A Salisbury mother of two has become one of the latest people to enter the world of business ownership.

Sallyanne Sheppard decided to found her own bookkeeping business after finding the scheduling requirements of her old marketing career untenable after she began growing her family.

With no previous experience in accounting, Sallyanne started from scratch, which meant studying for a level 4 diploma in Professional Accountancy with the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT), fitting study time between school runs and other demands of family life.

After becoming a fully licensed accountant with MAAT status, Sallyanne gained experience through subcontracting with another Salisbury accountant, before setting out on her own and founding Sunshine Accounts Ltd, which will be officially launched in April.

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Sallyanne said: “The study took a lot of willpower, and it was a massive achievement to change sectors from marketing to accounting whilst bringing up two young children. But family is at the core of everything I do. I needed my work to be more flexible to fit around picking the children up from school and to be there for them and my husband who has a demanding full-time job. To take the time off over holidays and when they were sick. I knew self-employed bookkeeping could give me that flexibility.

“Now the children are older I have more time for me to follow my dreams, I always wanted to own my own business. I need to support the family in different ways now with money for amazing family holidays I want to take us on and endless school trips.”

Fellow business owner Tarja Rolston, founder of Rich London and Another Mother Management, said: “I could not recommend Sallyanne highly enough, over the last ten years she has worked with me and my business, she is highly personable and always goes above and she is kind, patient and understanding on a human level and is always on top of our accounts from a professional point of view. She takes time to explain things (sometimes several times) and is always happy to do so.”