Daren explores the scope of the modern accountancy practice and the major initiatives that have been rolled out over the last five years to benefit TaxAssist Accountants and their clients.
What emphasis do you put on the potential of advisory/consulting services?
In the dynamic world of finance, accountants play a crucial role. Indeed, they are no longer just an accountant, they are trusted advisors to their clients.
They ensure the financial well-being of individuals and businesses and their expertise makes them highly sought-after to help businesses and individuals make proactive, informed decisions through complex regulation and challenging economic landscapes.
We know there is huge potential within an accountancy practice to strengthen this relationship by offering a diverse range of relevant additional services to meet ever changing client needs. This increases income potential, the scale of a practice and will help to attract and retain clients.
Generating meaningful repeat income gives our network more financial control and lessens dependence on one income source. TaxAssist Accountants focus on having hundreds of individual taxpayers and businesses, rather than just a few larger clients. These relationships represent considerable scope for growth when you consider the potential for building additional services income alongside fees for compliance services.
Having multiple income streams can also mean achieving greater financial stability more quickly and increases the value of a practice when the time comes to sell.
There is job satisfaction in knowing you are providing the best possible all-round service to your clients from experienced, expert teams. Happy clients also mean an increase in referrals – an excellent way to grow a practice organically.
Which services do TaxAssist Accountants offer?
The model of an accounting firm simply offering tax and accounting services is rapidly changing. To be successful in today’s market, accountants need to embrace a range of additional services. This optimises the potential of their practice and helps to stay ahead of the competition. It also means meeting the ever-changing needs of clients and remaining relevant in the marketplace.
Some advisory services require specific skills which can go beyond traditional accountancy expertise/scope. This is one of the reasons why we launched our in-house TaxAssist branded payroll, tax consulting and financial services businesses. These are not mandated and our franchisees still have access to both recommended and local partners if they choose, but we can now provide services that we believe represent better value and mirror the standards of client delivery offered by our network.
Our network of accountants can now support their clients across a wide range of needs. In addition to traditional accounting and tax services, these include:
- bookkeeping software
- payroll bureau services
- financial planning
- business restructuring
- cash flow forecasting
- R&D tax credits
- inheritance tax planning
- pensions
- investments
- mortgages
- protection and insurance
These services can help to attract a wider range of clients and increase revenue and profitability.
TaxAssist shares income with introducing franchisees from these in-house teams. For example, successful introductions to our Financial Services Team triggers a 20% income share. This is not just based on initial commission or fees, this includes ongoing trail income, ongoing advice fees, platform fees and asset under management charges etc. This is unique to TaxAssist, no other provider would do this for introducers.
The Group is continuing to research further services in consultation with the network, with plans to offer ever more complementary and supportive services to franchisees and their clients.
How is TaxAssist embracing technological advancements?
All businesses need to evolve to thrive and the accountancy sector is no different. The services that TaxAssist Accountants are providing now are different to those of 5 years ago. The same will almost certainly be true in 5 years’ time. So, it's important to have a digital-first mindset, develop services to meet demand and take advantage of emerging opportunities to attract new clients.
Clients want up-to-date information from innovative technology. The expectation is that technology will save time and provide them with exactly what they need, when they need it, to help them make decisions about the future direction of their business. The role of the accountant will be to help them interpret and understand this information in a meaningful way.
All TaxAssist Accountants have access to a comprehensive software suite which has been carefully researched, trialled and evaluated. The recommended software comes with market leading discounts, full training and support.
Sitting across all of this is best practice guidance that we share with the network and in turn, they share with one another. We have developed our model over the years and the TaxAssist Practice Engine is the centre of skills and strategies which franchisees can implement within their business. This is ever evolving and franchisees and their teams contribute to this facility.
Does TaxAssist still embrace a shop front model for client attraction?
Absolutely – for client attraction and retention. Our accountants provide a convenient, local, one-stop-shop service from their shops, which have been the cornerstone of the network’s success over the last two decades.
With over 78% of clients in our most recent client satisfaction survey stating that they prefer to meet their accountant in person, our shops provide the ideal setting for building relationships and the client experience.
Broadening the scope of professional services on offer, inevitably means attracting new business and our shops are perfectly placed to advertise these services. Existing accountancy clients will be interested in complementary services and accountancy clients will be gained from those people initially interested purely in a complementary service.
Daren Moore joined The TaxAssist Direct Group Board of Directors in 2018 focusing on broadening service delivery, creating new fee and profit opportunities for franchisees and new income streams for the TaxAssist Group.
In 2022, Daren became Group Chief Executive Officer and now oversees the entire Group operation, expansion and development of the franchise and various client services. With a solid knowledge of the accounting and taxation industry, in which he is a well-known and respected figure, Daren brings his 30 years of expertise to his role, to ensure the continued success and growth of the network in the UK and globally.
Daren’s LinkedIn profile can be viewed here.
