Countplus’ Canberra-based investee, Beames and Associates Accounting and Financial Services (Beames), has acquired the accounting clients and operating assets of Deakin Alliance.
Deakin Alliance has fees of approximately $700,000, covering mainly tax and accounting compliance work, with 75 per cent representing small to medium enterprise clients.
The total cost of $550,898 was settled with $300,000 in cash, with the balance payable in two instalments over 12 months.
Deakin Alliance partner James Daniels will become a senior employee of Beames and will relocate to Beames’ nearby office, providing significant cost savings and client retention benefits. This, together with better utilisation of Beames’ existing infrastructure and professional staff, implies an earnings before interest and taxes acquisition multiple of 1.2.
The acquisition has also expanded Beames’ recurring compliance client base while enabling financial planning and other additional services to be offered to these clients by their accountants for the first time.
“We see significant upside from this tuck-in acquisition, as we can reduce the cost to serve whilst providing more timely compliance services as a lead into business consulting and financial planning opportunities,” said Beames’ founding principal, Peter Beames.
