Business Ideas For Chartered Accountants: According to the BLS, there are currently more than 100,000 chartered accountants working in the U.S., so obviously chartered accountants have been pretty successful in their business pursuits.
Business Ideas For Chartered Accountants
So what kinds of businesses do they typically run? From freelancing to accounting and consulting, it’s hard to believe that CA-owned businesses span every category you can think of! With this list of business ideas for chartered accountants, you should be able to find something that piques your interest enough to start your own small business.
1) Start An Accounting Firm
In a tough economy, you may find it hard to believe that starting your own accounting firm could be a good business idea. After all, we’re talking about professionals who keep track of other people’s money—not exactly exciting. But if you can offer specialized services or unique expertise, an accounting firm could be just what you need to bring in some steady cash flow. For example, an accountant who specializes in commercial tax work might have some opportunities among small-business owners that others don’t see.
Or if your focus is on providing help with taxes on overseas assets—or real estate transactions—it might make sense to open up shop in a neighborhood where those kinds of taxpayers are clustered together. This doesn’t mean any cPA can start a company. You’ll likely need more than 5 years experience before you’re ready to go out on your own.
But once you’re there, there’s room for plenty of different models, from running everything yourself as an independent contractor (the most common structure) to renting space at someone else’s office and hiring other CPAs part time. Depending on how many clients you take on and how much infrastructure it takes to run your practice, $100K/year might be enough from day one; if not, it won’t take long before new accounts start building revenue and profits.
2) Write Accounting Books
Accounting books allow you to share business ideas that are specific to chartered accountants, which may pique interest in accounting. Accounting books can help educate chartered accountants as well as others who need financial advice. There are many types of accounting books available and they cover topics like starting a business, creating a financial plan and more.
If you’re interested in becoming an author, be sure to read about how to get a book published so that your accounting books can become widely read in your field. Also consider researching self-publishing your book—it’s quite easy these days with print-on-demand (POD) technology.
3) Use your network
Think about how your business ideas are different from others. What industry problems could you solve that other people in your space aren’t addressing? Who has access to resources you don’t have yet? It’s time to reach out and make connections that could bring these kinds of opportunities into reality. Ask your friends, colleagues, and customers—anyone who may be able to connect you with those resources or new business ideas.
Don’t forget your alumni network! Also think about internships and extracurricular activities from college; you never know where current students might fit into your larger plans. Networking is more effective when done professionally through LinkedIn so try setting up a profile now and going for coffee with an old colleague or classmate who can give some advice on where to start looking.
You could also check with professional organizations in your area such as local chambers of commerce, women’s groups, or if you work in finance check out groups like Small Business Financial Services Association (SBFSA).
4) Start an SEO Agency
If you already have experience in SEO, then it might be worth starting your own SEO agency. It’s a competitive field, but if you can find some clients and leverage your expertise, there’s plenty of money to be made. Check out these tips from an SEO expert on how to do just that. You should start looking for clients as soon as possible – one way of doing so is to offer consulting gigs on platforms like Guru or Fiverr.
But make sure that you have a solid understanding of SEO yourself first (or hire someone who does). Before you start looking at businesses within your local area, have a few clients lined up to work with. Good luck! # Freelance Writing — Selling Your Skills Online: An Alternative Career
5) Audit Small Businesses
Many small businesses struggle to keep up with bookkeeping and accounting needs. If you’re familiar with general accounting practices, you might consider becoming an independent auditor to help them out. According to BLS, chartered accountants held about 117,000 jobs in 2014, most of which are held by self-employed individuals.
That’s a pretty big niche for small business owners who need some extra help—and there’s likely to be an even greater demand as more companies look for inexpensive (but qualified) small business services. Just make sure your state allows independent auditors before you set up shop.
6) Get into the Accounting Software Industry
If you’re looking to move out of public accounting, consider working with a software vendor that serves accounting professionals. Many accounting software vendors are happy to work with CPAs who want to expand their skill set and become experts in using their software.
You could also start your own small consulting firm and work as an independent contractor—ideal if you have too many clients or not enough time in your busy schedule. Plus, there’s much less administrative overhead when working as a consultant, which can be especially helpful if you have trouble keeping up with paperwork and filing deadlines on top of being an expert user of accounting software!
7) Give Tax Advice Online
The beauty of apps is that you can create them anywhere and then sell them on just about any platform. If you have an idea that you think would make a great app, it’s time to do some research and development. Here are some steps to get started: * Choose your idea * Create a brand name or app name. * Get feedback from at least five people who will download your app. * Decide on a price for your app and start marketing it!
The key to success with an app lies in its users. So, if there’s something missing from existing solutions or they simply don’t work well enough, go ahead and add value to those problems by creating an app! For example, if you don’t like using web-based tax filing tools, why not develop an app that makes doing your taxes easier?
Keep It Simple Simple ideas may be easy to come up with but they’re often difficult to monetize as businesses. Developing content and building infrastructure around simple ideas requires a lot of effort – more than most beginners are willing or able to invest – making small projects hard to break even (if ever).
To succeed when trying simple ideas as your first project, you need a rock solid passion for what you’re doing because starting small takes massive amounts of time. You should also know all aspects of running a business so investing money into what might seem like a cool idea isn’t wasted on services you’ll never use.
8) Teach Online Courses
One of the best and most lucrative ways to become an entrepreneur is to use your expertise in a specific field to teach people about it. This can be done through YouTube videos, paid courses, or live seminars. In fact, earning money as an expert is one of our 101 business ideas ! Earning potential: $50+ per hour (but be prepared to work hard!)
If you have expertise in a specific area such as Photoshop or social media marketing, you could begin offering your services through sites like Fiverr . Having experience with these fields makes it easy for you to communicate your knowledge and skills effectively—and get paid well in return.
9) Create an App
There are thousands of apps out there, but you probably use only a handful on a regular basis. If you want to be an entrepreneur, though, it’s important to know how to make one yourself. There’s no shortage of sites that will guide you through app development from design to coding; some even offer templates so that you can put your own twist on things.
The best part? It won’t cost you anything more than your time and motivation—and who knows what kind of world-changing ideas you might come up with in order to meet your new daily goal of 10K steps! Just try not to spend all day playing Clash of Clans…
4 ways on How To Become Successful In life using Leadership skills : Successful Leaders Communicate Effectively : We need leaders who communicate clearly, both verbally and nonverbally, making sure they convey their message effectively. You should pick words carefully while communicating or presenting an idea or problem.
Be brief and succinct yet honest when you speak; don’t drown listeners in details or raise unnecessary objections/challenges when soliciting responses or feedback during meetings/sessions. Clear speaking also helps create clarity in thinking—this way everyone understands what they need to do and say next because they heard exactly what was said before them.
10) Set up a Podcast
Podcasts are a fun and effective way to build your business. Podcasts can help establish you as an authority in your industry, give people more of an insight into who you are, what you do and what problems you can solve. Starting a podcast is also incredibly cheap compared to other marketing strategies so it’s a great place to start if you don’t have much money to spend on building your brand. All you need is some basic equipment – either a smart phone or tablet with good audio quality will work – then it’s just a case of creating content that people want to listen to.
Also Read: Business Ideas For Chemical Engineers
Conclusion
The world of business is changing constantly, so you may have to change with it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t start small. There are plenty of simple business ideas that don’t require a lot of start-up cash, such as selling things online or tutoring part-time.
Many chartered accountants find success working as bookkeepers and doing tax returns, which is a great way to get your foot in the door while still paying down your schooling debt. Although chartered accountancy will always remain a popular occupation, there are numerous business ideas chartered accountants can explore once they achieve those prestigious credentials!
