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Succession & Exit Planning

Exit planning for your best interests.

Forget the golden parachute, Succession Planning is all about ensuring strong foundations in your business to create a golden legacy and grow your personal wealth. An appropriate exit strategy or succession plan maps out and considers every aspect of your business in order to achieve your desired exit outcome.

Succession planning involves making decisions about who will lead your business into the future, and who will take ownership of it. By taking charge of this decision-making process, you will be able to attract a higher sell price for your business and minimize the tax you pay on the proceeds.

The benefit of a well-considered exit plan

Business succession planning is about controlling variables now to create the ideal situation when you eventually leave the business. Getting your ‘ducks in a row’ means never having to regret doing the deal out of desperation, providing the leverage to dictate your terms when the final paperwork is drafted. Having a plan in place can also help:

  • Minimize your Capital Gains Tax Obligations
  • Reduce stress at time of exit
  • Secure your income to retire or invest
  • Improve fiscal stability in the business
  • Smooth the transition of your team
  • Protect the legacy of what you’ve built

 

Business exit strategies to maximize value.

You only get to leave your business once, so it literally pays to get it right. There are many ways to exit, but we fundamentally believe the timing and reason should be your choice. In this uncharted territory for most owners, it can be useful to have guidance to get to your ideal destination. An Accredited Advisor can provide the following information:

  • Succession to family
  • Open market sale
  • A merger or acquisition
  • Co-founder or management buy-out
  • Selling To competitors or suppliers
BENEFITS

Benefits Of Our Service

Strategic

Our proprietary 5-step plan looks strategically at your business, as well as how you run it and the marketplace in which it operates. Considering these factors allows us to maximize the business’ value and achieve a successful exit.

Comprehensive

This detailed approach ensures all the factors which affect the value of your business are carefully considered, analyzed and planned for. We also consider your personal and professional goals.

Effective

We will determine the best option for you and implement strategies that will work to maximize the value of your business and help you achieve a successful exit on your own terms.

Most owners aren’t ready to exit.

A best case scenario would be giving yourself at least five years to maximize the potential value extracted when you exit. But when it comes to exit planning, it's never too early or late to start. To learn more about when and why you should start planning your own business exit, read about The Best Time to Start Exit Planning.

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Frequently Asked Questions on Succession Planning Section

  • What is Business Succession Planning?

    • Business Succession Planning is about strategically planning for the business, the owner’s finances and the people to be prepared to exit or “succeed out” of the business at the same time – maximizing business value and achieving a successful exit. It is a strategic planning process and typically takes between 12 to 18 months.

  • What are the benefits of succession planning?

    • Without proper succession planning, the ability to extract value from the business, fund the owner’s retirement and successfully continue the business (benefiting employees, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders) is unlikely to be realized. A properly designed Business Succession Plan will achieve all of these things whilst maximizing business value.

  • Why is succession planning important?

    • A succession plan should include these key stages – all focused around value:

      1. Identify value – determining the starting point, including business valuation;
      2. Maximize value – working to make sure business value is maximized and the business is ready for a business succession plan;
      3. Extract value – the liquidity event or transaction; and
      4. Manage value – post-sale or exit ensuring assets are protected and value is invested to fund retirement

  • What are the stages of succession planning?

    • A succession plan is far more than a document. It should be a comprehensive implementation plan with detailed steps to cover off all aspects of preparation for the business, the owners, the employees, and other stakeholders. Succession is a journey and will typically take 12 to 18 months at least, to fully implement ensuring owners, employees and stakeholders are prepared.

  • What is included in a succession plan?

    • Yes, all owners will exit their business at some point in time and those that have a business succession plan will always achieve a far better result. Using a succession plan to maximize business value and design a strategic plan to exit will ensure the business, the owners and all stakeholders are ready at the right time.

  • Do all business need a succession plan?

    • Leadership succession (or management succession) is about ensuring you have people within your business ready to step up and take on more responsibility and reduce reliance on the owner. Leadership succession is a process of identifying, training and preparing employees over a period of time.

  • What is Exit Planning?

    • An exit plan should be developed over time. It is a strategic plan and, in most businesses, will take 12 to 18 months to design and implement. It should always include expert advisers who specialize in Business Succession and Exit Planning and can help in designing the most appropriate plan to maximize business value and achieve a successful exit.

  • What are the 5 exit planning strategies?

    • There are several ways to exit your business assuming you don’t want to close up shop and walk away: sale, listing, family succession, management buy-in or ESOP, private equity or sale of your client base or list. The key is to identify the best exit planning option given your circumstances and business, financial and personal goals.

  • When is the best time to start developing your business exit strategy?

    • The best time to start developing an exit strategy is as soon as you start the business. “Begin with the End in Mind” is about starting to design your exit and ensuring all your decisions are focused on getting you closer to a successful exit.

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