Succession Planning for Business Owners

When entrepreneurs start a business, the last thing on their minds is succession planning. Most business owners spend a lot of time – as they should – on operations plans, marketing plans, capital-spending plans, maintenance planning, staffing plans, etc. However, if you’re business becomes one of your most valuable assets, which was likely your intention when you started, wouldn’t you want to maximize that value when you are ready to take a back seat? This is what is accomplished through Business Succession Planning.

Why Business Succession Planning is Important

For most entrepreneurs, their business operations represent a legacy that they’d like to leave to the next generation. And what would happen to the business in the event that you are suddenly incapacitated – is there someone reliable that can step into your shoes? 

Without a proper succession plan in place, family strife and internal (company) politics would threaten the future of the firm as a going concern and can decimate the value of the company that the business owner spent a lifetime building. In some cases, companies without sound succession plans find themselves being pushed into bankruptcy or receivership.

There are far reaching repercussions for not having a well-thought-out succession plan. Unfortunately, all of them are not too pleasant for the business, the business owner, business partners, his/her beneficiaries and the employees working for the company!

What We Can Do For You

Simply put, our Business Succession Planning service provides business owners peace of mind – the kind that comes from knowing you are well-prepared to relinquish control of the business on your own terms. 

Here’s a preview of what our Business Succession Planning service covers:

• Helping you identify the ideal succession strategy based upon any number of “end game” objectives that you have in mind. 
• We will consult with you about possible succession strategies and consult with your tax and legal advisors to build the best plan possible.
• We will specifically look at tax advantaged strategies to accomplish the transition in the most tax efficient manner possible.
• Pre-sale grooming!  Many business owners will run their business in such a way to show the least amount of income possible for tax reasons.  This is a problem when a buyer comes in looking to see how much money the company is making to determine what they should offer the owner and could be a problem in an IRS audit as well.  We can often advise business owner’s how to legitimately show income and owner benefits while still being tax efficient.  But remember, buyers usually want to see two to three years of tax returns, so this requires planning in advance!
• Post-sale tax and investment planning are also very important to preserving the legacy.  Know what you will need to retire and how to best manage the proceeds from all of your hard work.