1. As a team, identify where more control is needed at H & R Block. Is control in these areas possible?

Explain. When you fi rst came to H & R Block four years ago, you had a vision: increase the scope of the company and transform it from a simple tax preparation service to a fullservice fi nancial services provider.88 And why not? Block has roughly 17 million customers, and converting only a fraction of them to fi nancial services clients would mean substantial growth for the 60-year-old company. Couple that with the company’s recent expansion into mortgage fi nancing, and Block could become a fi nancial services powerhouse.

Eagerly you set about mapping the company’s growth.

You bought Olde Financial, a discount-brokerage business, and quickly found yourself with around $50 billion in assets under management. You hired fi nancial advisers, and then to get them more clients, you instructed tax preparers to refer new fi nancial prospects to them.

Another way you planned to fuel growth was by aggressively opening new tax preparation outlets. Today, Block has more U.S. storefronts (over 11,000) than Barnes &

Noble (2,356), Gap (3,051), and even growth-happy Starbucks (6,409)! Over 1,000 outlets were added just this year to expand coverage during tax-fi ling season.

Despite all the good ideas, H & R Block is not producing the results you expected. In fact, it is struggling.

Assets under management in the fi nancial services division have declined by more than 30 percent since the division was acquired, and its advisers are leaving faster than they can be replaced. Outwardly, you say that the economic upswing is creating more demand for junior advisers, the largest percentage of your fi nancial managers, but you also know that even new advisers are going to follow the money. And the money seems to be fl owing out of Block.