Side jobs for accountants are more accessible than you might think. There is a handful of opportunities allowing you to apply your experience and knowledge from your main accountancy job elsewhere. Some options involve helping people become accountants, while other options can promise passive income.
Extra money is welcome for anyone, regardless of their career. Consider the large price increases in America following the global pandemic and that people collectively have trillions in debt. We have highlighted five of the most lucrative side-hustles for accountants. Learn more about your options to help you get maintain financial balance amid these challenges.
Tutor CPA Exam Takers
Certified practicing accountants like yourself must be familiar with the Uniform CPA Examination. Recall how stressful it was to prepare for the exam and then think about the aspiring accountants about to take it. You could make extra money by offering tutorial services to those professionals.
You can make at least $40 an hour as a professional CPA exam tutor with the right company. Other rates can reach nearly a thousand dollars for 12 hours as a package deal. Tutors will always be in demand as long as there are exams to take. As such, you can rest assured that you have clients to serve.
On the flip side, you must understand that there are different types of students with unique learning styles. Although the CPA exam is uniform, people will have different understandings of the topics. Your goal must be to explain these items and concepts to each student effectively. What is the point of tutoring if your student learns nothing from your sessions?
You could have a default teaching method, but try to treat it as a template. Be sure to remain flexible and learn how to adjust your approaches accordingly.
Relatedly, remember that many tutoring companies require experienced tutors. Be sure to have experience in the following fields:
- Accounting or finance for at least five to ten years
- Handling financial reporting requirements
- Working with multiple legal entities
Other certifications for accountants that increase your credibility include:
- Certified Financial Services Auditor
- Certified Fraud Examiner
- Certified Government Auditing Professional
- Certified Internal Auditor
- Certified Management Accountant
- Chartered Financial Analyst
- Chartered Global Management Accountant
You would also boost your chances of securing tutees and clients if you go beyond these qualifications expected of accountants. Consider establishing yourself as a professional accounting tutor to get better chances of securing a position in tutoring companies. Check your options for tutoring certification from the American Tutoring Association or the National Tutoring Association.
Publish Your Educational Content
You can take your tutoring abilities to the next level by applying your knowledge to easily accessible forms. In other words, consider creating e-books, audiobooks, and online courses to present your lessons. This side-hustle takes advantage of how the pandemic forced schools, universities, and companies to adopt a remote working/learning setup.
Having published educational content is a great strategy for passive income. Suppose you decide to write an e-book to share your experiences as a professional accountant. Your target niche will simply have to buy your book from wherever you published it.
Amazon allows anyone to publish books through Kindle publishing. Kindle book sales continue to grow worldwide because of its independent publishing initiatives. This fact benefits you by strengthening your chances of finding an audience willing to learn from your content.
Having an e-book can boost your credibility and improve your reputation as an accountant. However, the main task of writing can take significant time out of your full-time job. On top of being time-consuming, you face a lot of competition in the Amazon publishing marketplace. You must find a way to stand out or even seek other channels to share your e-book.
Recording audiobooks to accompany your e-books can widen your audience reach. More than 45% of American adults have listened to at least one audiobook in their life. In addition, the pandemic only increased the format’s popularity due to lockdowns.
Amazon supports audiobook publishing through Audible. However, be sure to assess whether the kind of book you write (or commission to write) makes sense in audio format. Although audiobooks are becoming increasingly popular, your educational e-book may not exactly be the most exciting to listen to.
You might want to consider publishing the lessons covered in your e-book as digital courses. Even before the pandemic, experts have projected that the online learning market to be worth $350 billion by 2025. Instead of audiobooks, you could record classes just like you would as a tutor.
Consider selling your online courses on platforms, such as Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, and Skillshare. These online learning marketplaces offer spaces for content creators to share their knowledge on a variety of topics. You must learn how to target the audience looking for accountancy content on those platforms to secure customers.
Once your course is on those spaces, people can simply buy them. As such, it is another great source of passive income. Your courses may even open opportunities to speak at conventions when the right people come across your content.
As an accountant, you can cover different topics in your courses. Tax alone has several subtopic choices to consider, including understanding income tax returns and the best tax deduction strategies.
Help People With Their Tax Returns
On the topic of teaching people about tax returns, helping people understand tax forms can be a good side-hustle. Many people and small businesses find it challenging to file tax forms correctly. Such forms are understandably intimidating because of the complex language and details one must provide.
However, professional accountants like yourself will know how to navigate those forms. You can utilize and apply this knowledge through expert assistance. Put yourself out there and offer individuals or businesses your tax deduction services. This side-hustle brands you as a tax accountant, with the potential of making $29 per hour on average.
Expect job security when you work as a tax accountant on the side. Just like how there will be CPA exam tutees, there will always be people and small businesses that need help with filing taxes.
However, remember that handling other people’s taxes is a huge responsibility. Depending on the person or business’s account, your job can become time-consuming and stressful. Still, you can be as flexible as you want.
Consider researching your competitors to determine your rates and hours. You want to price and time yourself in a way that benefits you while still attracting potential clients. In addition, be sure to specify the field of tax consultation you wish to cover.
Assess your goals for picking up this side-hustle, and weigh your priorities. For instance, you could specialize in helping people with simple tax returns to ensure you still have enough energy for your main job. Or, you could offer help with complicated tax issues that require CPA assistance. Regardless of your niche, be sure that you simplify your topics enough to secure a clientele.
Offer Bookkeeping Services
Apart from taxes, small businesses will also always need help with bookkeeping. As an accountant, you would have the necessary skills to work with financial data, just like a bookkeeper. Your expertise will be useful to small businesses that might not have the resources to hire a full-time bookkeeper. As such, this side-hustle is something to consider.
Consider advertising your bookkeeping services on freelancing websites, such as Fiverr, Freelancer, and Upwork. These platforms give part-time bookkeepers a chance to find small businesses that need your accounting services. You can charge for your bookkeeping services per hour, potentially earning you $20 hourly.
Although you will have a consistent amount of work, consider that tax season can be time-consuming. You may end up turning down some small businesses that seek your help. In such a case, you could refer some of your connections to get part-time jobs of their own.
One thing to remember when offering bookkeeping services on the side is the potential liabilities you get. Small businesses that you work for may hold you responsible for any accounting mistake you commit. As such, you must be extra careful with managing another entity’s finances. Consider investing in bookkeeper insurance to protect yourself against liabilities.
Become an Affiliate Marketer
Finally, accountants can make passive income by side-hustling as an affiliate marketer. This side-job involves earning commissions when people buy products or services that you promote. Affiliate marketing can also go beyond accounting, considering that accounting products tend to be limited.
Despite its limitations, promoting accounting products can give you credibility that helps your main jobs. For example, you could create online content to promote accounting software packages. Your content can be written content on your website’s blog or video content on YouTube highlighting the best features of that software.
However, consider that you will have no control over the program that you are promoting. In other words, the program is under another company, which will have unique commission terms. You may not have room to negotiate how much you would earn from your promotional initiatives. Still, you get to set work hours that suit your schedule.
Affiliate marketing is also competitive. Other professionals outside the accountancy industry are also engaged in promotional activities for their niches. As such, you must identify your target audience and learn how to solve their pain points. You may have to learn about keyword research to better understand how to capture your audience’s interest.
As mentioned, even those outside of the accountancy industry is promoting products. You could go in that direction and become a third-party seller for extra money. There is no limit to the kind of items that you sell and you can even sell items related to your interests outside of your job.
Amazon offers a great platform to sell items as a third-party business owner They have Amazon FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon), which hosts your inventory, storing the items you sell in their warehouse. Amazon will process sales for you when you receive orders, handling the packaging and shipping.
Considering that at least 56% of Amazon sales are owed to third-party sellers, this side-hustle offers huge opportunities for extra income. Granted, you must conduct product research to determine what you could offer your area that will surely convert sales.
Conclusion
Side jobs for accountants can help you earn extra money without going too far from your main skillset. You can utilize your existing knowledge and offer tutoring services to help aspiring accountants take the CPA exam. At the same time, you could record yourself teaching the same lessons and offer your videos as online courses. Meanwhile, you could help businesses understand their taxes and finances as a freelancer. Finally, you could make passive income as an affiliate marketer, promoting products related to your field. Be sure to assess your skills and goals when selecting a side-hustle to dedicate part of your time to do.
