The four shifts that matter
The 2024 update isn't a wholesale rewrite. It's a refinement of four areas where the previous regime was either ambiguous or under-enforced.
1. Marketing fund accounting
The new rules require franchisors to provide audited annual marketing fund statements unless 75% of franchisees in writing agree to waive. In practice, almost no network can muster a 75% written waiver, so the audit is now the default. We're seeing networks treat this as a checkbox exercise — engaging the auditor on the cheapest engagement-letter terms, getting a one-page sign-off, and filing. That's the letter of the rule. The spirit is different: franchisees want to see what their marketing levy is actually buying, line by line, with categorisation that lets them compare year-over-year.
Networks that publish detail get goodwill. Networks that publish minimum-viable disclosure get FOI-equivalent requests from franchisees a year later.
2. Dispute resolution architecture
The Code now requires franchisors to participate in mediation (and, in some categories, arbitration) when invoked by a franchisee, with prescribed timelines. The administrative requirements aren't burdensome — but the cultural shift is. Pre-2024, many franchisors treated franchisee complaints as nuisance items to manage out. Post-2024, an unresolved complaint will escalate to mediation faster, and at the franchisor's cost.
The well-run networks built earlier-stage resolution into their field-support cadence — quarterly business reviews where issues surface before they become complaints. That isn't a Code requirement. It's an operational defence.
3. Cooling-off and disclosure timing
The 14-day cooling-off period is now firmer. We see two recurring errors:
- Disclosure delivered, but to the wrong person. If the franchisee entity is a Pty Ltd, the disclosure goes to that entity — not to the director in their personal capacity. Get the addressee wrong and the 14-day clock doesn't start.
- Updates during cooling-off. Material changes to the franchise terms during the 14 days reset the clock. Franchisors who negotiate territory or fee terms in this window often don't realise they've extended the period.
4. Earnings representations
The Code has long restricted unsubstantiated earnings representations. The 2024 update tightened enforcement of what "substantiated" means. Saying a prospect "could" earn X without showing the data the projection is built from is a problem area for the ACCC.
The safer practice: either include earnings representations only when supported by a documented data set in the Disclosure Document, or don't include them at all.
The compliance cost is up, but so is the floor
Yes, the Code is more demanding. The other side: the franchisors who comply well have an easier time recruiting franchisees, because investors compare regimes and notice which networks operate cleanly. The Code is becoming a quality signal as well as a compliance burden.
What we're advising clients
Three things, in order of priority:
- Audit your Disclosure Document against the current Code annually — not just when you update it.
- Build a marketing fund report that goes beyond minimum-viable. Categorised spend, year-over-year comparisons, attribution where possible.
- Move dispute prevention into the field-support cadence. Quarterly business reviews catch issues before they become Code-level complaints.
If you'd like a Code-readiness audit
We run these for established networks twice a year. A two-week engagement, ending with a redlined Disclosure Document and a punch list of operational adjustments. Start a conversation.