ACCODEX MERGER STARTS A NEW CRUSADE

WHY don't you join me in a crusade against the industry?

This was Chris Hooper's question to Michael Macolino almost six months ago, when their prominent Adelaide companies were still testing the waters of a merger.

Now the duo have announced their businesses, accounting powerhouse Accodex Partners and cloud-tech specialist Clear Business Dynamics (CBD), have finally joined forces in the pursuit of disruption.

"So far as technology is concerned, we can now offer our clients an end-to-end cloud-based solution for any industry," says Accodex CEO Hooper, who has welcomed CBD managing director Macolino and his team into the fold.

"Clear Business Dynamics offers everything before and after the Accodex job begins, including the development of productivity software such as Google apps and industry-specific front-end operations management software.

"With Michael and his team on board, the next time one of our clients says they want to run their entire business from a mobile phone we now have the ability to simply say: sure, when?"

Accodex has made a name for itself in the accounting space by developing a cloud-based platform that helps freelance accountants find their feet.

By simplifying administrative and back-end functions, the software operates so users are only left with the single job of finding clients and servicing them.

Both Hooper and Macolino believe the merger made sense within the current market, also giving their clients and investors a better opportunity to identify with a single brand. 

"Both Accodex and Clear Business Dynamics have been searching for expansion opportunities for a while and because our companies have worked closely with each other in the past, it was an obvious strategic decision to merge," says Hooper.

"Moreover it simply made sense from a client perspective, to give them that continuity of dealing with the same company."

Having advised a fair share of mergers and acquisitions in the past, Hooper admits he has often witnessed these types of major deals 'play out like an episode of Game of Thrones'.

"If you break down all the business components it's almost like the merging of two families, where they are expected to co-exist and all too often it doesn't go down well, to say the least," he says.

"But in our case the merger has run seamlessly because we are already so well aligned in a values perspective. The Clear Dynamics team has just slotted in perfectly as if we had always been a business unit from the beginning."

Now that the companies have successfully avoided a 'red wedding,' the new Accodex chief technology officer Macolino says the next step is working towards full company integration and the beginnings of a tech division.

"The main focus now is consolidating the systems of both companies and making sure that all of the IP we have developed is brought into the Accodex operations manual," he says.

"Accodex already has a well-established accounting division, and now with this merger were are taking what we have developed over the last three years and preparing the foundation for something more tech oriented."

Overseas expansion is also on the horizon, with Accodex offices set to launch in three different US states early next year.