Practice round-up: TC Group, Tax Assist, HW Fisher and Touch Financial

TC Group merges with Leigh Saxton Green

TC Group, which has offices throughout England, has expanded its London operations by merging with Mayfair based Leigh Saxton Green.

TC Group’s managing partner, Richard Keyes said: “Leigh Saxton Green has a well-established reputation across London and further afield. This merger provides a major boost to our London operation and our ability to service clients right across the Capital.  It reflects perfectly our strategy of seeking like-minded firms with whom to merge and grow.”

David Leigh, managing partner at Leigh Saxton Green was also optimistic with the merger saying: “Our merger with TC enables us both to drive our business forward and offer many more services. TC shares our values and exceeded expectations when it came to looking for a merger partner. It was important to us that any partner could continue our tradition for excellent service, application of skills and knowledge, while at the same time maintaining an environment that our clients and associates want to be part of.”

TC Group offers a range of accounting and tax services along with legal advice to both businesses and the public. It recently became the first UK accountancy firm to offer a full range of investment, mortgage, legal and HR advice.

Double digit growth for Tax Assist

Tax Assist Accountants has reported strong overall growth and continued success in all their KPIs for the last year.

Tax Assist had a year-on-year growth of 13%, receiving over of £50 million in fees. It also reported a network client growth of 7%, fee bank growth of 8% and sales growth of 9%.

In addition, the business added two new partners and 23 new franchisees, bringing the total to 226 franchises in the UK.

Group Chief Executive Director of TaxAssist Accountants, Karl Sandall stated: “2019 has been a solid year in which TaxAssist has continued to perform well despite the disruption in the profession, but I strongly believe that being part of TaxAssist gives franchisees a massive head start offering an indispensable service to the future of the small businesses around the UK.”

Tax Assist is also growing in its Australian and Irish markets, while also eyeing to expand into the United States and Canada. Sandall said: “This year, we met with parties interested in developing TaxAssist in Canada and the USA. Both countries offer massive opportunities for the TaxAssist brand and we are at a very exciting stage in our negotiations for both countries.”

HW Fisher partners with Funding Xchange to expand SME services

HW Fisher have announced a partnership with Funding Xchange, a marketplace that connects small businesses with funding options from over 45 financial providers.

HW Fisher also works with SMEs across a variety of sectors and this partnership means that their clients will now have access to Funding Xchange’s platform.

HW Fisher partner, Gary Miller said: “We know first-hand from our small businesses clients that they often face very challenging circumstances to secure funding. Platforms such as Funding Xchange have gone a long way in supporting them, offering a wide range of options that allows them to get to the next stage of development,”

“Ultimately, having access to the platform will help our clients identify strategies to operate more profitably, grow organically, acquire other businesses, raise fresh capital and prepare for exit”, he added.

Funding Xchange’s clients will also be given access to HW Fisher’s expert tax advice.

Miller believes Funding Xchange’s services will make it easier for SMEs to access funding compared with traditional banks.

He said “the major issue we have for clients is that when you go down the traditional bank funding route its one particular step at a time. You go to your bank and if that doesn’t work, you’ll go to somewhere else where we’ll introduce a third or fourth place, but you can’t hit the ground running and go out to the market as a whole. [Funding Xchange’s] software allows you to do that.”

Just Accountants joins Touch Financial

Just Accountants, an accountancy-finding service that introduces small businesses to accountancy firms has joined with parent company Touch Financial.

Just Accountants in the last year has recommended more than 100 accountancy firms to over 1,400 prospective clients.

Touch Financial’s COO, Annabel Ah-Lim said: “We’re really excited that the two parts of the business will now be working more closely together to give a better service to our business customers. The synergy between the two services is clear – both offer business owners the chance to make informed decisions concerning their finances. Not everything in business is easy at the moment, but at least when it comes to finding the right accountant or the finance your business deserves, Touch can put you back in control. Of course, the other key similarity is that both services are completely free to our business customers.”