CPDStore

10:00 - 10:50

The Last 12 Months of the Billable Hour

Speaker: Des O'Neill - Founder, OmniPro and CPDStore

AI is about to do in ten minutes what you currently bill an afternoon for. Within a year, hourly billing won't just be unprofitable — it'll be indefensible. Des O'Neill on the psychology of pricing, value pricing that works for sole bookkeepers and teams alike, and how to move your existing clients before the market moves you.

11:10 - 12:00

Bookkeeping 2026: The Modern Technology Toolkit

Speaker: Lara Manton - LJM Bookkeeping Ltd

Bookkeepers are being sold new apps every week: receipt capture, reporting, workflow, payments, you name it. The problem isn’t a lack of options; it's choosing the right tools for your practice and making sure they work together without creating more admin. This webinar is a practical guide to building your Bookkeepers Tech Toolkit: the core app categories most practices rely on, the pros and cons of common approaches in each category, and the red flags to watch for before you commit. We’ll cut through marketing claims and focus on what matters in real life: usability, integration quality, true cost, support, and how each tool impacts accuracy, efficiency, and client experience.

In this session Lara Manton will cover the following topics:

• The Toolkit map: the key app categories in a modern bookkeeping practice (what each category is for, and what good looks like)
• Pros and cons by category: where tools typically save time vs where they introduce risk, rework, or hidden admin
• Integration reality check: native vs API vs import/export, and how to avoid double-entry and broken workflows
• Timelines: where to start with adding apps to replace manual processes
• Build and improve your toolkit: a simple framework to audit what you have, spot gaps, and implement changes in phases

By attending this session you will learn/understand/be able to: - Identify the core app categories that make up a strong bookkeeping tech toolkit (and what to prioritise first) - Compare the pros/cons of different tool types in each category (including where best-in-class can be overkill) - Spot common red flags before buying: weak integrations, hidden costs, poor support, and workflow mismatches - Evaluate apps with a repeatable checklist you can use across clients and industries - Create a practical action plan to simplify your stack, reduce errors, and improve turnaround times

This session will be of most interest to: - Bookkeepers (or small accounting practices) who want a clear, confident way to choose tools - Practice owners looking to scale delivery without adding complexity - Bookkeepers onboarding new clients and inheriting messy or inconsistent app stacks

Course level: Foundation

12:20 - 13:10

Protecting Your Practice: AML When Hiring or Outsourcing

Speaker: Lucy Brown - Calathea Solutions Ltd

As businesses grow there is a natural progression to getting help with covering the workload, from sub-contracting to taking on employees and maybe even outsourcing to another country. This process is not as simple as just writing up a contract for both parties to sign, there are also AML considerations to be made and documentation to check. If you are considering taking on staff or sub-contracting or if you are already some way down this path this session will serve as a useful checklist to ensure you have considered all the requirements.

In this session Lucy Brown will cover the following topics:

• The options: Sub-contractor, Employees, Off shoring
• Regulation 21: Internal Controls specifically looking at staff screening and what this means
• Regulation 24: Training - your training responsibilities
• Offshoring: what you should be looking for
• Where does the buck stop - who hold what responsibilities?

By attending this session, you will gain awareness of the different considerations you need to make when taking on help with fulfilling your client services. There are several different options each presenting different challenges to completing your AML obligations and by the end of this session you will be familiar and ready to take on these challenges.

This session will be of interest to bookkeepers who are growing their businesses and are considering or have already taken on help within their practice.

Course level: Intermediate – but accessible for all

13:50 - 14:40

How to Grow Your Bookkeeping Practice - Time Management & Organisation 2027

Speaker: Claire Bartlett - Arden Bookkeeping Ltd

Course details will be available closer to the event.

15:00 - 15:50

The Future of Bookkeeping: Threats, Change and Opportunity

Speaker: Samantha Mitcham - SJCM Accountancy

Bookkeeping is changing rapidly. Automation, AI, increasingly capable software and the move towards real time digital reporting are changing not only how bookkeeping is carried out, but what clients expect from their accountant or bookkeeper. Some traditional tasks are becoming quicker or disappearing altogether, while new opportunities are emerging for practices that are prepared to adapt. This session will explore what is genuinely changing, where the threats lie, and how accountants and bookkeepers can use technology to improve efficiency while continuing to add the human judgement, support and insight that technology cannot replace.

In this session Sam Mitcham will cover the following topics:

• What is Actually Changing in Bookkeeping?
• The Threat: What Could Technology Replace?
• The Reality Behind the Automation
• The Opportunity: Moving from Processing to Value
• Building the Bookkeeping Service of the Future

By attending this session, delegates will understand how technology, automation and AI are changing bookkeeping and where the greatest risks and opportunities lie. They will be able to identify which elements of their current bookkeeping processes could be automated, recognise where human judgement and intervention remain essential, and consider how their bookkeeping services can evolve from transactional processing towards higher value support for clients.

This session will be of interest to accountants and bookkeepers

Course level: Intermediate

16:10 - 17:00

Payroll - Nothing to It - Think Again

Speaker: Alexandra Durrant - Aspiring Training Limited

Many accountants and bookeepers, and even employees, think there is nothing to payroll as the computer does it all for you. But that is not always the case. Yes, the computer and the software carry out the calculation from gross pay to net pay, but someone needs to do the thinking and interpretation of information provided. For example - Is this person being paid at the correct NLW or NMW rate, can employer actually deduct holiday pay from employee because they have taken too many days off, when does this person’s sick leave start, is this notice pay correct

In this session Alexandra Durrant will cover the following topics:

• How to calculate annualised weekly pay – correctly to ensure hourly rate is at NMW or NLW
• Is this employee’s holiday entitlement and pay correctly calculated
• Pension contributions – are they under net pay” arrangement or “relief at source”
• What pension contributions and benefits are due when employee on maternity/adoption leave?
• What information will I need know to be able to calculate the final pay for a leaver
• New SSP rules – is everyone now eligible for SSP

By attending this session, you will learn Payroll can be challenging – you need to question instructions if not clear and think “what if”, what does employer expect here, is this action legal.

This session will be of most interest to:

• Bookkeepers who run payrolls for client or for the business they work in
• Bookkeepers who carry out bookkeeping for clients or business

Course level: Foundation, Intermediate & Advanced