Matthew Tyerman joined the network in 2020 after purchasing a TaxAssist Accountants practice in Hove. As a qualified financial planner, he also played a major role in the design and build of the financial planning offering provided by TaxAssist.
"My career began in a small firm of accountants in 1994 where I studied ATT and after 8 years working in Accountancy/Tax, I moved into Wealth Management with Brewin Dolphin, took some stockbroking exams and then qualified as a financial planner with St James’s Place. At SJP I had to get my own clients fast and this was a challenge especially since I was starting from scratch.
"Building on my prior accountancy experience, my suspicion was that accountancy practices would contain a huge untapped base of financial planning clients, enabling me to gain access to clients but also offer clients a fully rounded service - something that they don’t normally get from a small accountancy practice.
"During my search for a suitable accountancy business, I came across TaxAssist and met with the TaxAssist Group Directors. It quickly became apparent that they had also recognised the need for a TaxAssist financial planning offering. Something tailored to meet business owners' needs that would be open to all TaxAssist clients and, in turn, would benefit franchisees.
"Within a few months, an opportunity arose as the TaxAssist Hove franchise became available. I took this chance and took the business over on 6th April 2020 – right at the start of lockdown! However, the added benefit, was that it gave me the opportunity to prove the concept of combined accounting and financial planning services.
"I now employ a full-time manager/partner to run my TaxAssist Accountants franchise in Hove. My practice has grown well and we have almost doubled the fee bank since April 2020. Part of this success is down to correcting and raising fees. When I started, many of the fees hadn’t been reviewed for 10 years, yet costs for the business had naturally risen over that time period. After much analysis and competitor research in the local area, I raised the fees by 30% on average without loss of clients. I’ve set my team a target of £500k turnover by year 5 and £1M by year 10. I was going to caveat that with the words ‘might be a tall order’ but I actually think it’s highly possible.
"We are also practicing what I preach and trying everything out from a financial services perspective and we've put a digital screen in the shop window and run a mix of accountancy and financial services adverts in my local area. I truly believe franchisees can expect to increase profits dramatically over a period of time as ongoing advice fees compound. Not that I’m thinking of selling in the next 5 years, but that recurring income stream should add significantly to franchise resale value based on standard Independent Financial Adviser fee bank multiples."
