When faced with unpredictable times, we all look for people we can rely on. Bookkeepers are ideally placed to bring support and much-needed stability now and in the future.
It's been quite a couple of weeks; Rachel Reeves delivering the Budget as our first female Chancellor of the Exchequer, and then Trump's decisive victory over Kamala Harris after what was predicted to be a tight race. And in among that I was baking birthday cakes, juggling half-term and drawing fangs onto my 7-year old's face for Halloween.
If you felt like your clients needed you before the Budget, I'm sure that intensified when Reeves announced not one, not two, but three changes to Employers' National Insurance Contributions on 30 October. ICB Members can download a dedicated report for bookkeepers,
logging on to MyICB here.
At next week's
Bookkeepers Summit we'll gather as a community to explore and predict the future of bookkeeping and how you can continue to manage clients' increasing reliance on your technical expertise, reassurance and guidance.
What does your future as one of the world's most trusted professionals look like? Are you considering expanding your team or your services? Perhaps you're at the start of your bookkeeping journey and leaving the 'old you' behind, or simply on a mission for a promotion? Are you looking for more apps or hoping to consolidate? We'll be discussing all this and more
in person on Monday, and then online at our dedicated
Tech Day on Wednesday, and virtual Summit on Thursday. For the first time, we are also hosting a
dedicated student track too.
In the meantime, get ready to download the event app. Ticket holders will be given access on Friday 8 November so that Bookkeepers Summit buzz is absolutely about to begin!
Agenda highlights
I'm on stage at 9:20am on Monday to officially open the stage for an exceptional schedule of sessions and I look forward to seeing you all engage with your fellow bookkeepers and industry experts throughout Global Bookkeeping Week, 11-15 November. This year's sessions promise to help you zoom out from the day-to-day and get a new perspective. My highlights for the in-person event on Monday include:
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"Beyond the Hype Cycle" exploring how bookkeepers can guide small businesses through technological shifts - delivered by Xero's UK Country Manager, Kate Hayward, the big boss who Gary Turner himself told me we had to put on the stage.
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"The Path to Making Tax Digital" from the literal Head. Of. MTD. - Craig Ogilvie from HMRC
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Actionable Steps For Practice Success with Bev Flanagan who won a LUCA way back in 2012, the year of the London Olympics and Gangnam Style.
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"The Future Skills for Bookkeepers" by Mark Lee FCA - a legend of the accounting world who just happens to be a magician too.
Even if you can't make it in-person, we're sharing the slides with all ticket holders and you'll have more than enough sessions to attend with our two action-packed virtual days.
If you haven't yet booked a ticket, there's still time! All online sessions are available as recordings for you to watch on catch up in case you're busy providing your expert guidance, or shoulder to cry on, to a business owner with overwhelm or just basic uncertainty.
Facing unpredictable times
For what it's worth, my prediction is that unpredictablility, whether it's political, economic, social, will continue to drive up reliance on bookkeepers to provide support and much-needed stability. Let me know what you think - I can't wait to talk to you next week about your future, and the future of our profession.
I'll be at the hotel bar at 7:30pm on Sunday evening. Hope to see you there.
