Member of the Month – December 2013

This month’s member of the Month goes to Kim Aiken FICB, who is Gloucestershire Branch Chair and Regional Chair for the South West region. We caught up with Kim to find out about why she chose bookkeeping and all things ICB.

What motivated you to become a Bookkeeper?

I have always had a head for business; I studied Business Administration as my undergraduate degree, and I always knew I wanted to run my own business. My whole family is self-employed so its second nature to me.

The decision to train as a bookkeeper was one of happenstance. I was at a juncture in my life, wondering what to do professionally, and what route to take, when a leaflet dropped through the letterbox. It was a circular mail from a distance learning provider, offering courses in bookkeeping. I had been working in accounts departments of a few companies since graduation, and had already gained my Intermediate Level AAT qualification, but had decided that accountancy practice was not the route I wanted to take. I enjoyed the challenge of getting things to balance and making sense out of chaos and bookkeeping seemed to encompass all the elements of my previous experience that I enjoyed, and so I gave them a call. They registered me as a student of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers and the rest as they say is history…

How long have you been practising?

That leaflet dropped through my door in 2003, I trained and qualified very swiftly, going through the stages AICB, MICB and then the big one – FICB. I also gained payroll and self-assessment qualifications to make sure I was qualified to do anything that is thrown at me! I have been practising as KW Bookkeeping for over 9 years now. In that time I have built up a substantial client list, ranging from landscape gardening to executive coaching, jewellery manufacture to garage door suppliers!

You are one of the founders of the ICB Branch Network, as well as a current regional and branch chair. What are the visions for your branch and hopes for the whole branch network?

I knew quite soon after joining the ICB that I would like to be more involved so when the opportunity came up to start a branch in Gloucestershire I was really happy to get stuck in, despite not being the best speaker, and actually being quite shy! I have been the Gloucestershire Branch Chair since its inception and it has been running for quite some time now – many years in fact, and as such we have established a good pattern to meetings.

My vision for my branch is to continue creating an atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable. Above all else I want the meetings to be somewhere for bookkeepers to go and gain something positive each and every time they come and for it to be a place to watch people grow in confidence.

The meetings provide something, which to me, is absolutely crucial in this industry – support. For those members studying or just starting out its somewhere to go and feel as if you are not on your own and that there is a network of friendly faces you can go to ask that question that has bugging you for a while. There is a wealth of experience to draw upon at the meetings and I can’t encourage anyone enough to go along to their local branch meeting, you won’t regret it!

I’m really proud of my region and I hope to get out there and build it up more over the months to come.

What would be your advice for someone who is looking to go into practice?

Think carefully about it – don’t go into it with your eyes shut, or with rose-tinted glasses. Running your own practice is hard work. That said it can also be one of the most rewarding things you will ever do. Growing a client list, building relationships, and becoming that trusted point of contact for your clients gives you a wonderful sense of accomplishment, and knowing that you are fully trained and able to deal with whatever they may throw at you is a great place to be.

I have been practising for over 9 years, and although there have been times when I look at friends in employed roles, and envy their security, and their ability to ‘switch-off’ when they leave the office at 5pm every-day, they don’t benefit from the same flexibility, and I genuinely believe that having been my own boss for many years, I would find it somewhat suffocating to go back into an office environment now where I don’t have the flexibility and sense of self-governance that I currently enjoy