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 minimise the tax you pay on the proceeds.
The benefits 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:
- Minimise 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 for your team
- Protect the legacy of what you’ve built
Business exit strategies to maximise 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 help you explore:
- Succession to family
- Employee Share Scheme (ESS)
- Open market sale
- A merger or acquisition
- Co-founder or management buy-out
- Selling To competitors or suppliers
Benefits of our Exit Planning Advisory Service
Strategic
Our proprietary Five-Stage Strategic 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 maximise the business’ value and achieve a successful exit.
Comprehensive
Our proprietary Five-Stage Strategic 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 maximise the business’ value and achieve a successful exit.
Effective
Our proprietary Five-Stage Strategic 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 maximise the business’ value and achieve a successful exit.
Most owners aren’t ready to exit.
A best case scenario would be giving yourself at least five years to maximise 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.
Frequently Asked Questions on Succession Planning
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What is Business Succession Planning?
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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 – maximising business value and achieving a successful exit. It is a strategic planning process and typically takes between 12 to 18 months.
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What are the benefits of succession planning?
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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 realised. A properly designed Business Succession Plan will achieve all of these things whilst maximising business value.
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Why is succession planning important?
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A succession plan should include five key stages – all focused around value:
- Identify value – determining the starting point, including business valuation;
- Protect value – making sure we have proper risk management and asset protection in place;
- Maximise value – working to make sure business value is maximised and the business is ready for a business succession plan;
- Extract value – the liquidity event or transaction; and
- Manage value – post-sale or exit ensuring assets are protected and value is invested to fund retirement
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What are the stages of succession planning?
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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.
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What is included in a succession plan?
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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 maximise business value and design a strategic plan to exit will ensure the business, the owners and all stakeholders are ready at the right time.
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Do all business need a succession plan?
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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.
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What is Exit Planning?
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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 specialise in Business Succession and Exit Planning and can help in designing the most appropriate plan to maximise business value and achieve a successful exit.
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What are the 5 exit planning strategies?
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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.
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When is the best time to start developing your business exit strategy?
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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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