At Draper Hinks we facilitate the buying and selling of accountancy practices. We do not deal in any other type of business. We will deal with the buying and selling of tranches of fees, parts of practices and whole practices.
Some general business brokers will get involved in the buying and selling of accountancy fees, but they are not specialists. Did you know that some brokers will charge their brokerage fee to both the buyer and seller? Is that double charging, I don’t know? Not all brokers offer the same level of service and as a vendor you need to be careful about what it is the broker you choose actually will offer you in the way of a service.
May I suggest that any vendor, considering selling some or all of their fees, uses the following checklist so that you can compare like for like between the brokers that sell accountancy practices:-
- How many buyers do you have on your database?
- How many deals did you do last year?
- Do you prepare a report for the vendor, how long is it and what does it cover?
- How do you check buyers for compatibility?
- Do you book the meetings for the vendor with the buyers?
- Do you organise a meeting day so the vendor can meet more than one buyer?
- What preparation do you give the vendor prior to meeting the buyer/s?
- Do you follow up the first meeting with both vendor and buyer asking for feedback from both parties?
- Do you arrange second meetings?
- Do you follow up any second meetings making sure all is ok between both the vendor and the buyer?
- Do you review all offers before the vendor sees any offers, making sure the offer cover all aspects of what the vendor is looking for?
- Do you arrange the Due Diligence meeting?
- Do you follow up the Due Diligence meeting asking for feedback from both the vendor and the buyer?
- Do you monitor the process right through to completion?
At Draper Hinks we charge the buyer our brokerage fee which is 5% of the fees transferred on completion of the deal. This is the average fee a broker will charge. Draper Hinks will cover all the points in the list shown above (and more). If you are thinking of selling your accountancy fees, please use a broker that will give you a fully comprehensive service and not just the name and number of a buyer and tell you get on with it. You have one opportunity to sell your accountancy fees and it is really important that you get it right.
Please remember if you are thinking of selling your accountancy fees, then contact me, Nicola Draper on 01788 816440 or email me at n.draper@draperhinks.co.uk. Let’s have a chat and see how we can help you to get what you want. You are more than welcome to come and meet with me in our office in Rugby.
Remember everything discussed will be kept in the strictest of confidence.