TaxAssist Accountants Franchise - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

BalanceAccounts · Newbie

TaxAssist Accountants Franchise

woody88 · Senior Member

Sorry for butting in Kris our posts must have crossed.

Originally, I thought that an accountancy franchise would be a great idea for me. But having read the previous posts on this site and other forums, the negative feedback that all of the franchises receive, not just TaxAssist Accountants, is that with lots of planning and research you can set-up your own practice for a lot less money and it's 100% yours.

In my opinion you are buying a marketing business in essence - as if your a qualified accountant you can do the work already, you just need help with the marketing and back office issues.

However, once you've made a good marketing plan you can build your own client base and its much more satisfying too.

Sorry i've got no specific information on the franchise mentioned - just thought i'd give my views. Not everyone will be comfortable in acquiring clients or will be suitably qualified to undertake the work, so in some instances I can understand that a franchise can be a good route to start.

I agree with Kris's comments too, if I was looking for a franchise the website does look good and the high street shops will appeal to some folk.

Ben

-- Edited by woody88 on Tuesday 8th of May 2012 09:35:08 PM

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

There are two in local towns to me. I've never had any dealings with them, but look quite professional to an outsider. They seem to concentrate on high street shop fronts.

Kris

BobHarper · Guru

@James - take negative comments with a pinch of salt. I developed some bookkeeping software which was distributed by a network of accountants. We have some fantastic success stories - our best is better than the best TaxAssit franchisee in terms of speed of growth and profitability BUT they are many firms who failed. Was it the software or them?

TaxAssit works otherwise there would not be so many successful franchisees. That doesn't mean it is right for you - look at their model and if it fits them perhaps it is.

BannanaMan · Veteran Member

Hi James

One of my ex-colleagues runs a TaxAssist Accountants franchise and she couldn't be happier. She went from zero clients to a shop front office with hundreds of clients in a couple of years.

She's a qualified accountant but lacked any relevant marketing experience (like most of us), and this is where I think she really benefited from being in the franchise.

As Ben says a franchise is not for everyone, me included, but for her TaxAssist has obviously worked out very well.

Let us know how you get on.

David Paulson · Newbie

Good afternoon all

First time posting here so please let me introduce myself - David Paulson, Franchise Recruitment Manager at TaxAsist Accountants. I'm going to repsect the nature of the board so will try to refrain from using this as a sales platform.

I agree that a franchise isn't for everyone - you might be interested in a feature I did on the pros and cons of a franchise for AccontingWEB - http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/taxassist/mar12/524966/franchise-myth-%E2%80%93-pros-and-cons-franchise-free-research-guide

What I would say is do your research, visit with the different franchisors in the sector and speak to as many franchisees as you can who will be able to say first hand what it's like. Given the size of our netowrk and the recognition that we have received we're confident that our offering more than stacks up!

If you want to learn more you'd be very welcome to attend one of our discovery days here at our support centre in Norwich, the next ones will be on 15th and 30th of May. After the discovery day we'll give you the directory of all our franchisees from those just starting out to those with fee banks in excess of £1million!

BannanaMan - thank you for your comments, much appreciate!

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi David,

welcome to the forum,

Just a suggestion but you might want to put a link to the tax assist website in your signiture in a similar way to the Crunchers franchise above.

I know that we've also got one more franchise accountants on the site but for the life of me I can't remember their name off the top of my head... I know that they're over in Derbyshire somewhere.

Hope that you enjoy being on here and take away from the site as much as you bring to it.

kind regards,

Shaun.

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

found them.

The Accounting Group in Chesterfield. See this thread :

http://www.book-keepers.org.uk/t42849028/hi-from-the-accounting-group/

Think that we just need Certax now and we've got the set. wink

David Paulson · Newbie

Hi Shaun

Thanks for the welcome and for the tip - it's a fine balance on forum boards not to be too sound like a sales pitch but I'm sure you'll keep us honest!

You're a couple more off getting the full set - as well as Certax who, like us are Full Members of the British Franchise Association (bfa) there's also at least 4 more out there that either provisonal or associate members of the bfa but forgive me if I don't promote them here!

Thanks again for the welcome.

All the best

David

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

I'll have a go then:

Rosemary Bookkeeping
Brilliant at Bookkeeping
Cloud Bookkeeping
Abacus
The Financial Management Centre (the local bookkeeper)

How did I do?

Kris

David Paulson · Newbie

10 out of 10 to Kris.

All very good businesses and offer credible franchises - it's a case of which suits your ambition & aspirations, which is the more proven and who you feel you can work with.

BobHarper · Guru

I'd like to point out that I believe Crunchers is the only fixed fee franchise.

I also think we are the only one that has decided NOT to focus on bookkeeping, accounts and tax...more about that later in the year.

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

I find that interesting Bob. Crunchers don't seem to know what they want to be. First they're bookkeepers, then some sort of hybrid, then they're accountants, now they might be something else, but you're not sure yet.

This is one of the reasons that even if I was to decide to go for a franchise it wouldn't be Crunchers. I can understand that you're going on a journey, but what about all the people who joined when you told them they were bookkeepers? Has every single franchisee bought into your mystery tour? Surely stability is one of the reasons people join a franchise?

Kris

BobHarper · Guru

Kris - I won't hold my breath for your application. Shame, you have a lot to offer.

My take is that ongoing development is a reason to be part of a franchise. And, I also believe that change is the only constant, even if you don't like it. Apple started off with personal computers, should they have not launched the iPod, iPhone and iPad?

As for Crunchers, our existing franchisees are free to stay as bookkeepers because that's what they bought into. I would not recommend it because it's not the most marketable, profitable or sustainable business model.

-- Edited by BobHarper on Friday 11th of May 2012 09:59:20 PM

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

-- Edited by Shamus on Saturday 12th of May 2012 01:46:11 AM

betty121 · Senior Member

I think there is A1 financials as well. Oh and Frauk has a bookkeeping network for AIB folk.

Elizabeth

Rhianrach · Expert

Shamus wrote:

-- Edited by Shamus on Saturday 12th of May 2012 01:46:11 AM

Sometimes saying nothing says it all smile

Spamkebab · Expert

Still, It makes me wonder what Shaun was a'thinking though Steve.

I am a nosey bugger.

Rhianrach · Expert

Spamkebab wrote:
Still, It makes me wonder what Shaun was a'thinking though Steve.

I am a nosey bugger.

Yeah same here. What ever it was i'm sure it will of involved many words biggrin

Spamkebab · Expert

That's what's puzzling me lol, when the rambling man deletes an entire post something is off. I mean, there's not even a hint of offtopicness.

Rhianrach · Expert

Thats because we know better than to send a thread off topic. It's my daughters 5th birthday party today biggrin

Spamkebab · Expert

Happy Birthday to her Steve, Hope you have a great day. I was 5 once upon a time, you can do all sorts of stuff that you can't do at 35. I was a lot cleverer back then too.

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Happy birthday to your daughter Steve,

The message was professional and nothing nasty but it was telling Bob how to run his business which I'm sure would not have gone down well with him no matter how well intentioned my post and I wasn't in the mood for argueing with someone who I'm thinking is a little lost for direction at the moment.

Can't remember which theorist it was who said it but I know that I read somewhere "to have too many directions is as if to have no direction at all" (sounds like it should be Ansoff but I'm sure that it wasn't).

There is of course the arguement that if you are steering a ship towards an iceberg then it's a good idea to change direction... Except the Titanic changed direction and we all know what happened there!

If they had changed direction early enough of course everything would have been fine but surely the point at which it is too late to change direction is when one has commited to a course, and in this case that would be by taking on franchisee's.

I did save away my post and may yet use it. I jut wasn't in the mood to use it last night.

Spamkebab · Expert

I was of course, referring to the late great Johnny Cash when i said rambling man, honest. As far as i can see, there is always another iceberg awaiting in the dark.

As for snatching the beginnings of a great argument away from us Shaun Tch. Tch.........

Have a great weekend.

P.S. did i miss a certain blog last week? does pDm's employer need a visit from "the boys"?

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

Sorry Bob, and all other frianchises for bookkeeping, hell will freeze over before I buy into one. I just don't see what it can offer me. I understand what you are saying about Apple, but it's not really the same. They brought new products to the range as technology moved on. It's not really the same as Crunchers are doing. It's not because of developments in the world, to me it seems because you've worked out that if people call themselves accountants they earn more than bookkeepers. It's not a development or addition it's a change of direction. As Shaun says change directions much more and I'm sure someone will get dizzy.

Kris

BobHarper · Guru

@Shamus - feel free to have a go, so long as you can take it back.

@Kris - the point I was making is that change is not a bad thing. As for Crunchers we sussed out bookkeeping is not the place to be to achieve the results we want.

We are always learning, researching and developing. Yes, we have decided to reposition away from bookkeeping, but we are not stopping at just being accountants. The change of direction at Crunchers is based around a business advisory programme we are developing called Improving the Numbers. So, our franchisees will be able to deliver added value and something very different to traditional bookkeepers/accountants in their local market.

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

BobHarper wrote:
@Shamus - feel free to have a go, so long as you can take it back.

But what could you possibly say back when I'm so perfect in every way (lol).

Fair enough. here's the reply from last night which wasn't having a go but I still didn't think that it would go down well and having a real bitch of a cold I didn't feel much like another major debate.

Off out to get some more Lemsip but look forwards to reading your reply later.

Thats a wee bit naughty though don't you think Bob.

Your franchisee's I assume were qualified bookkeepers who wanted the backup of the marketing of a larger body in order to expand with a little hand holding to help them establish themselves.

Now you tell these bookkeepers that they should be accountants if they want to make any money.

So, if your existing franchisees want to stay bookkeepers but are unhappy with the new direction of Crunchers can I assume that you will be refunding their franchise fee's?

And if they were to stay what exactly would they get in return for their money from a company that is on record that it does not believe in the product that it sold them.

In other posts you mention AAT so I assume that you are trying to get your franchisee's to go down the AAT path into accountancy however, if you are looking to move in that direction surely what you should be doing is trying to attract newly qualified ACCA and CIMA people by offering supervision of all franchisee's and that way you get to change from a bookkeeping franchise to an accountancy franchise.

Do you have properly qualified accountants in place in Crunchers to make such a move? Franchisees of Taxassist and Certax may not all be qualified accountants (I know that some of them are) but they have an infrastructure in place of chartered certified accountants in the background.

If Crunchers is looking to play in this ball park do they have the infrastructure to support it? (Whilst AAT may be fine for front line franchise accountants I would hope that the accountants behind them would be somewhat higher up the tree).

There is a lot of potential for your brand but I think that crunchers really needs to get away from this idea that it's all about marketing and realise that whilst marketing is an important cornerstone of any business there has to be something substantial under it and to someone like me who can only go on what I read on the internet all I'm seeing is sales patter without substance.

There you go,your turn. wink

Wella · Expert

The Titanic analogy had me thinking, and I came to the conclusion it wasn't the change in direction that killed people, and as far as I am aware not even the collision with the iceburg actually killed anyone, even the lack of life boats didn't kill anyone. It was the icey Atlantic that killed them.

Lesson: It's OK to change direction (continous improvement), it's even OK to hit something (Make a mistake). Just don't be arrogant enough to think you are unsinkable (catastrophic error) and wont need a life boat (contingency).

The irony of the Titanic story is that the thing that caused the damage could have saved a lot of lives. Had Captain Smith turned around after the collision he could have landed most of the passengers onto the iceburg. After all that was still afloat week's after the collision.

BobHarper · Guru

@Shamus - your assumption of who franchisees are is wrong. Most franchisees (circa 75%) are accountants who wanted to put a bookkeeping brand on the side of their accountancy practice.

Existing franchisees are free to stay doing what they are doing i.e. charging for bookkeeping under the Crunchers brand and charging for accounts/tax separately. And, they will be able to use the new resources and training we are developing.

Our reference to the AAT is for a non qualified people who wants to set up in business. CIMA and ACCA are perfect for Crunchers and we have members of AAT, ATT, ACCA and ICAEW. We also have an external firm of Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors who provide additional technical support.

I disagree, business is all about the marketing (which includes ongoing product development).

At the end of the day, what we bring to franchisees is them having a better business. Or proposition is not based on helping people become better at bookkeeping or accounting. We expect franchisees to be able to do the basic bookkeeping/accounting work, even if we need to supply short term support. What we have is a smarter strategy based on franchisees being able to deliver a structured added value advice as well as much better at marketing, sales and pricing systems for a modest fixed monthly fee.

I hope your cold gets better.

BobHarper · Guru

@Phil - I think you have hit one of the nails on the head. If it is more important for someone to have their own identity then a franchise is not an option.

I've had a few conversations with people on this. What I tell them is when I give business advice to clients about branding I suggest they think very carefully about using their own name because that can imply clients think they get you all the time.

This can make it difficult to scale and harder to sale.

-- Edited by BobHarper on Sunday 13th of May 2012 02:14:21 PM

HendyPhilhendy · Guru

Tax Assist are definitely one of the best franchises that I have come across.

From a personal point of view I didn't and wouldn't go down the franchise route. I see far too many rip off franchises in other industries to be able to trust them fully. I think having your own identity is a great thing.

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

BobHarper wrote:
I suggest they think carefully about using their own name because that make clients they they get you.

Sorry Bob, could you edit that last line please as I suspect that you've done a me and deleted something or overkeyed something and it's now not reading correctly.

Many thanks,

Shaun.

BobHarper · Guru

@Shamus - done and refined!

Don Tax · Expert

Remembered this thread having come across Mark Lees page re. considering a franchise :-

http://www.bookmarklee.co.uk/2012/05/14/8-tips-if-you-are-considering-an-accountancy-franchise/#

Didn't know the titanic was still floating weeks later. Not always how its depicted in the movies.

Regards

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

Tim, I think you misread Bills post, it was the ice berg he said was still floating weeks later.

Kris

Don Tax · Expert

Hahaha silly me.
Tim