A day in the life

A day in the life of a

bookkeeper

Clare Mannall, founder of CEM

In the six-and-a-half years since Clare Mannall started her bookkeeping business, she has had to bat away several misconceptions that she’s an accountant. While there is some overlap between the two professions, she’s keen to make a clear distinction between them.

“Bookkeeping and accountancy mistakenly get lumped together,” she says. “Accountants tend to focus on taxation and the overall view of a client’s business, whereas bookkeepers get much more involved in the day-today operations of the business.”

Clare’s company, Surbiton-based CEM Bookkeeping and Consultancy Services, collects a wealth of financial data and turns it into tidy financial reports for clients – ideal for company owner-directors who hate number-crunching. CEM also helps companies navigate often complex issues such as HMRC compliance, auto enrolment, automation set up, budgeting, cashflow and management accounts. For Clare’s clients, this means no more chasing tardy debtors for payment or spending valuable time raising sales invoices.

“CEM isn’t your average bookkeeping service,” says Clare. “We make it fun and take the pain out of your admin so that you can get your time back to build your business or find your worklife balance again. As well as offering traditional bookkeeping services we’re also business consultants, advising on a wide range of issues including company policies and procedures, cost and stock control, training, mentoring and personal and professional development.”

Clare is also taking steps to make it easier to run her own business, investing in customer relationship management (CRM) software that can set up reminders so she can see when clients’ tax bills are due or when to chase up client information. In today’s fast-changing world of commerce, where normal trends have been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, she admits it’s difficult to describe a typical day at work.

“There isn’t one,” she says. “I usually get to my desk at around 9.30am and sift through e-mails before tackling my to-do list for the day. One day this might involve chasing up client invoices; another day I’ll be doing auto enrolment or management accounts. I tend to switch between clients rather than spend the morning working on one set and the afternoon working on another set. More often than not I’ll give myself a break during the day; if the weather’s nice I’ll have lunch in the garden, for instance.”

CEM works with around 25 clients in any given month and has four staff, including an administration officer who assists with compliance on GDPR and anti-money laundering regulations. The company is headed up by Clare, whose vast industry experience spans hospitality and finance training (including bookkeeping), hotel management, education management, and teaching finance, entrepreneurship and business in higher education institutions.

This eclectic career path took another turn in 2013 when Clare decided to launch CEM. It’s a decision she hasn’t regretted and now she’s looking to a post-COVID future with confidence.

“The coronavirus hasn’t stopped businesses from needing our services,” says Clare. “In recent weeks we’ve helped businesses to complete Job Retention Scheme applications, for example, and we’ve advised others on their diversification strategies.

“We offer so many different services so we’re well placed to help all types of businesses as the business world recovers from the pandemic.”

CEM Bookkeeping and Consultancy Services Creativity and Excellence in Management If you would like to find out more about how CEM Bookkeeping can support you and your business please do contact Clare on 020 8004 3680 clare@cembusiness.co.uk www.cembusiness.co.uk