Succession planning

When I engage in planning workshops, the subject of succession and exit strategies is front and center in the long-term vision of the firm: forcing current partners to look at potential future partners and consider their ability to grow the firm and fund an exit.

Last week I wrote about a CPA going to work for a small client that was creating a controller’s position. Today I’ll talk about going to work for a client that already has a controller or working for a large company.

Someone has to be the boss. When the founder is active, he or she is usually the boss. There are exceptions, but I want to talk about parents who step aside to have their children run the business, particularly where there is more than one child working in the business.

The partners of Top 100 Firm Sikich LLP have elected Chris Geier as their next managing partner and CEO, succeeding James Sikich, who will retire at the end of the 2017.

Many family run businesses have parents and children who perform excellently together, and I have worked with many proud companies. However, occasionally there is a stumbling block, in that a parent and child cannot just get it together. What to do?

Jim Boomer will succeed his father L. Gary Boomer as CEO of Boomer Consulting, Inc., as part of a long-term succession plan that has been underway for the last seven years and includes several other big moves at the prominent accounting firm consultancy.

REDW LLC, one of the Southwest’s 10 largest accounting firms, has elected Steve Cogan as managing principal, succeeding Ron Rivera, who has served as firm-wide managing principal for the past 15 years.

I have and had many clients where children work in their parents’ business and have seen a lot of private interactions that shouldn’t have ever occurred, but did.

Baby boomer business owners will retire in droves over the next decade, which means they will consider their options for passing on the business to family or key employees or for selling the business to a third party.

Jay Nisberg and Gary Shamis, co-authors of the book "Stratagem," discuss how often accounting firms should review their strategic plans in this video.