A Day in the Life: What It Takes to Run Your Own Accounting Franchise

Alice Tuffery, writer

Published at 03/07/2019, Updated on 04/05/2022 , Reading time: 5 min

A Day in the Life: What It Takes to Run Your Own Accounting Franchise — Photo © best-accounts-companies.jpg

The accounting sector offers great benefits to entrepreneurs; you can earn a good income while helping other businesses maximise their profit margins. But what are the tasks involved in running an accounting franchise?

In the UK, the accounting and auditing sector is worth a total of £6 billion (IBISWorld). In fact, the top four accounting firms in Britain, PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG, made a combined income of just under £13 billion in the last financial year (Accountancy Age). This is a sector dealing with vast numbers and employing hundreds of thousands of people across the UK.

Taking advantage of access to expert guidance and the potential for high returns, it’s hardly surprising many savvy entrepreneurs decide to launch an accounting franchise. But what exactly can you expect when you’re up and running?

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A day in the accounting sector

Accounting relates to the organisation and creation of financial statements detailing the income and expenditure of a company or individual over a defined period. Businesses in the sector cover a number of different tasks, including:

Auditing - Evaluating a business’s financial performance and practices in an in-depth report.
Bookkeeping - Monitoring a business’s financial transactions, including incomings, outgoings, liabilities and share values.
Management - Gathering information, creating visual tables and charts, and advising business owners on how they can boost profit margins moving forward.
Tax services - Completing a variety of tasks to do with reducing and paying tax bills.
Forensic services - Investigating a business’s financial activity to uncover fraudulent practices or to solve other issues, such as those involving divorce settlements.

Some businesses also offer ‘full-service’, covering a range of different tasks to help businesses take control of their financial activity.

If you’re running your own accounting franchise business, it’s likely you’ll be operating as an ‘accountant in practice’, as opposed to ‘industry’. You’ll provide a number of services to a wide variety of companies outsourcing their financial management needs, rather than working closely with a single business.

As an accountant in practice, you can expect to be involved in any of the following tasks:

Completing business audits and providing financial advice
Carrying out accounting tasks, such as tax returns
Creating and maintaining records
Attending meetings with clients
Answering client emails and making sure you respond to queries in good time
Helping companies manage transactions, including mergers, acquisitions and insolvency
Running tests to check systems and data
Identifying cases of fraud
Maintaining up-to-date knowledge of the latest industry legislation, trends and practices
Training and managing employees and interns

Advantages of joining the accounting sector

You can work from home - Many entrepreneurs are now launching businesses they can manage without renting an office. The accounting sector lends itself well to remote work; take a look at our article: Sector Spotlight: How To Run An Accounting Franchise From Home.
The industry is thriving - Businesses will probably always need accounting franchises to help them stay on track.
High earning potential - Accountants offer a valuable service and can charge high prices for the work they do.
Logical work - Many people enjoy the logical nature of accounting work. Usually, accountants can keep working at a problem until they find the right answer.
Rewarding tasks - Being able to help businesses succeed is one of the best aspects of running an accounting franchise, and it makes for high levels of job satisfaction.

Challenges of joining the accounting sector

Gaining qualifications - You won’t attract many clients without having some qualifications to your name. Working towards certification with one of the three main accounting institutions (CIMA, ICAEW and ACCA) should be your first step in starting a business in the financial services industry.
Competition - The accountancy sector can be competitive, so businesses must be able to find ways to go above and beyond the service offered by their rivals. These days, it takes two seconds to leave a negative review on the internet and damage an accounting franchise’s reputation forever, so gaining an edge over your competitors is vital.
Automation - New technologies can have fantastic implications for the financial services industry, but the challenge is knowing how to implement them effectively. Experts suggest many tasks completed by junior accountants will be automated in five years’ time, so business owners must start thinking about how they will take advantage of new tools.

Become a franchisee in the financial services industry

Many accounting businesses are on the lookout for new franchisees to help expand their coverage of the UK. Here’s just one example:

Certax

Certax Accounting specialises in providing high-quality services to individuals and small businesses in the UK. Franchisees have the option of working from home or opening an office and can sign up to a variety of different franchise packages.

Becoming a Certax Accounting franchisee:

While you don’t need to be a fully qualified accountant to start your own Certax Accounting franchise unit, you should have some industry-specific skills. You should also be driven, committed to working under an established brand and passionate about making your business a success.

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How much you need to invest:

Certax Accounting offers investors a choice of three different franchise packages:

The Qualified Accountants Package (£9,750)
The Bookkeeping Package (£9,995)
The Full Accountants Package (£19,750)

What you get for your investment:

In return for your investment, you’ll be given the right to trade under the Certax Accounting franchise brand and use its trademarks according to the franchise agreement guidelines. You’ll also be given access to the business’s training courses run by experienced chartered accountants who understand what you need to know if you’re to succeed in the finance industry.

The training period varies depending on your franchise package, but when you’re qualified, the leadership team will make sure you have at least 15 local business leads to pursue. So, you’re guaranteed to get off to a strong start. You’ll also get access to the latest industry news, and high-quality IT support.

Find out more

We have a selection of thriving accounting franchise opportunities for you to browse. Alternatively, take a look at your options across the entire finance industry.