After spending 12 years building and running home care franchises with his wife, ACA-qualified Hugo Mills was ready for a new challenge. In October 2025, he joined the TaxAssist Accountants network by purchasing an established franchise in Newbury and Theale, bringing 25 years of experience advising and running small businesses to his new venture.
In his first year, Hugo has focused on ensuring a smooth transition for the existing team, modernising systems and developing the practice for future growth. Here, he shares why he chose TaxAssist, how the network’s support has helped him settle into his new role, and his ambitions for building a successful practice in a rapidly evolving accountancy landscape.
Can you tell us about your professional background and what you were doing before joining TaxAssist Accountants?
Most recently, my wife and I had spent 12 years building from scratch and running Home Care franchises along the South Coast. In early 2025 we decided to sell.
What made you decide to run your own practice, and why did you choose TaxAssist Accountants rather than going it alone?
After a couple of months off and being bored, I started to look around for something else to do as a trained ACA and having spent 25 years running and advising small companies, I was interested to see if I could use this experience.
What were your biggest concerns before joining, and how did the experience compare with your expectations?
Having bought businesses before, I was concerned how the team might take the transition but I have been lucky to have a great team who have got behind the changes.
What does a typical day look like for you as a TaxAssist Accountant franchisee?
I bought an existing franchise which has been going over 20 years and so the 1st year has been very much about trying to achieve an orderly transition whilst upgrading the systems and expanding the team.
How would you describe demand for your services in your local area, and what has helped you attract new clients?
Our proposition is clear we are delivering analogue to digital – i.e. there are a number of our customers are very paper driven and need someone to help them with their accounting and tax needs. Word of mouth and referrals are a key part of our new business leads.
How has having a shop impacted your visibility and business growth?
I was lucky to inherit a good shop on one of Newbury’s main roads with a drop in zone in front. I would say c.50% of our leads come from the shop presence.
Which aspects of the TaxAssist support have made the biggest difference to your business?
I use the Technical Support team a lot but at the same time am benefitting pretty much from all the teams at Norwich (be it training, IT and Marketing).
How has your business grown since joining?
I am only 1 year in so it is very early days and a significant proportion of our business is tax returns so we will see where the numbers end up at the end of January 2027 but our fee bank looks like it is up double digits over 12 months.
What are your ambitions for your practice over the next five years?
We are clearly operating in a rapidly changing world with AI and a key thing for me is to manage this transition in terms of clients and staff. As a practice, I would like to hope we can continue to build our reputation and services (particularly focused on more strategic advice). If we achieve this then hopefully we will see solid growth be materially larger in 3 years.
What would you say to someone considering joining the TaxAssist Accountants network
It is a great network to be part of. Having run franchises, we understand the importance of a good network of owners as well as supportive franchisor and TaxAssist has both! However, be prepared for the hard work!
