In The Media

There is an untapped role for financial advisers to help business owners sell their business and understand how that can fit into their retirement plans, according to Succession Plus.

Speaking to Money Management, Craig West, founder of Succession Plus, said the way that owners were looking to exit a business had changed from focusing on money to one focused on legacy.

As technology takes over core accounting tasks, it makes sense to diversify into strategic business advice.

It’s a tough time to be an accountant. Client demand is up, but what good is that if you don’t have enough staff to service it? Not to worry. We’ll all soon be out of a job anyway thanks to AI. That is, unless we start thinking more strategically about our true value as accountants.

It’s not compliance, and it’s not tax returns

Succession Plus specialises in providing proactive, focused and strategic advice for small to medium business owners to prepare their businesses for an exit strategy. Their Accredited Advisers understand where to make short and long-term improvements in order to help maximise a business’s succession plan and sale outcomes.

The biggest wealth transfer in history is well underway, with baby Boomers exiting businesses every day – but we are only halfway thru the wave – there is a lot more to come.

Good advisers are finding they need to provide more than just transactional advice and services as Business Succession and Exit Planning is a long-term process. Owners need help to understand what their business is worth, what their exit options are, how to prepare for sale or exit and what they need to do to make sure the business, the owners and the finances are ready to go when the time is right .

Craig West's Business Succession Plus knows that business owners often have different motivations than just cash.  In this presentation to an investment audience, Craig explains the complex business of turning businesses with informal values into tradeable assets.

Succession Plus will unify its UK and Australasian divisions transforming it into a global business with former UK CEO Darryl Bates-Brownsword to lead.

With over 30 years’ experience in business coaching, business strategy and succession planning, Mr Bates-Brownsword welcomed the opportunity to work across both markets.

Craig West breaks down how to buy an established business, how to value a business, and how to plan for a successful business exit.

Craig West is the CEO and founder of Succession Plus who provides focused and strategic advice for SME business owners in business succession and exit planning. Craig is a successful entrepreneur who has helped over 600 business owners maximise the value of their business and achieve a successful exit.

i2C Architects has launched its Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP), an innovative ownership model that will nurture company culture and help to retain studio talent.

Through the implementation of the ESOP, i2C employees will earn ownership through their performance. Eight Senior Associates are expected to earn shares of i2C by the end of the year, providing the practice achieves its profit targets.

ARCHITECTURE and design firm i2C Architects are launching an Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP), that will see employee performance translated into share ownership.

The ESOP will see performance earning ownership through performance, in an effort by i2C  to retain and attract talent and shape its company culture.

In the prevailing tight labour market where non-cash remuneration is a key tool employers can use to attract, retain and motivate key employees, the stalling of the federal government’s Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP) draft legislation, could not come at a worse time.

While SMEs are scrambling to recover from the pandemic, startups are also now hampered in the ability to implement an ESOP to reduce the burden of cash, and lower the barrier of attractive and retaining quality staff.

Either way, recovery and innovation in Australia are

With an ever-increasing number of Australia’s business owners nearing retirement age, it is vital that accountants add succession planning to their professional repertoires.

At the current rate, there are over 5,000 people turning 65 per week in Australia, with this number projected to increase over the next seven years. For these individuals, successful succession planning is at the forefront of their minds, as they aim to retire knowing their employees are cared for, their business can continue without them, ensuring suppliers, customers and family members in the business are looked after.