Succession planning

Joel Sinkin of Transition Advisors discusses in this video how the retention period can be a key factor when buying or selling an accounting firm.

Joel Sinkin of Transition Advisors explains in this video why valuations of accounting firms that are being bought and sold are on the decline.

Imagine a partner announces their retirement and your firm buys out the equity stake. Five years later, the partner is still working with and controlling the same client relationships as always. Worse yet, the “retired” partner is getting more and more difficult to work with every day but has been fully paid. What do you do?

This column was precipitated by my hearing of the untimely death of a sole practitioner who was a friend. His family wanted to sell the practice and was shopping around for a buyer.

Strategic planning needs to take account of the rest of your life

Retaining and attracting the next generation of qualified professionals

Grant Thornton’s new chief operating officer, Jim Brady, plans to execute the firm’s strategy and expand its presence in advisory services such as cybersecurity and strategic consulting.

I have a client who owns considerable real estate that her son manages. The son actually does a very good job maintaining the property, growing rents, and keeping vacancies to a minimum.

How some women leaders have guided CPA firms toward growing meaningful programs.

Accounting firms are looking to bring in younger employees to fill their ranks as older Baby Boomer partners start to retire, but they have to offer the right enticements if their succession planning is going to work.

One morning my wife and I were having breakfast and she asked me, “What do I do if you and Peter get killed?”

Top 100 Firm The Bonadio Group announced the implementation of a succession plan that will see founder Thomas Bonadio handing over the CEO role in three years.

Accounting firms need to rethink the roles and expectations of their partners, according to industry consultant Allan Koltin – and changes to traditional partner compensation models can help.

You’ve got yet another tax season under your belt, your grandkids are getting older and your golf game could use a little tweaking. Your thoughts of retirement have been on your mind but you have been putting off pursuing this path for various reasons, some of which may be based on some common misconceptions.

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.