Following a massive development this week, Reckon can proudly announce that its Accountants Group has been sold to The Access Group, in a $100 million deal.

The Accounting division of Reckon provides products such as APS practice management software and Reckon Elite.

Reckon remains as a stronger company and as a result of the deal will be ramping up focus on its bread and butter – cloud accounting and payroll solutions for small businesses and practice management for legal firms.

Let’s break down the announcement.

Has Reckon been sold?

No, Reckon as a company remains.

Only the Accountants Group division of Reckon has been sold, which contributed 30% of Reckon’s overall revenue.

Moving forward, Reckon’s Business and Legal Divisions will remain the company’s sole focus.

Set to accelerate development of products and solution suites in both areas, the deal will also see Reckon place greater focus on the small business cloud accounting space, including payroll and legal products.

What’s the Accountants Group?

The Accountants Group is a division of Reckon which includes the APS (practice management) and Reckon Elite (tax and compliance) product suites.

This division provides Australia’s leading accounting firms with software solutions and support to help them better serve their client base, while enhancing and diversifying their business functionalities.

What happens to Reckon now?

For our core Reckon SME products, it will be business as usual.

Well, not quite. The sale is set to enable us to rapidly accelerate and develop our core software products, as always, with the single focus of better supporting small businesses.

“This transaction would allow us to focus on our remaining business divisions,” confirmed Reckon CEO, Sam Allert.

“We plan to build on our 114,000 cloud users; to expand our suite of accounting and payroll cloud solutions; and to continue to help small businesses turn ambition into accomplishment, while pursing our practice management opportunities in the global legal market.”

What happens to APS and Reckon Elite customers?

Reckon will continue to operate its Accountants Practice Management Business until the sale is complete. The team at Reckon will work alongside Access Group to ensure a successful and smooth transition with our clients and employees front of mind.

Who is Access Group?

Offering a range of finance and human resource technology solutions, The Access Group services 60,000+ customers across commercial and not-for-profit sectors in Asia Pacific and is a leading provider of business management software for mid-sized organisations.

When is the deal expected to be completed?

The timeframe for sale completion is conditional on and subject to regulatory approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB). In the meantime, it’s business as usual for the Accountants Group team, who will continue to collaborate, support and maintain effective partnerships with clients.

A good outcome for all

Reckon CEO Sam Allert said: “This partnership is good news for our customers, our employees and for the market”

Specifically for APS and Reckon Elite customers, Allert added that “we are thrilled to bring them the deep specialisation that Access boasts within the practice management market, and offer an extended portfolio of solutions that will deliver added value to our customers and theirs.

In joining with The Access Group our teams can broaden the service and solutions available to customers..“

Further information

For further information about the sale of Reckon’s Accountants Group, please see our ASX Announcement and Press Release.