Guides for franchisors
32 guides to franchising a business in Australia, in the order you’ll need them: from deciding whether to franchise, through the disclosure document and the ACCC Register, to recruiting franchisees and meeting the Franchising Code every year after.
1. Decide whether to franchise
Whether your business can be franchised, what it takes and what it costs to set up.
2. Build the system and your disclosure
The operations manual, and the disclosure document every prospective franchisee must receive, item by item.
- The franchise operations manual explained6 min
- How to prepare a franchise disclosure document9 min
- Franchisor solvency statements and financial reports: getting disclosure item 21 right8 min
- Franchise supplier rebates: what the disclosure document must reveal10 min
- Disclosing significant capital expenditure: how to identify, estimate and word it9 min
- Former franchisee contacts: churn tables, contact details and the 14-day privacy notice8 min
- The franchise information statement: meeting the 7-day deadline8 min
3. Register with the ACCC
Creating and keeping your Franchise Disclosure Register profile current, and what happens when it's wrong.
- Creating your Franchise Disclosure Register profile7 min
- The Franchise Disclosure Register's integrity questions: convictions, judgments and insolvency9 min
- The ACCC now runs the Franchise Disclosure Register: what changed in 2025 and 20267 min
- Franchise Disclosure Register penalties: what five infringement notices teach8 min
4. Recruit and sign franchisees
Finding the right franchisees, and the conversations and sign-offs the Code expects before anyone signs.
- How to recruit franchisees in Australia9 min
- Independent advice statements: legal, business and accounting sign-offs before signing7 min
- The pre-signing capex conversation (s47): how to run it and prove it happened8 min
- A reasonable chance to earn back the investment: setting term length under s449 min
Recruiting now? FranchiseScope puts your open territories in front of qualified, territory-matched buyers. See franchisee recruitment
5. Run the network compliantly
The deadlines, records and notices that keep a franchise system on the right side of the Code.
- Franchising Code compliance: a franchisor's checklist9 min
- The 1 November 2025 Franchising Code changes: a franchisor's transition checklist10 min
- The franchise fund compliance calendar: 4-month statements, audits and 30-day delivery8 min
- Disclosure document deadlines: the 4-month annual update and on-request updates8 min
- Materially relevant facts: the 14-day notice rule with a $10 million penalty tier8 min
- Franchisor record keeping: the 6-year rules and the ACCC's 21-day document demand8 min
- Franchise mediation and arbitration: what both sides must do9 min
Keep the deadlines in one place. Comply tracks your Code deadlines, evidence and pre-entry sequence. See Comply or start with the free Compliance Monitor.
6. Penalties, enforcement and exits
What breaches cost, how the ACCC enforces the Code, and the rules when franchise agreements end.
- Franchising Code penalties in 2026: $218,400 per breach and the $10 million tier9 min
- ACCC infringement notices for franchisors: how they work and how to respond8 min
- ACCC franchising enforcement, 2015 to 2026: the cases and the lessons8 min
- Ultra Tune's $1.5 million contempt fine: what court-ordered compliance demands8 min
- Early-termination compensation clauses: market exit, network cuts and going online8 min
- End-of-term notices: the 6-month rule and what your franchisor must tell you8 min
- New car dealerships and the Franchising Code: notices, wind-down plans and buy-backs9 min
General information, not legal advice. All franchise guides