Tax Assist Accountants

censuspro

Has anyone had any experience or dealings with Tax Assist, they've just launched their franchise over here?

poolfc

Hi Ya

I don't know to much about them apart from whats on their website but I came across this on another site.

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=134421

Also I know someone who was looking to pursue it but pulled away for a couple of reasons

1. 40K plus vat was allot of money to hand out for a brand that is not established yet in Ireland ( no doubt be it will in the future)
2. You don't need to be a qualified accountant to take out a franchise
3.You have to have a shop front with in three years


He decided against it because he felt that if he took out the franchise he would probably have to work just as hard to get the franchise up and running as if he was to set up on his own

Chevy RV

censuspro wrote: »

Has anyone had any experience or dealings with Tax Assist, they've just launched their franchise over here?

That is NOT the case. A firm in Dublin has the Irish Master franchise for probably well over a year but are finding it hard to establish for a few reasons:-

As previous speaker said 40K plus VAT for the Franchise up front 9% of Fee Income up to 150k p/a & 6% thereafter The MYOB software they use is not that popular here and you are tied into it as the UK Masterfranchiser dictates so. Established players who have a turnover are only exempt on their EXISTING turnover for 2 years after they join - then they have to pay the 9% or 6% fee on that turnover they already had when they joined up until the renewal of the franchise is up after 5 years - hence no established player will join. They are inflexible when it comes to trying to establish the brand here.

I do however think it is a brilliant concept and will definitely be rolled out here but not by the existing crew i reckon. I have researched this area fairly well and you could PM to get my number and I will discuss it further with you.


Regards,


Chevy RV

Kingkong

Personnel I am a bit unnerved if a non qualified accountant can become a franchisee.

Chevy RV

Kingkong wrote: »

Personnel I am a bit unnerved if a non qualified accountant can become a franchisee.

Hello There,

That is why they ahve the ongoing technical support of a large practice as well as rhe initial training on preparing accounts as part of the franchise deal. They are also hoping to get people that are in a "related" area if not qualified e.g. bookkeepers.


Regards,


Chevy RV

dbran

Chevy RV wrote: »

Hello There,

That is why they ahve the ongoing technical support of a large practice as well as rhe initial training on preparing accounts as part of the franchise deal. They are also hoping to get people that are in a "related" area if not qualified e.g. bookkeepers.


Regards,


Chevy RV

Makes me even more unnerved now...

When the hell are they going to do something about unqualified accountants passing themselves off as qualified accountants???? If the name of architects can get to be protected by legislation why can accountants not be so protected?

This is an accident waiting to happen.

Regards

dbran

djk1000

dbran wrote: »

Makes me even more unnerved now...

When the hell are they going to do something about unqualified accountants passing themselves off as qualified accountants???? If the name of architects can get to be protected by legislation why can accountants not be so protected?

This is an accident waiting to happen.

Regards

dbran

Seems like a UK thing, a grey area between qualified and unqualified, an accounting technician in Ireland wouldn't call themselves an accountant, if they did, they'd be in trouble with their professional body. In the UK however, the Association of Accounting Technicians, which seems to be the largest technician body, writes about setting up your own "accountancy practice". People in the UK also seem to accept QBE (qualified by experience) more so than here.
I don't see the point in a qualified accountant taking a franchise and I agree with you, this is dangerous, I'm working my ass off right now for exams next week, I've been studying hard for a while now and I've more exams to do in June, the level of knowledge and skill involved in qualifying can't be crammed into a nice neat franchise training course. The sooner the title "accountant" is protected the better. It's been done for "Registered Auditor" and recently it's been done for "Architect".

Sorry, that turned into a bit of a rant!

J.Ryan

The term Accountant is protected in the UK, the AAT is one of the bodies authorised to present accounts to Companies House (English CRO). Because of the increase in the use of the audit exemption many companies do not require an audit, so AAT's are entitled to practice once they comply with all the requirements of their body.


I do agree that the term accountant should be protected, it is a specialist area and cowboys damage the reputation of us all.

censuspro

Alot of people don't realise that the Big 4 firms are all franchisies...

J.Ryan

censuspro wrote: »

Alot of people don't realise that the Big 4 firms are all franchisies...

Big 4, a lot of the mid tier are franchise with the original firm name left at the end

Kingkong

There partnerships NOT franchisees, there is a difference. Plus all the member firms have qualified accountants and must meet strict quality standards, these lot seem to be selling accountancy McDonalds style!

censuspro

Kingkong wrote: »

There partnerships NOT franchisees, there is a difference.

Tell us what the difference is?

hinault

Kingkong wrote: »

There partnerships NOT franchisees, there is a difference. Plus all the member firms have qualified accountants and must meet strict quality standards, these lot seem to be selling accountancy McDonalds style!

Ernst & Young did a great job auditing Anglo Irish, eh?

Tell me. how did E&Y miss each of those intra-bank loans used to hide €87m, for each year from 2000 to 2008?

"This balance is substantially higher than in the 2007 report because in prior years I had temporarily transferred my loans to another bank before each year end. I had done this on my own initiative over an eight-year period," said Sean Fitzpatrick as resigned from Anglo Irish.

Bank reconciliation statements for each year would have shown the transfer - how come E&Y "missed" all 8 transfers?
And tell me, why weren't the accounts approved to show "a true and fair view" of the financial statements of the company?

hinault

censuspro wrote: »

Tell us what the difference is?

There is no difference in reality.

E&Y, PWC, KPMG, have all been shown to have been lacking as regards their audit processes. and porbity.
Throw enough money at them - and they'll say black is white.

Arthur Anderson - now extinct - actually helped ENRON to commit it's fraud!

Misinformation

There is a whole lot of misinformation on here!

TaxAssist offer a franchise to people who want to build a succesful business. All franchisees must either be qualified or appoint qualified / experienced personnel.

I run a UK franchise, am very profitable, the business model does exactly what it says on the tin and I'm miles ahead of where I would have been outside the franchise.

In the UK there are close to 100 shops and 175 offices, the brand is still getting established. The fact that the brand is young in Ireland is irrelevant.

J.Ryan

Misinformation wrote: »

.....TaxAssist offer a franchise to people who want to build a succesful business. All franchisees must either be qualified or appoint qualified / experienced personnel.......

I read that as qualified or experienced, not both. I wonder what the PII cover requirement will be?

Misinformation

J Ryan - perhaps the Ireland requirement differs to the UK, certainly in the UK we have a mix of accountants qualified and qualified by experience, plus a few who employ qualified staff. All must do Cpd provided by Bpp.

One other thing, is the software comment right? We use whatever works for the client - sage, kashflow, QBs etc. I can'T see why or how anything else could be prescribed.

J.Ryan

Misinformation wrote: »

J Ryan - perhaps the Ireland requirement differs to the UK, certainly in the UK we have a mix of accountants qualified and qualified by experience, plus a few who employ qualified staff. All must do Cpd provided by Bpp.

I wasn't commenting on your firm individually, but could you tell me what level of PII cover is required for franchisee's.

If your business model works for you and is compliant with the law and all relevant professional standards then fair play.

Misinformation wrote: »

One other thing, is the software comment right? We use whatever works for the client - sage, kashflow, QBs etc. I can'T see why or how anything else could be prescribed.

Software comment? I missed that, could you refresh my memory please?

J.Ryan

I found the software comment, I can't comment on that

Chevy RV

these lot seem to be selling accountancy McDonalds style!


There's nothing wrong with that. Don't forget that 80% odd of businesses are SME's that only need VAT3 & P30's done throughout the year and then their year end accounts completed and submitted efficiently with the appropriate tax returns done.

If most small practices were able to do their work as efficiently and to such a high standard as McDonalds' do theirs, then what is the problem with these franchises?

Is it because you passed a few exams - most of which you will never use in the real world- that you feel that accountants should be protected?


Don't be under any illusion other than most restricted practices like acountants ( or the church ) are bad news. Their days of domiance are numbered. What's wrong with a bit of healthy competition from franchisees like these guys provided that the work they are turning out is of a good standard ?


Chevy RV

Misinformation

Ref J Ryan and PII

Can't really comment as I'm not familiar with Irish requirements of the master franchisor. In the UK of course all franchisees hold PII, with minimums consistent with those the UK Institutes are happy with.

censuspro

Funny how one of the previous posters mentioned that Big 4 was a partnership and not a franchise. It reminds of someone (Big 4 employee) I spoke to who was shocked to discover that Big 4 firms were franchises. He thought that they were indigenous Irish companies. The same poster used the McDonald's as an example as if to look down their nose at it. If I thought the Tax Assist Franchise would be as successful as McDonald's I would buy it tomorrow.

Whether it's Big4, Tax Assist or McDonald's. They all have a proven business model and that is what you pay for.

djk1000

My concern about this is that there is no one with a vested interest in maintaining standards apart from the franchisor. What if a client wants to leave? is there any guarantee of continuity? Will the franchise operate a client account? An accountant is subject to audit and inspection at anytime by his/her professional body, if you are censured or removed from membership from one, you're probably not going to get into another. An unqualified accountant can just close the doors and start up again down the road.

Most clients can get through most of their lives using an unqualified accountant to handle bog standard tax calculations and accounts etc, but what if something major happens? A once in a lifetime thing like the sale of a business, or negotiating a tax settlement, a franchise won't be setup to deal with that effectively, so the client will probably have to go to a qualified accountant with whom they have no professional relationship and take a chance.

I'm not saying that qualified accountants are all fantastic, I'm saying that there is backup if something happens and peace of mind knowing that should something unexpected come along, you'll get good advice.

Now, if the franchise is fronted by, or staffed by qualified accountants or technicians, then I don't have a problem.

MartMax

Franchise or no franchise, general rule - Anybody can provide accounting and bookkeeping as long as those are non-assurance services.

Only those who are qualified accountants with practicing certificate can provide assurance related assurance i.e. auditing, statutory reporting, etc.

Btw, incorporated entities i.e. Irish limited companies cannot provide assurance services. So those in practice, assurance services are provided as individual (sole practice) or partnership.

Misinformation

In the UK, assurance services such as audit are provided by qualified accountants. There is no such requirement for non-assurance statutory reporting engagements (such as compilation, preparation and filing of small company year end accounts) to be performed by a qualifed accountant with or without a practicing certificate. This allows unqualified directors of smallco's to prepare and file their own accounts if so desired.

Of course, if those smallco accounts are prepared and filed by a qualified acct in the UK, then that acct would need to have a practicing certificate.

Its interesting if Martmax's comments are correct - Irish law effectively prohibits directors preparing their own accounts unless qualified?

MartMax

Misinformation wrote: »

Its interesting if Martmax's comments are correct - Irish law effectively prohibits directors preparing their own accounts unless qualified?

Maybe I worded it wrongly but i didn't mean to imply that. What I was simply saying that only qualified accountants may sign audit report and reporting accountants report.

TaxAssist

I have read with interest the posts regarding TaxAssist Accountants and would like to highlight some key points regarding our Franchise:

Unqualified accountants must employ suitably qualified staff within their practice. We train people to be the principles of an accountancy practice, we do not claim to train someone as an accountant this would be wrong and an insult to qulaified accountants who have spent years learning their craft.

All franchisees have direct access to our highly experienced and qualified helpdesk.

All franchisees have a minimum CPD requirement of 21 units per annum.

All franchisees receive technical visits / audits from our own qualified team to ensure service standards and compliance are maintained.

All franchisees also receive visits from our Marketing and Business Development team to further support them in business growth.

Ongoing training, annual conferences, regional meetings and best practice forums are held throughout the year.

We are members of the Irish Franchise Association and adhere to their code of ethics.

To read more about us you can visit our client website at www.taxassist.ie or our franchise site at www.taxassist.net or if you would like to discuss our franchise and the marketing that sets us apart you are welcome to call me on 1890 876 887.

Kind regards

Greg Murphy

Kingkong

TaxAssist have you approached and got any support from the various professional bodies such as: ICAI, ACA, CIMA, CARB, AITI.

To what extent is TaxAssist, from what I gather a UK Franchise mainly, able to provide expert knowledge on Irish accountancy regulation, Irish taxation and Irish company law?

Would TaxAssist claim their expertise is of similar quality from that of the above mentioned Irish professional bodies.

Kingkong

censuspro wrote: »

Funny how one of the previous posters mentioned that Big 4 was a partnership and not a franchise. It reminds of someone (Big 4 employee) I spoke to who was shocked to discover that Big 4 firms were franchises. He thought that they were indigenous Irish companies. The same poster used the McDonald's as an example as if to look down their nose at it. If I thought the Tax Assist Franchise would be as successful as McDonald's I would buy it tomorrow.

Whether it's Big4, Tax Assist or McDonald's. They all have a proven business model and that is what you pay for.

censuspro, first of all I am not advocate for the Big 4.

The point I made earlier was those 4 firms operate by way of partnership in Ireland (except E&Y there part of the UK firm). Globally there legal structures could be consider franchisee like they operate day to day very much so as a large partnership. The key reason for this is to facilitate the needs of the multi-nationals which want to be able to have one firm audit all there companies in several countries for group reporting.

Franchises typical have an area which they work in and don't deal with other Franchisee's only with HQ. The Big4 are more integrated with one another to be classed as a franchise. At least with the Big4 model every country see's to some extent how each other works. This peer to peer relationship naturally builds up internal quality as each has their own vested interests i.e. no country wants to be caught out.

With TaxAssist who monitors HQ are doing there job, there interests are in growing the brand and number of Franchisees. djk1000 post touches on this. I also draw your attention to an extract from their website.

Client Complaints

We hope that you will be fully satisfied with the services you receive from your TaxAssist Accountant. However, if you have a complaint regarding one of our TaxAssist Accountants you will need to contact them direct as all of our TaxAssist Accountants are self-employed individuals.

Each TaxAssist Accountant is licensed to use the intellectual property of TaxAssist Accountants and operates as a sole trader in their own right. They are also required to carry their own professional indemnity insurance which is a requirement of being a member of our network and all TaxAssist Accountants are comprehensively trained by us before they commence trading, with continual professional development.

Whilst staff at the Support Centre are happy to listen to any comments you may have regarding your TaxAssist Accountant, we do not have access to, or authorisation over, any individual client records, accounts or monies that are held by a TaxAssist Accountant. You must therefore pursue any grievance you may have with the accountant concerned.

censuspro

I think you're missing the point. If you would rather call it a partnership than a franchise, so be it. Ultimately the concept is the same, you buy a brand and business model that is proven to work.

Kingkong wrote: »

Franchises typical have an area which they work in and don't deal with other Franchisee's only with HQ. The Big4 are more integrated with one another to be classed as a franchise. At least with the Big4 model every country see's to some extent how each other works. This peer to peer relationship naturally builds up internal quality as each has their own vested interests i.e. no country wants to be caught out.

That’s exactly how a franchise operates the only difference in this scenario is the size of the market.

Kingkong wrote: »

With TaxAssist who monitors HQ are doing there job, there interests are in growing the brand and number of Franchisees. djk1000 post touches on this. I also draw your attention to an extract from their website.

“Who regulates the regulators and who regulates the regulators of those regulators”? Big 4 firms all over the world are up to their neck in litigation cases, where was their regulation?

Regarding the comment about the extract from their website: The partners in Big 4 firms are also sole traders. No difference.

Chevy RV

censuspro wrote: »

Whether it's Big4, Tax Assist or McDonald's. They all have a proven business model and that is what you pay for.

My sentiments entirely.;)


Chevy RV

JD Dublin

I see Tax Assist have teamed up with Only Audit who 'only audit' - this lot ( Only Audit ) are based at the same address as Tax Assist in Fairview. Any experience with them? Are they cheaper than the competition?