Are you a chartered accountant looking to start a business for extra income? If YES, here are 50 best profitable small business ideas for chartered accountants. A chartered accountant is basically an accountant that belongs to the association of chartered accountants. Becoming a chartered accountant proves that you have a mastering of accountancy.
To become a certified chartered accountant, you have to first of all get an undergraduate degree, then you enroll for a chartered accountancy training programme, after-which you register to take the various exams required. If you are successful in all the exam levels, then you are accepted into the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA).
Chartered accountants, since they are already qualified accountants but with additional experience, are eligible to work in all accounting fields including audit, taxation, financial and general management. They can also work in a wide range of industries, from the financial sector to private businesses to public service.
Accountancy, in the present times when the whole world is transforming into a global society and increasingly becoming business oriented, is only going to further increase, and if you are looking for business ideas to go into as a chartered accountant, here are 50 of them. Note that some of these business ideas can be handled as side jobs.
Best Business ideas for Chartered Accountants
1. Forensic accountancy service
Forensic accounting utilizes accounting, auditing and investigative skills to conduct an examination into a company’s financial statements. Thus, forensic accounting provides an accounting analysis suitable for the court.
Forensic accountants may be employed by insurance companies, banks, the police force, government agencies or public accounting firms, but you can as well start your very own forensic accountancy firm. Because this niche is still quite hot, you would never find it difficult to find clients for your business.
2. Tax accountancy service
Tax accounting consists of accounting methods that focus on taxes rather than public financial statements. Tax accountants assist clients with their financial and income tax statements. They also prepare federal, state and local tax returns for businesses, organizations and individuals.
Your clients as a tax accountant would be various levels of government, the financial industry and company payroll departments.
Median pay for Tax Accountants in the united states is around the range of ,000 annually, but it can peak around $77,000 depending on the performance of your business. Tax accountancy is another profitable niche business for a chartered accountant.
3. Management accounting service
If you like keeping track of a company’s income and expenses but also want to hold a position with significant responsibility and authority, management accounting could be the job for you.
Management accounting is the sourcing, analysis, communication and use of decision-relevant financial and non-financial information to generate and preserve value for organizations. They may also be called cost accountants, managerial accountants, industrial accountants, private accountants or corporate accountants, but all perform similar functions within a company.
Management accountants are key figures in determining the status and success of a company, and this is another profitable accountancy business a chartered accountant can start and make profits from.
4. Prepare financial records for business
This business niche is under financial accounting. Financial accounting is the process of recording, summarizing and reporting the myriad of transactions resulting from business operations over a period of time.
This accounting niche specializes in the preparation of financial reports of a business which is used by stakeholders in forming their economic decisions. A lot of businesses, especially small businesses do not have a solid financial accounting department.
You can set up a business where you offer help them take care of their financial records either on a weekly or monthly basis.
5. Make and/or sell accounting software
In order to save the cost of hiring in-house accountants and bookkeepers, many businesses are now trying to automate their businesses to save money.
To make money from this trend, you can start selling software packages specially made for business owners to help them handle accounting, bookkeeping, and related tasks. If you are very innovative, you can develop your own idea into a software package and make even more money by selling it to businesses and individuals.
6. Financial consulting service
A lot of small businesses are formed daily in the United States and these businesses always need financial advise on how to keep their businesses above water and run it to profitability. Similarly, individuals need financial advisers and consultants to advise them on how to overcome debt, plan for retirement, save more money, and so on.
This has made the financial consulting service a very lucrative niche for the chartered accountant. You can set up a business where you offer this service to businesses. Your ability to effectively market your services is what would determine your profitability.
7. Bookkeeping business
Bookkeeping is a branch of financial accounting that involves keeping and maintaining records of business transactions. Bookkeepers keep the financial record of a business accurate and complete. Businesses, both small and large need to maintain updated records in case of taxes and other eventualities.
Although many software packages are now available for handling bookkeeping tasks, but they never replace the role of a qualified bookkeeper. Working as bookkeeper requires both education and experience. As a chartered accountant, you would have had both requirements.
8. Start a Mortgage/Debt-Reduction Service
There are professionals whose jobs are to help people renegotiate their mortgage/debt, with the essence of helping them get a better deal.
If you are experienced in this regard, then you should look towards starting this type of business. As a matter of fact, this is one of the businesses a chartered accountant can successfully start with little or no startup capital. You get to make money from this type of business based on commissions and perhaps percentage as agreed.
9. Freelance writing
If you have expertise in the field of accounting coupled with the zeal of writing, then you can take up freelance writing for websites, publications and clients. Your duties may include writing articles on accounting and business topics in general, writing business plans, or self-help or guidebooks such as how to develop financial statements and so on.
10. Teaching accounting in schools
Having spent some years of your past studying accounting, chances are that you can teach one of more core courses in accounting.
If you love the profession of teaching, then you can make money by tutoring students of accounting in some of their core courses and you can do this part time. If you really know your stuff and are very good at imparting knowledge to others, you will excel in this niche as well as gain good reputation for yourself.
11. Write and Publish chartered Accounting texts
As a chartered accountant, you would be quite knowledgeable on various areas of accounting. If you are keen on writing and if you may have formulated few workable theories of your own, then you can write books on accountancy that can be used by students in schools.
You can even write and publish books that would prepare students for their chartered accountancy exams. One can even prepare mock test papers or practice papers for quick revision on accountancy related subjects for school or college students. Once your books become popular with students, you can earn a steady income on them year after year.
12. Start an ATM machine network
Owning ATMs is a good way people can earn passive income. As a chartered accountant, you can start a network where you help people procure and establish their ATMs. You get to acquire the ATMs for people and place them in retail locations such as gas stations, convenience stores, bars and nightclubs.
You can also offer to load and manage the ATMs for your clients. Note that the key to a successful ATM business is finding good locations. You can do all these for your clients for a good fee of course, and you can as well take advantage of the industry by owning your own fleet of ATMs.
13. Online Coaching
It is a fact that a lot of students need extra classes apart from that offered in school for them to excel. Coaching, apart from regular academic subjects, also helps students in clearing entrance examinations of various professional courses like CA, ICWA, ACCA etc.
As a chartered accountant who is seasoned in accounting, you can offer your services as an accountancy coach online and you will attract lots of students.
The good thing about this option is that it can be done from the comfort of your own home. You just need to put together your lectures and post them on your website. You need to optimize your website so that you can attract a lot of readership.
14. Start a Taxation Software Company
As a chartered accountant, you are qualified to start a Taxation Software company. Starting a Taxation Software company is achievable if you have people to create the software on your behalf.
Each passing day, the number of taxation software available is increasing in the country as there are a number of organizations who are using taxation software for online e-filing. You can earn money by selling your taxation software and as well providing related services such as consulting.
15. Audit Expertise Services
As a chartered accountant who is an expert in accounting and auditing matters, then starting an auditing business or service would be a profitable business for you.
As an audit expert, you would help businesses make well-informed business decisions in order to better assess the opportunities and risks the business might face, and to boost a company’s credibility with lenders, investors and clients.
16. Outsourcing Services
A chartered accountant can also start up a business of outsourcing. When businesses need expertise or skills that they don’t have within their organization, they often turn to outsourcing to solve their problems.
Business can obtain products like machine parts, and services like payroll, through outsourcing. You can start a business where you outsource accounting services to businesses. You can help them manage various issues like accounting, taxation, financial data management, documentation, ERP implementation, etc.
17. Payroll Service
A payroll service is a company that will, for a fee, handle payroll services for businesses, freeing up the business owner’s time for more important matters.
Payroll service which is a subsidiary of bookkeeping service is a very good business idea for chartered accountants. Payroll services are necessary for most of the companies, and chartered accountants can engage themselves in this kind of service and earn good profits.
18. Financial auditor
A financial auditor reviews a company’s financial statements, documents, data and accounting entries. Financial auditors gather information from a company’s financial reporting systems, account balances, cash flow statements, income statements, balance sheets, tax returns and internal control systems.
The information is then reviewed and used to present all financial data relating to a specific organization in an accurate, fair manner, ensuring that no fraud or gross errors are present in the company. A chartered accountant can set up a financial auditing firm where he would provide the above services for businesses.
19. Become an angel investor
An angel investor is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business startup, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. angel investors typically invest in small but promising startups.
The capital angel investors provide may be a one-time investment to help the business propel or an ongoing injection of money to support and carry the company through its difficult early stages. An affluent chartered accountant can become an angel investor to fund startup businesses. He can as well provide financial advise to help the business take off properly.
20. Start an investment fund/bank
An investment fund is a vehicle that allows a number of separate and unrelated investors, a group of individuals or companies, to make investments together. By pooling their capital, investors can share costs and benefit from the advantages of investing in larger businesses that they would not have been able to handle alone.
As a chartered accountant who is grounded in the financial sector, you can start a firm that invests the pooled funds of investors into a viable business and run it to profitability.
21. Become a venture capitalist
A venture capitalist is an investor who either provides capital to startup ventures or supports small companies that wish to expand but do not have access to equities markets.
Venture capitalists are willing to invest in such companies because they can earn massive returns on their investments if these companies are a success. This business is suitable for a chartered accountant to go into because it requires financial expertise.
22. Publish accounting journals and magazines
There are currently a lot of accounting magazines and journals in existence. These magazines and journals keep people updated in the world of finance. They carry global economic report, tax issues, financial analysis, breaking news, opinion, expert advice, and practical business-building ideas among others.
You can target professionals across the full breadth of public accounting, ranging from sole practitioners who prepare tax returns up to the big firms that audit the largest multinational corporations.
23. Become a Financial Adviser for Retirees
There are loads of people out there who are scared of retiring from their businesses or from government or corporate organizations simply because they don’t know how to manage their retirement entitlements (gratuity, pension and other retirement benefits).
As a chartered accountant, you can set up a business where you advise retirees on how to manage and probably invest their retirement funds.
24. Invest in Bonds Online
Another simple and cool way of making money as a chartered accountant is to start investing in bonds online. If you want to invest in bonds online; the first thing that is expected of you is to have the required capital to invest.
You might want to save up to meet your desired capital, or you might want to pool resources together via close family members and good friends. The amount in question which you intend investing is up to you. Be sure you set a target and discipline yourself to save it up before launching out on your investment.
25. Start a Cash- in-Transit Company
Cash-in-transit (CIT) or Cash/valuables-in-transit (CVIT) is the physical transfer of banknotes, coins, credit cards and items of value from one location to another. The locations include cash centers and bank branches, ATM points, large retailers and other premises holding large amounts of cash such as ticket vending machines and parking meters.
Many cash-in-transit companies are private security companies that offer cash handling as part of their services. As a chartered accountant, you can start a cash-in-transit company and run it to profitability.
26. Financial investor
An investor is one who places capital into a project or business with the intent of making a profit from the project. An investor may be one who extends a loan or line of credit, which entitles one to repayment with interest, or he may buy an ownership stake in a business with the hope that the business will become profitable. You can leverage on you in-debt financial knowledge as a chartered accountant to become a financial investor.
27. Open a Mobile Money Shop
Mobile money is one concept in the finance services industry that is gaining ground rapidly. Mobile money is all about making payment for goods and services from your mobile phone. The fact that people who make use of mobile money look for places to fund their wallet or to even withdraw cash makes it necessary to have mobile money outlets. You can comfortably start and run this business as a chartered accountant.
28. Become a Risk Management Consultant
Another business idea that a chartered accountant who is interested in making money should consider starting is to become a risk management consultant. A risk management consultant is an expert who can be hired to help solve specific business problems.
They provide advice on not only conventional insurance, but also on topics like self-insurance, claims management, loss prevention and project advisory. Many entrepreneurs who go into business often forget to carry out risk assessment before venturing into the business.
The truth is that the reason why many business owners fail in their businesses is because they did not take into account the risk involved in the business and how to manage the risk. As a chartered accountant, you can start a company where you offer risk management consulting services to businesses.
29. Equity crowd funding business
Equity crowdfunding is the process whereby people (i.e. the ‘crowd’) invest in an early-stage unlisted company (a company that is not listed on a stock market) in exchange for shares in that company.
A shareholder has partial ownership of a company and stands to profit should the company do well. If the business succeeds, then its value goes up, as well as the value of a share in that business. A chartered accountant would do well if he or she opens an equity crowdfunding business where he or she pools money from investors to fund other businesses.
30. Start a Credit Repair Business
A credit repair business has unlimited profit potential and a low start-up cost. This industry identifies errors in credit reporting and disputes inaccurate information with the appropriate organizations to improve credit ratings. These services are typically undertaken on behalf of a client who has known credit problems, such as a recent bankruptcy. As a chartered accountant, you can start a business as a credit repair consultant.
31. Become a Remote Accountant working with Upwork/Elance
Remote accounting jobs are currently being posted daily on freelance platforms such as Upwork.com, Freelancer.com or Elance.com. There are a wide variety of job postings from basic bookkeeping to high level audit/tax jobs that requires above average experience in accounting.
As a chartered accountant that wants to currently work from home or who wants a side job, you can sign up to these freelance work sites and bid for such jobs. Depending on your speed and accuracy of work, you can make a fortune each month working this way.
32. Create and sell account How-to Guides
Accountants know a lot of stuff that most of the general public doesn’t when it comes to numbers. Another way to monetize that is to create a “how to” guide. One example of this could be with taxes.
Even though many people don’t like doing their taxes, they do want to learn how to do them. Creating a how-to file taxes guide could help them learn more about taxes. There are other topics besides taxes that you can write about as well. With today’s technology, you can create a good how-to guide within a couple of days.
33. Start a business plan writing company
Chartered Accountants are really good with creating business plans because financial projections and financial statements are basically their forte.
You can start a company where you help upcoming companies write business plans that are good enough to earn them funding either from the banks, angel investors or from venture capitalists. With your experience, you can decide to provide advisory services for free as your Competitive Advantage.
34. Budget specialist
A budget specialist also called a budget analyst, is an individual who has extensive knowledge and experience working and developing budgets for businesses, whether large or small. Budget specialists are hired to identify issues with a budget, offer consulting services in terms of budget development and implementation and perform maintenance tasks on newly implemented budgets.
As an experienced chartered accountant, you can become a budget specialist where you help businesses tailor their budget to avoid them overspending and running into a loss. A budget specialist is often hired on an as-needed basis.
35. Build and sell Investment Tools
Investment tools are tools that facilitate extensive analysis, comparison, and organization of investments and their role is very crucial, particularly because of the complexity and volume of data associated with any investment.
Investment tools assume various forms and they include Worksheets and spreadsheets, financial calculators like mutual fund cost calculators, risk meters, tax calculators, loan calculators, savings calculators, estimators etc, stock screeners, simulation tools etc. If you have the ability to build other financially helpful tools, you can market them for profit.
36. Start a mini Microfinance bank
This is a very capital intensive business but it right within the alleys of chartered accountants. With hundreds of new small businesses springing up every day, more business owners need funds in order to run and expand their businesses.
They approach microfinance banks for loans because they are friendlier with small businesses. If you have the required capital and know-how, you can make huge profits by starting your own microfinance institution. Or better still, you can help these small business owners’ access loans from various financial institutions.
37. Start Blogging on financial matters
Entrepreneurs who run small businesses are always on the lookout for blogs that offer them daily advice on how to run their business profitably. If you enjoy writing and sharing your financial experience with others, you can start a blog for the sake of offering valuable information that solves people’s business problems and answers their burning questions.
You can offer free tax and business-related advice. You can start making profits off your blog when you have built a large number of loyal followers.
38. Start publishing business/finance Newspaper
Publishing a financial newspaper is yet another thriving and profitable business venture that a chartered accountant can start and make profits from.
There are several finance based dailies that are thriving in the industry, and there is still room for more because people would always need to be updated on happenings in the Wall Street. So if you know you have what it takes to compete with publishers of financial newspapers, then by all means join the fray.
39. Start an Investment Club for Kids
Catching them young especially when it comes to business or investment is perhaps one of the easiest ways to secure the future of the next generation.
So, if you are looking towards building a generation that will become active in the finance services industry, then your sure bet is to start an investment club for kids. All you need to do is to ensure that investment topics are broken down to the simplest level so as to enable kids grab the concept.
40. Financial consulting for celebrities
A chartered accountant can start a service where he or she offers financial advise to celebrities. A lot of celebrities are known to have gone bankrupt because they were not able to manage their tremendous wealth, and as such spent it all on frivolities.
You can start a business where you help celebrities manage their financial affairs. To start this service, you would need a very good reputation in the industry as celebrities do not deal with people of no reputation. This business is sure to pay you well if you can break into the industry.
41. Start a Bureau De Change
A bureau de change is a place where people change currencies. This business can be started on a private basis but the entrepreneur needs to acquire all the needed licenses and permits because the industry is strictly regulated.
A chartered accountant by virtue of his or her training can start and run this business profitably. If you are setting up a bureau de change, ensure that you choose a location inside an airport or somewhere close to an airport as a bureau de change thrives in such areas due to movement of travelers.
42. Start a nanny/household employees’ payroll service
Families often have questions about the infamous nanny tax, and how they are to be handled. And because the issue of nanny tax has gotten a lot of people into trouble, they tend to appreciate a any help in this department.
As a chartered accountant, you can set up a nanny payroll service where you offer financial and tax advice to people about how to handle the tax of their household employees so as not to get into trouble with the IRS. These household employees could range from the nanny, to the gardener, to the dog walker and every other person in-between.
43. Start a Debt Collection Business
There are companies that specialize in debt collection – especially bad debts. As a chartered accountant, you can set up a firm that collects debts for businesses.
There are loads of people out there who will be more than willing to hire your services once they realize that you have what it takes to help them reclaim their monies from their debtors. In this type of business, you make money by earning commission or percentage from the debts you are able to recover.
44. Start a Credit and Thrift Business
Credit and thrift business is yet another thriving and profitable business venture a chartered accountant can start. Credit and thrift business is a business that helps traders and artisans who earn money daily to save. The thrift collector goes around collecting their daily savings and then presenting it to them at the end of the month. A thrift collector makes money by earning a percentage from the daily savings amount that a customer saves.
45. Start a Money Lending Business
As a chartered accountant who has adequate financial background and experience, you should consider starting your own money lending business. One good thing about this type of business is that you can start it on a small scale by lending money to family and friends and then grow it to a big and highly profitable venture.
46. Start a Hedge Fund
As a chartered accountant who is equally a big time investor looking for ways to expand your investment portfolio, then you should consider starting a hedge fund firm. Hedge fund can be simply defined as is a regulated investment fund that is typically open to a limited range of investors who pay a performance fee to the fund’s investment manager who invest the funds and bring returns.
If you run a hedge fund firm, the easiest way for you to make money is to help your clients make more money. The income you generate is based on your performance which is why most hedge fund managers employ different investment strategies to generate good returns for their clients.
47. Start an accounting academy
As a chartered accountant, it would be within your capacity to start an academy where you can train future chartered accountants or just accountants. There are a lot of institutions such as this and they train students into professionals. You must not be among the teachers if you really don’t like the teaching profession, as you can hire qualified lecturers to handle the students.
48. Become a Stock Broker
There will always be wealth to be tapped from the stock industry. This is one of the reasons why stock brokers smile to the banks at all times. As such, if you are looking for a business to start as a chartered accountant, you can become a stock broker and advise people on how to trade in stocks successfully.
49. Start your own business
Who is better at starting or handling a business than someone who is already seasoned with crunching numbers. It does not matter what business you are looking at as you can do well in any niche, as long as you have a burning desire for it. Instead of helping people build their businesses, you can use all your expertise to start and run your business and you would surely be successful at it.
50. Start a Mutual Fund Firm
Amongst the investment vehicles available to investors is the Mutual Fund. In simple terms, the Mutual fund is a pool of cash generated from various private investors with the same goal, interest and investment philosophy, for the sole aim of investing in stocks, bonds, assets, other securities and money market instruments.
The fund is managed by a professional fund manager on behalf of the investors. The good thing about mutual fund is that the investors are able to decide to sell their shares directly to the public just like every other company that is listed in the stock exchange. So one of the businesses to start as a chartered accountant is a mutual fund firm.