Business Transitions LLC, a provider of online buy/sell forums for CPA and financial services practices, has added a new service to its financial services practice succession planning Web sites aimed at sole practitioners.
The new feature, called "Unplanned Transitions," which is available to users of the company's Transition sites for independent registered representatives and registered investment advisors, and its private-label site for the National Association of Professional Financial Advisors, lets sole practitioners create a plan for their practice in case of their death or permanent disability.
Unplanned Transitions allows independent registered representatives or investment advisors to prepare a complete seller's listing in advance. The listing remains inactive and unseen until it is needed. Sample instructions are provided to a practitioner so that they can instruct their executor or personal representative that a seller's listing is ready and waiting with current information. In the event that the practice needs to be sold because of the practitioner's sudden incapacity, such as an accident, serious health problem or death, the seller's listing is activated and an immediate search for a replacement advisor is begun.
Business Transitions will send practitioners a quarterly e-mail reminding them to keep their Unplanned Transitions information current, and a yearly report on value issues and comparable sale prices of similar practices. The value for an Unplanned Transition sale is pre-determined by using the most recent Transitions Index (published quarterly on each Transition site and listing average down payments, tax allocations and value multiples) to determine the price and general terms for this sale.
