New E-Course Describes Hidden Problems in Buying a Tax Preparation Franchise—and How to Avoid Them

Houston, TX—Accountants and tax preparers often dream of owning their own business and many think that buying a tax preparation franchise is the easiest way to achieve this goal. What they don’t realize is that preparing tax returns is just a small part of running a successful tax business.

That’s the opinion of Carolyn Weaver, a Texas CPA who developed and manages a website for online continuing professional education for accountants. She is also the author of a new e-course, “10 Things that Might Surprise You About Buying a Tax Preparation Franchise,” which presents an inside look at the nuts and bolts of managing a tax prep franchise.


Selecting a tax office location
The most difficult startup decision facing new franchisees, says Weaver, is where to open the first location. Most customers for a storefront tax prep business will come from a 5 to 10 mile radius, so the office should be in a high traffic area.

“You should also take a tip from the fast food industry, and locate near one or more of your competitors,” advises Weaver. “Fast food giants Burger King and Wendy’s took full advantage of the money spent by McDonalds on site research, by building their own stores next door and across the street. You should take advantage of research by H & R Block and Jackson Hewitt and locate near them.”

Some additional insights about buying a tax prep franchise from the e-course:

* Marketing effort will determine your bottom line. “Most of the CPAs and Enrolled Agents who purchase tax prep franchises concentrate on the technicalities of setting up the office and the tax software—but it is critical to focus on marketing to generate revenue,” says Weaver.

* Finding and training tax preparers is not difficult. One bright spot in the tax prep business is that it is not too difficult to find good tax preparers, if you offer low-cost tax training classes to the general public and hire people from the class. “After observing students during class and seeing how they interact with the teacher and the other students,” according to Weaver, “you can select individuals that appear to have strong customer service skills.”


“10 Things that Might Surprise You About Buying a Tax Preparation Franchise” is a free 10 day e-course. The course is based on interviews with a CPA who purchased and ran multiple tax preparation franchise locations. Visit http://www.funcpe.com/1/enroll_a.htm to sign up for the e-course; CPAs can receive one hour of free CPE credit for completing the course.

About online CPE provider FunCPE
FunCPE provides online continuing education courses to CPAs, EAs and accountants using free or low cost course materials. Visit http://www.funcpe.com for a current course listing.