My name is Kate Groom. I’m a co-founder of Franchise Accounting & Tax and The Franchise Accountants Network. My professional background is in franchise leadership, professional service, and financial management. I’m based in Sydney, grew up in England, and have also lived and worked in Hong Kong and Seattle.
I’m currently available for board appointments
Leave things a little better.
Business Adviser.
Franchise Specialist.
Interested in communication, financial literacy & business ethics.
… And when not working you may find me reading or practicing guitar in the hope of becomming ‘better than a beginner’. On the bucket list stuff, I’ve done sky-diving a couple of times and completed the Sydney marathon.
After graduating with an honours degree in economics, Kate spent several years working for a top 4 accounting firm in the UK and later a mid-tier insolvency practice in London. This was followed by a time in Hong Kong where she was a General Manager for a leading corporate services firm.
On moving to Australia in the late 1990’s Kate joined the head office team at Kwik Kopy Australia and later ran its sister franchise, Signwave Australia. This time provided Kate with depth of experience dealing with practical frachising issues, business strategy, Franchise Code Compliance, franchising disputes,and board reporting.
After a time spent in Seattle where she worked in franchise benchmarking and education, Kate returned to Australia in 2009. For several years she developed and ran workshops for franchises and financial professionals. Eventually, this path led Kate to become co-founder of Franchise Accounting & Tax and The Franchise Accountants Network.
“Business owners are interested in financial outcomes. They want to know how their business is going, whether there are potential problems ahead (an if so, how to handle them). In good times and tough times they want a professional sounding board. As an adviser to small business owners, I want to uncover their questions and concerns and help them get expert, reliable answers. I believe those answers should be expressed in ways the non-accountant can understand — whether we’re talking about compliance, risk, opportunity, financial results or strategy.”
“It’s not easy to be a good business partner in a small firm. There’s plenty of scope for little niggles to become the seeds of discontent. And discontent does nothing to help clients or grow the firm. So, if you’re going to be in business with someone, you’d better work out how to deal with the niggles, end up on the same page, and share moments of joy. Remember that you are human and flawed, that humily is a virtue, and try to hold lightly the things of this world.