BUSINESS SUCCESSION PLANNING

If you’re a business owner, it’s important to protect the operation and future of your business. The best practice is to address these issues as part of your operation planning to support efficient on going operation whether ownership changes or you retire, become disabled or die. There are many factors addressed in "succession planning": operation needs (finance, marketing, sales, manufacturing, personal and governance), buy-out provisions among owners, valuation of the business, exit strategies for owners, and preservation of the value of the business when the entrepreneurial person or team, leaves, retires, becomes disabled or dies.

One consideration is determining who will run the business. Is one person willing and able to take over complete ownership, or will authority need to be split between a number of people? Often, business owners have multiple children they’d like to include in their business succession plans, and sometimes even current employees, too. It can be challenging to determine roles and profit shares, as well as to account for anyone who may not be involved in the business. [A business succession plan is designed to help you address all those issues.] 

Beyond the technicalities, there is your vision. How will it be preserved? What training or experience opportunities need to be given to prepare a qualified successor?

These are a few aspects to consider when planning for the future of your business. You may be relying on business profits to cover taxes or transition expenses, or believe your family member will gladly accept your inheritance, and that your business will continue to flourish for years to come. Unfortunately, those kinds of scenarios don’t typically pan out without a lot of work ahead of time. That doesn’t mean business succession planning is difficult, rather it is something you must implement in advance. Plan for the known and anticipate the unknown to assure your intentions can be accomplished. Contact me today to see how a business succession plan could benefit you.