The ASX-listed business is 12 months into “completely changing” its business model, from one that wholly owns firms within its network to one that takes a minority stake.
At the moment, the business is in the process of selling down equity in firms where it has a majority stake.
Countplus chief executive Matthew Rowe said the business has significant interest in firms with an SMSF service line, given the market demand for financial planning and retirement-centric services.
“I can see a time where, for every $100 a firm brings in, $60 of that will be from accounting and $40 of that will be from financial planning and SMSF services. We see it as a growth area,” Mr Rowe told SMSF Adviser.
Mr Rowe sees “huge” unmet needs for advice — particularly related to tax, superannuation and financial planning — in the small business people market.
Countplus recently hired the ex-chief executive of the Bentleys accounting network, Mark Chapman, as chief operations officer. He is behind much of the face-to-face network relations, including training and development.
“He is currently meeting with the managing principals of every one of our firms to do a deep dive into their key priorities,” Mr Rowe said.
Countplus currently has 17 firms in its network across Australia.
katarina.taurian@momentummedia.com.au
Nothing like vertical integration in the accounting sector. It’s been well known that accountants only recommend SMSFs to their clients to increase their fee base. Nice to see that this has been acknowledged by the largest provider of financial services licensing to accounting practices.