General Description:  The growth in small and work-from-home businesses has fueled the need for freelance bookkeeping services.  In spite of the availability of "do-it-yourself" bookkeeping software, most entrepreneurs still prefer to outsource this task to a qualified professional.

Depending upon your background and interests, you can choose to either be a generalist or specialize in a particular type of business (i.e., insurance firms, medical offices or legal firms).

For more information on the training needed for success in this field, be sure to consult some of the resources listed below.

Options for Flexibility:  Although you may have to go to your clients' offices occasionally, most bookkeeping services can be performed at your home office.

You can grow your client caseload as your time permits.  One of the nicest features of running a bookkeeping service is the opportunity for repeat business.  Most clients will continually feed you new work so you can spend more time on billable activities and less energy drumming up new business.   Regardless of the economy, businesses must keep their books in order, so this career tends to be relatively recession-proof.

Resources for Further Exploration:

Associations:

American Institute of Professional Bookeepers

5 Ways to Succeed as a Freelance Bookkeeper (very useful article supplied by the AIPB)

Books: