Franchise Accounting in Milwaukee to Maximize Profits
Giersch Group provides expert franchise bookkeeping and accounting solutions for emerging franchises nationwide. Accurate and timely financials are vital to the success of your franchise, especially when margins are thin. Our bookkeepers ensure your ledgers are meticulously maintained and up to date.
Whether you’re a franchisor expanding locations or a franchisee growing your business unit, our franchise accounting expertise keeps your books in order. We provide the organized financial tracking and reporting you need to identify issues, maximize profitability and make informed decisions as you strategically build your franchise operations.
With Giersch Group handling your bookkeeping, you can focus on running a successful franchise backed by sound, transparent financials. Precise books enable smart management of your growing business.
Contact Giersch Group for a free consultation today!
Expert Outsourced Accounting for Franchise Growth
No matter what type of franchise you own, we help improve your bottom line.
As a franchise owner, you need to protect every cent of profit to succeed. With franchise fees and national marketing funds already tightening your margins, timely financial visibility is critical for driving monthly profitability. If your franchise is expanding, you may not have the cash flow for an in-house accountant, but the scale of your business is too large for DIY bookkeeping. Giersch Group’s outsourced accounting services help emerging franchises succeed.
Franchisees wear many hats, but accounting requires focused expertise. Bookkeeping mistakes can quickly snowball into major issues. Outsourcing to our pros ensures your books are accurate while freeing you to concentrate on scaling your operations. We’ll provide the organized financial tracking and reporting insights you need to make well-informed decisions.
Let Giersch Group’s franchise accounting specialists handle your books. With stable and transparent financials, you can strategically guide your franchise’s expansion while optimizing profits.
Focus on Growth, Leave the Books to Us
With specialized franchise accounting expertise, we deliver precise, timely financials to help you understand your costs and profitability. Our analysis uncovers insights behind the numbers, so you truly understand your franchise’s performance. Whether you’re a franchisor, single-unit owner or multi-unit operator, we provide the reporting and guidance to optimize long-term profits.
Outsource the tedious bookkeeping to Giersch Group’s professionals. We’ll meticulously handle the financials while you concentrate on driving operational growth. Leverage our decades of experience for the accurate books and strategic advisory services you need to make fully informed decisions and maximize returns.
Take the first step with a free, no-obligation 30-minute franchise accounting consultation. Though based in Milwaukee, Brookfield and Madison, WI, our consultations and full-service accounting solutions are available 100% remotely to franchises nationwide. Let us be your trusted financial partner for scaled growth.
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QuickBooks for Franchise Bookkeeping
Giersch Group leverages QuickBooks™ cloud-based accounting software to provide franchises with accurate, real-time financial reporting. As a certified QuickBooks™ Online ProAdvisor, we offer exclusive pricing on the software and products at 50% off retail. Our team also provides comprehensive training to maximize Quickbooks™ value.
The QuickBooks™ system delivers real-time visibility into sales, cash flow, profitability metrics and more - fueling data-driven decision-making. Our bookkeepers help franchises customize QuickBooks™ dashboards for at-a-glance tracking of key financial KPIs. We handle data migration, initial setup, ongoing updates and staff training to fully operationalize QuickBooks™ reporting.
QuickBooks™ streamlines financial operations so franchise owners can focus on strategic growth initiatives. Whether building new accounting infrastructure or rectifying past books, Giersch Group ensures a solid foundation to provide organized, multi-layered financial intelligence to identify opportunities and boost profits.
The Giersch Group Advantage
National online bookkeeping providers offer generic, impersonal solutions. Giersch Group takes a more vested, hands-on approach as your franchise accounting partner. You’ll receive accurate, up-to-date financials by the 20th of each month. But we go further - working closely alongside you to review every metric and find opportunities to improve profitability. Learn more about our uniquely personalized bookkeeping approach and how it translates into maximum value for your business.
Franchise Bookkeeping Success Stories
Giersch Group has extensive experience partnering with franchisees and franchisors alike. We’re passionate about helping you optimize your franchise’s financial management and profitability.
#1 Comprehensive franchisor accounting with online integration
We teach franchise owners how to use their monthly numbers to make more money.
Our Lead Client Controller Katie Perez was the lead controller for a 28-unit franchisor. She has extensive experience calculating franchise fees (including royalties & advertising fees from franchisees), tracking weekly sales of all locations by owner, verifying royalty amounts and providing chainwide sales reports.
Improvements Katie made for this specific franchisor include:
- Created a QuickBooks-integrated online ordering portal for 26 restaurants to place food and supply orders.
- Created a weekly sales tracking system for Franchisee and Corporate-owned locations.
- Created a central spreadsheet to track all royalty and advertising payments received from Franchisees.
- Was solely responsible for an annual franchisor audit, department of labor audits, and annual workers' compensation audits.
- Created class tracking in QuickBooks to separate 9 restaurant locations under one business entity.
#2 Cleaning up the books for a local franchise owner
Current Giersch Group client Falbo Bros. Pizza turned to us to help clean up a mess from a former accountant and we've turned the situation around by providing bookkeeping, payroll and sales tax support. Read their detailed case study and testimonial.
#3 Franchise consulting services for an established brand
Our consulting group helped a 200-unit restaurant franchisor through a key transition. Following almost 50 years in business, the franchise needed to rebrand and rethink its current strategies. Giersch Group worked closely with them through each step of the process, allowing us an opportunity to see the franchisee from the perspective of a franchisor. Working so closely with the franchisor gave us added insight into the specific roles and perspectives of each.
#4 Getting a multi-unit franchisee back into the black
Giersch Group was called to assist a deeply indebted multi-unit franchisee who wanted to turn their business around. We started monthly board services meetings to review their monthly books and compare their statistics to the ones provided by the national franchise headquarters. They now have consistent, strong profits and were able to acquire more stores.
#5 Franchise development services starting from square one
Giersch Group helped a brand new franchisee start a single unit with no prior experience in their field. We set up their books from scratch and helped them navigate the early months of heavy discounting, accounting for coupons and promotional pricing, all while running a pro forma to understand the true earning potential of their business.
Comprehensive Franchise Financial Solutions
Testimonial
“Giersch Group helped me take care of many lingering issues with my former accountant, who had gone silent on us. They got us all caught up and introduced me to one of their partner CPA firms to file my taxes.”
--Kelly McClane, Falbo Bros. Pizzeria
Giersch Group provides a full suite of accounting and advisory services purpose-built for franchises:
Turnkey Bookkeeping and Controller Services
We handle full-cycle bookkeeping, providing P&L, balance sheets, cash flow statements and more by the 20th of each month. Reporting includes profitability ratios, working capital analysis, debt tracking and cash flow forecasting. Our dashboard benchmarks your performance month-over-month and annually, with insights into your franchise model’s economics versus national metrics. We can also manage payroll and sales tax compliance.
Strategic Franchise Consulting
Our consultants offer specialized services to drive profit maximization and deeper business understanding:
- Cash flow projections and scenario modeling
- Monthly/quarterly strategic board meetings
- In-depth franchise agreement reviews
- Royalty calculation and tracking audits
Mergers and Acquisitions Advisory
Don’t leave money on the table during ownership transitions. Our mergers and acquisitions team ensures you realize maximum value on exit by focusing on building a highly profitable, systematized business. We’ll position your franchise for an optimal sale when you’re ready.
Franchise accounting FAQ
How do you account for franchise fee revenue?
Franchise fee revenue is tracked as a separate income account located on the profit & loss statement. This revenue would be tracked by franchisee but using one income account.
How do you record monthly franchise fees in QuickBooks?
As the franchisee, your initial franchise fee would be recorded as an asset, using an investment into the franchise and should include asset items: equipment, inventory, etc.
How do you categorize franchise fees in QuickBooks?
Monthly franchise fees are called royalties and those are recorded as an expense on the franchisee’s books. A separate expense account would be set up as ‘Royalties’. This figure is usually a percentage of net sales as listed in your franchise agreement. Other fees you may incur to the franchisor would be advertising fees. If the franchisor has an advertising plan within the franchise agreement, you would again for example pay a percentage of your sales to advertising. The franchisor then pays all advertising expenses.
Is franchise an intangible asset?
A franchise is a tangible asset.
What type of franchise businesses do you work with?
We provide affordable accounting and consulting services for all kinds of business franchises including:
- Restaurants & bars
- Car dealerships
- Retail stores
- Lawn care services
- Real estate businesses
- Salons & spas
- Gas stations/convenience stores
- Insurance agencies
Whether you have a job franchise, license product distribution and/or manufacturing, work within an established business format or have an investment franchise, we have the experience and resources to help you make more money doing it.
See more bookkeeping FAQs.
Bookkeeping & accounting services for Wisconsin franchise owners
We provide accounting & consulting services for all types of franchises throughout southeast Wisconsin.
While our franchise bookkeeping & accounting services are available anywhere in the nation, our professionals primarily serve franchise owners in and around the cities where we have local offices: Milwaukee, Madison and Brookfield, WI.
Milwaukee County franchise accounting firm serving: Downtown Milwaukee, Shorewood, Whitefish Bay, Glendale, Fox Point, River Hills, Brown Deer, Granville, Butler, Wauwatosa, West Allis, Greenfield, Hales Corners, Greendale, Franklin, Oak Creek, South Milwaukee, Cudahy, St. Francis & everywhere in between.
Dane County franchise accounting firm serving: Madison, Middleton, Waunakee, Windsor, Sun Prairie, Cottage Grove, McFarland, Fitchburg, Verona, Riley, Pine Bluff, Cross Plains, Springfield Corners, Black Earth, Mazomanie, Mt. Horeb, Belleville, Rutland, Stoughton, Kengosa, Deerfield, Monona & everywhere in between.
Ozaukee County franchise accounting firm serving: Mequon, Thiensville, Cedarburg, Lakefield, Grafton, Saukville, Port Washington, Knellsville, Newburg, Waubeka, Fredonia, Holy Cross, Belgium, Dacada & everywhere in between.
Waukesha County franchise accounting firm serving: Waukesha, Brookfield, New Berlin, Muskego, Big Bend, Vernon, Mukwonago, Jericho, Eagle, North Prairie, Saylesville, Genesee Depot, Ottawa, Wales, Dousman, Delafield, Oconomowoc, Monterey, Nashotah, Hartland, Merton, Town of Lisbon, Sussex, Lannon, Menomonee Falls, Butler, Pewaukee & everywhere in between.
Washington County franchise accounting firm serving: Germantown, Hubertus, Richfield, Thompson, Ackerville, Hartford, Kirchhayn, Jackson, Cedar Creek, Slinger, Cedar Lake, St. Lawrence, Allenton, Addison, St. Anthony, Kohlsville, Wayne, Kewaskum, Boltonville, Fillmore, Cheeseville, Young America, West Bend, Nabob and everywhere in between.
Free franchise accounting consultation
The Giersch Group is different from other franchise accounting firms. We pride ourselves on providing enterprise-level services at prices real-world business owners can afford. If, after a free consult, you decide to move forward with us, services and billing will be based on a budget we come up with together. The goal of our accounting and consulting services is to empower franchise owners with meaningful financial analysis and skills to help them succeed. All services from the Giersch Group are available 100% online to franchises nationwide.
You owe it to your financial future to learn more. Request a no-obligation initial consult today.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What are the benefits of hiring a bookkeeper for my franchise business?
Monitoring your income and expenses are crucial to maintaining profitability and making sure your franchise is sustainable. Hiring a bookkeeper to do your accounting also means you don’t have to worry about incorrectly reporting your finances.
Should I hire a bookkeeper if I’m only a franchisee?
Yes. You still run and operate a business as a franchisee, so steady record keeping of your finances is very important to ensure profitability for you and the franchisor.
Can I pick and choose what services I’d receive for my franchise business?
Yes. We can do everything from managing all your books and keeping track of your finances to just offering professional advice and guidance to clean up your existing books and ensure profitability.
Which factors affect a franchise's cash flow most?
Franchises generally face recurring costs in the form of franchise fees, debt repayment and high volumes of staff. Giersch Group understands that every penny counts and margins tend to be very thin. We can provide timely, accurate financial statements so your business can continuously turn a profit.
Do franchises have special accounting needs?
Franchises have unique fees and expenses that aren't present in non-franchise situations. We have expertise in calculating franchise fees (including royalties & advertising fees), weekly sales tracking for multiple locations by owner, verifying royalties submitted by the franchise and evaluating sales reports chainwide.
Is franchise consulting helpful?
Yes. The Giersch Group team has many services to help you better understand how to increase profitability. We can help with cash flow forecasting, monthly board services, financial modeling, franchise mergers, acquisitions and more.
