry out customer due diligence, which means taking steps to identify your customers and checking they are who they say they are. You must keep a record of those checks. Build this into how you take on every client from the first one.

4. Sort insurance and data protection

Buy professional indemnity insurance before you touch a client's books. It covers you if a mistake in your work costs a client money. ICB says a Practice Licence holder is required to have professional indemnity insurance for the business. AAT requires all licence holders to have professional indemnity insurance covering the services they provide. Ask your body which insurers its members use, and make sure the policy covers every service you plan to offer, including payroll if you will run it.

You will hold personal information about clients and, if you run payroll, their staff. The Information Commissioner's Office says organisations, including sole traders, that use personal information need to pay a data protection fee unless they are exempt. Its self-assessment tells you whether you need to pay and how much. Do it once now, and keep client records in software with its own login, not in a shared family inbox.

5. Register with HMRC for your own tax

Your own tax affairs need to be in order before you look after anyone else's. Three registrations may apply.

• Self Assessment. The GOV.UK guide to setting up as a sole trader says you must register for Self Assessment as a sole trader if you earn more than £1,000 in a tax year. You can choose to register earlier.
• VAT. GOV.UK's VAT thresholds page says you need to register if your total taxable turnover goes over £90,000, or you expect it to. Most new bookkeepers start below this.
• An agent services account.If you will deal with HMRC about your clients' tax, for example by sending their VAT returns, read HMRC's guidance on getting an agent services account. It describes the account as how tax advisers access HMRC's online services, and says you must have approved anti-money laundering supervision in place before you apply. That is another reason to finish step 3 first.

6. Decide what you sell and to whom

A new bookkeeper who serves one kind of client is easier to recommend than one who serves everyone. Choose a group you already understand: trades, hair and beauty, cafes, landlords, charities, or whatever sector you last worked in. Then write down the services you offer that group and nothing else.

• Core bookkeeping. Recording sales and purchases, bank reconciliation, chasing missing receipts, and a monthly report the owner can read.
• VAT returns. Often the first reason a small business looks for help.
• Payroll. A separate skill and, with some bodies, a separate qualification. Offer it only if you are trained and licensed for it.
• Quarterly updates for Making Tax Digital. HMRC's guidance on who must use it says sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 have had to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax since 6 April 2026. Those over £30,000 join from 6 April 2027, and those over £20,000 from 6 April 2028. Each of these people now needs digital records kept through the year.

Be just as clear about what you do not do. Work you are not qualified or licensed for, such as year-end accounts for a company or tax advice, goes to an accountant. Find one or two you can refer to. They are also the people most likely to send bookkeeping work back to you.

7. Set your prices

Charge a fixed monthly fee for a defined list of work wherever you can. Clients like knowing the cost, you get steady income, and you are paid for being quick, not punished for it. Keep an hourly rate for one-off jobs such as clearing a backlog.

There is no standard fee to copy, so work yours out from your own numbers.

• Start with what the business must earn. Add your target income to your yearly costs: software, insurance, membership and licence fees, the data protection fee, training, and tax.
• Count the hours you can bill. Not every working hour is paid. Take out time for finding clients, admin, training and holidays.
• Divide one by the other. That gives the hourly figure you need. Estimate the hours a typical client takes each month and multiply to get a monthly fee.
• Check each client after three months. If the work takes longer than you priced for, change the fee or the scope. It is far easier to do this early.

8. Set up software and paperwork

Have your working method ready before the first client says yes, so that taking someone on is a routine and not a scramble.

• Bookkeeping software. Learn one cloud package well before you add a second. The main providers run partner programmes with training and certification for bookkeepers, and a public directory once you qualify.
• An engagement letter. Put in writing what you will do, what the client must give you and by when, what you charge, and how either side can end the arrangement. Your professional body will have a template or guidance.
• A client take-on checklist. Identity checks and your risk assessment from step 3, the signed engagement letter, and access to the bank feed and software. Do not start work until all of it is done.
• A separate business bank account. It keeps your own records clean, which is the least a client expects of a bookkeeper.

9. Find your first clients and stay visible

Your first clients will almost always come from people who already know you. Tell former colleagues, friends who run businesses and any accountant you know that you are open, and say exactly which kind of business you want. Our guide to how bookkeepers get clients covers the seven places to look in detail, including accountants, software directories and local search, with a plan for the first month.

Set up the basics people will check before they call: a one-page website that says who you help and what it costs, a Google Business Profile, and a LinkedIn or Facebook page with your name, your body and your licence on it. Then post something useful two or three times a week. Explain a deadline, answer a question a client asked, or show what a tidy month-end looks like. Our list of 30 post ideas was written for accountancy firms, and most of it suits a bookkeeper as well.

A new business has the time to post. A busy one does not, and the page goes quiet just as people start looking you up. That is the job Pillr does for bookkeepers: once you have a website, it reads it, drafts a month of posts in your voice, and schedules them to LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram after you have approved each one. Paste your website address on the home page to see the posts it drafts, or look at plans and pricing first.

The whole list on one page

Work down this list in order. Nothing in the second half should start until the first half is finished.

• A recognised bookkeeping qualification, and membership of one professional body.
• Sole trader or limited company chosen, with a name that describes you accurately.
• Anti-money laundering supervision confirmed, through your body's licence or directly with HMRC.
• Professional indemnity insurance in force, and the ICO fee checked.
• Registered with HMRC for your own tax, and for agent services if you need them.
• One kind of client and a written list of services.
• A monthly fee worked out from your own costs and hours.
• Software, an engagement letter and a client take-on checklist ready.
• Everyone you know told that you are open, and a page that shows you are active.

This guide is general information, not advice on your own circumstances. Rules and fees change, so check each linked page, and ask your professional body if you are unsure whether a service is within your licence.

Questions new bookkeepers ask