Training for a competitive edge.

Teaching experienced accountants to run a business

Samantha Skyring has always enjoyed supporting businesses. As a certified chartered accountant at a top 35 U.K. accountancy firm, one of the best parts of her previous job involved working closely with her portfolio of clients. When she decided to move on from traditional accounting practices, she jumped at an opportunity to join TaxAssist Accountants and work with a different type of business: accountancy franchises.

TaxAssist Accountants operates the largest accountancy franchise in the U.K., with additional franchises in Ireland and Canada, alongside licensees in Australia and the U.S. Each franchise provides accounting, tax, and advisory services to local businesses. The result is an accounting experience where clients get expert advice from someone they trust in their community.

Skyring, now Head of Group Learning and Development at TaxAssist Accountants, traveled around the U.K. to visit franchisees and help them obtain the knowledge and skills needed to reach their goals and run a compliant accounting practice.

“Many franchisees are experienced accountants who have never run their own business,” explains Skyring. “TaxAssist Accountants provides essential systems and resources, but franchisees need training to understand how to use technology to grow their business.”

With more franchisees coming onboard, it was challenging to ensure that everyone had access to tailored training. TaxAssist Accountants began offering more virtual training courses on its intranet, but with no search function, people often asked the learning and development team for links to what they needed. Skyring decided that it was time to implement a learning management system (LMS) to deliver more structured and accessible virtual training.

“After looking across the market and meeting with many companies, we found that Adobe offered the best solution,” says Skyring. “Adobe Learning Manager allows us to meet the needs of all franchisees and deliver self-service training that helps them operate their business, keep up with changing regulations, and stay on top of their professional development.”

“It’s been a huge win for us to have a central location where people can search for learning.”

Samantha Skyring

Head of Group Learning and Development, TaxAssist Accountants

Finding the right training for everyone

More than 200 TaxAssist franchisees and 1,118 learners now take advantage of many types of training paths every month. New franchisees enroll in intensive training to learn how to run a business, while franchise employees participate in onboarding training to learn about software and systems.

Franchisees and their employees also benefit from the TaxAssist Training Academy, which includes more than 170 courses for ongoing training. As well as traditional face-to-face classrooms, courses range from self-paced lessons, pre-recorded courses, and simple documentation to live virtual classrooms. Employees can search for any training they need, whether they’re looking to learn something new or updating their current skillset.

“It’s been a huge win for us to have a central location where people can search for learning,” says Skyring. “We spend less time searching for relevant courses for people, and everyone gets the knowledge they need, when they need it. Now that we have a reliable platform, we’re investing in more virtual learning, which frees up a month of my time per year — time that I can use to develop more courses. Since implementation, we have increased the volume of available courses by 28% and improved attendance by 58%.”

Tracking training accomplishments

Learners use intuitive dashboards to easily find training and track past lessons. This is particularly helpful as TaxAssist Accountants provides access to continuing professional development (CPD) through the LMS. Most accountants are members of a professional body that require completion of CPD qualifying courses every year. TaxAssist Accountants works with third-party providers to deliver more than 80 hours of CPD each year. Learners can easily track training hours and submit it to their professional body when required.

“The Adobe LMS is perfect for professional development,” says Skyring. “It connects easily with third-party courses and supports billing, as some training requires small additional fees that we charge to franchises. It also saves us hours that we used to spend helping people track training hours.”

Skyring adds, “Not many accounting companies offer our level of training and development. It helps us attract and retain highly skilled franchisee staff and better serve their clients.”

Expanding franchisee support

As the TaxAssist Accountants network grows, effective training will give franchisees a competitive edge by building the brand name and giving owners the resources to succeed. Skyring plans to continue offering more training by teaming up with additional third-party providers and specialists. She’s also rolling out features such as badges and certificates to motivate people along their learning journeys.

“A big part of my job is staying ahead of the game,” says Skyring. “Whether we talk about legislation changes or hiring trends, I want to give people the training that they need. Working with Learning Manager, we can roll out more training to support our franchises, their employees, and the customers in their communities.”

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