Is a franchisor allowed to regularly scrutinise my sales figures?

As with many things in franchising, the answer to this question is ‘it depends’, and the answer normally lies in the franchise agreement.  The majority of franchise agreements do allow the franchisor a great deal of power to require franchisees to provide sales and other management information. If this is not provided then the franchisor can make his own investigations and check up on the information that a franchisee has provided.  The reason for this is simple ““ the majority of franchises in the UK require franchisees to pay the franchisor continuing fees based as a percentage of turnover. On this basis, franchisors have an interest in making sure that the information that franchisees provide to them is accurate.  Even if a franchisor does not obtain continuing fees calculated as a percentage of a franchisee’s turnover, franchisors in this situation also need to know how their franchisees are doing because most franchisors would wish to help franchisees who are struggling so as to encourage them to operate a successful business.  Without sales figures it would be difficult for franchisors to know that their franchisees have a problem. There should be nothing to fear from franchisors wanting to access franchisees’ sales information.