TaxAssist Accountants is an innovative and award winning franchise servicing small businesses and the self-employed. The franchise which is this year celebrating its 20th Anniversary, was established when the founder figured out that small businesses would need help with their tax and accounts in the wake of self-assessment. Services offered include year-end accounts, tax returns, bookkeeping, VAT returns, payroll and cash flow projections. After consistently winning awards in both the franchising and accountancy sectors, TaxAssist has grown to become the 25th largest network of accountants in the UK servicing over 53,000 clients from over 245 shops and offices.
Vince Dalaimo joined the franchise in 2003 as he could see the value in the TaxAssist brand name and support. “I was a very small cog in a very big wheel and thought there must be more to life,” said Vince. “I didn’t think there would be a franchise model which matched my skills set so well, but TaxAssist Accountants enables you to build your client base, with the back-up of a national brand and the high visibility of shop-front premises. I have found that clients have really taken to the concept of a ‘drop-in’ shop, where they can get all their tax returns, payroll and bookkeeping needs taken care of as they walk in to work or at breaks and lunchtimes. It means they can concentrate on running their business and increasing their own income and profitability.”
Vince previously worked as a senior product controller in credit derivatives for the Royal Bank of Canada, is a qualified accountant who also worked for Deutsche Bank, supervising and training teams on corporate and government bond work and for JP Morgan, as a team leader on USA Swaps and latterly as Vice President of structured finance.
Here, Vince shares what might happen in the day of a TaxAssist Accountants franchisee:
“I have worked as an accountant now for 13 years. With this franchise, the structure of the day very much depends on where we are in the tax year.
7:00
I usually get up at seven in the morning; I am quite a slow starter in the morning and it takes me about an hour and a half to get ready! I only live five minutes away from work, I specifically chose a job close to where I live for this reason, so I don’t have to waste time travelling.
The working day
I am the first one to open the office at 8:30, and mostly start the day checking emails. The staff start arriving at 9:00, and I will chat with them to ask what they are going to do with their day; staff will tell me who is coming along, and it might be that there is a certain client that I need to speak to.
I don’t actually do the work, I tend to be more client-facing, so if clients come in, I will have a word with them, manage staff and deal with any issues or concerns that arise during the day.
At the moment, we are potentially going to open up a new shop in King’s Cross, and there is quite a lot of planning going on around that: signing the legal contracts and getting the builders in to give us quotes for the work.
About three days a week, I disappear to go to the gym, I try to break up my day, and that would usually be early afternoon. Lunchtimes can get busy, because clients or local people might pop in during their lunch break to have a quick chat, so I always make sure I am around for that.
The days can vary. At the moment, because the tax deadlines are out of the way and it is a new tax year starting, we are very much in a planning stage for the year. There is a lull with work, so we tend to spend this time looking at projects and deciding over and above the normal work that we do, what projects we want to spend our spare time on, and what accounting projects we are going to push forward. There is quite a lot of planning at this stage.
19:15
I leave work at about 7:15pm. It is a long day, 8:30 to 7:15, but if you have a break in the afternoon, it makes a longer day shorter.”
Vince works in partnership across two shop front premises in central London with fellow franchisee Debbie Corbett. They joined TaxAssist Accountants individually but took the decision to combine forces in 2005. As well as shops in Holborn and Southwark they are also partners in Martin Thomas' Victoria franchise.
Vince and Debbie are outstanding franchisees who now have a fee bank of over £1 million pounds. They are the only current franchisees to win the TaxAssist Accountants 'Franchisee of the Year Award' twice, winning at the 2006 and 2013 Annual Conference Awards Ceremonies. Debbie and Vince have also been nominated for the BFA ‘Franchisee of the Year award’, in the Long-serving franchisee section and in 2013 won through as finalists.
Vince confirms that they are planning to open more shops in Central London “probably one this year and more next year and are looking for more accountants keen to grow their own accountancy practice to work with us within a business model which is tried and tested and has a proven track record.” says Vince.
Each franchisee operates in an exclusive territory, and there are still many territories and resale opportunities available across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. If you would like to find out more about the opportunities in Central London or further afield, please call us for an informal chat on 0800 0188297.
The next step would then be to attend a Discovery Day at the Support Centre in Norwich, where you will be provided with more details and will get to meet with one or more of the Directors of the franchise. You will also be provided with a full list of franchisees for you to speak with as part of the research process, as well as research guides and business plan templates.
June 2015
