The Advantages of Franchising

As Terry McDonnell explains, running a franchise lets you be your own boss while making money based on a proven and viable business. Terry has been a franchisee for the past five years, with Subway restaurants at Chartwell Square and Rototuna in Hamilton.

"Franchising means you never have to go it alone. You are surrounded by a team of other tried-and-true business owners who can offer you support," Terry says.

He chose Subway because it's a popular brand synonymous with healthy fast food. In New Zealand alone there are 202 outlets, and worldwide there are close to 30,000 restaurants in 86 countries.

Let Down by MYOB

Being an ex-accountant makes Terry highly informed, but also more discriminating when it comes to doing the books and choosing which software to use.

Terry used to run his accounting on NZA Gold, which was bought out by MYOB.

"I was running three companies and each had about 20 employees. With MYOB I was just wasting a lot of time coding every single transaction. It was a real pain and a chore for me to do my accounts every month."

"The priority for me, and it must be the same for every other franchisee, is to minimise transaction processing time. After that, there are the reporting functions."

Switching to Xero Was Easy

"When I found Xero it was exactly what I was looking for. It was really easy to switch all my accounts over and I was up and running in no time.

"My accounting is now much easier. As a franchisee, I'm always on the lookout for new stores, so it's nice to know that my accounting is always up-to-date and straight forward."

He also finds less risk and less work involved in running Xero because it's securely hosted online and it's backed up automatically.

"With Xero I can access my accounts securely any time I need them, even while I'm overseas."

Adding It All Up

Terry says having the bank reconciliation automatically code transactions is a huge benefit, resulting in major time savings.

"Xero codes it and I just hit it 'OK' – it’s so easy."

He also finds the flexibility of reporting in Xero ideal for handling idiosyncratic situations that are common with his business.

"Xero allows me to specify various dates in the reporting. For example, at Subway our accounts run from every Tuesday so it’s a different date for the reporting period every month. MYOB forced me to use calendar months so I used to have to manually change the dates of some transactions to fit in with our month-end dates."

Working as a franchisee using Xero also makes the franchisor happy.

For Terry, franchisee and former accountant, Xero has clearly been better for business.

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