We Can Structure
Your Business Planning
to Stand the Test of Time.

Preserve Your
Business Wealth.
 

Family Businesses

The times are changing for family-owned businesses. Are you ready?

The average age of Americans is increasing every year.   In fact, as the Baby-Boom generation matures, a larger part of our population is approaching retirement age, and planning for the future has become more essential than ever.

Within your family business, planning is essential for the security and continued success of the business itself as well as for the current and future generations of your family.

According to a recent survey of more than 3,000 companies:

Nearly 43% of family-owned businesses will change hands within  the next five years.

With the exception of preparing a will, one in four family business owners has not completed any estate planning.

Lack of succession, estate and investment planning may dramatically affect or even prevent the successful passing of the reins to the next generation.

Fewer than one-third of family businesses have a written strategic plan.

Few family businesses use a formal process for managing their assets.

If this concerns you, what can you do?

First, ask yourself if you and your family have taken steps in the business to handle these issues.  Also, ask yourself if you have taken steps to ensure your financial security after you turn the business over to your heirs? Have you prepared your heirs for succession?

Planning - for the owner, for the family, for the company and for succession – is the solution. The key to success is making sure all of the plans work together. Important questions need to be addressed in each area of planning.

Family Planning:

Is there any conflict within your family affecting the business? Do those who are active in the family business remain close with those who are not? Can family members pursue their own goals within the structure of the family business?

Owner Planning:

As an owner, what is your role now? What do you want it to be in the future? Will you remain involved, or will you totally step aside? How will you remain financially secure? What are your sources of income? What are your options?

Company Planning:

What is your company’s value? What are its strengths and weaknesses? Where do you want the company to be in five or ten years? Do you want to expand? Or sell? What steps do you need to take in order to reach those goals?

Succession Planning:

Who will take over your business? Should it be a family member? How will the wealth of the company be distributed? How will estate taxes affect the company? How will leadership be transferred? Your goals as a current owner, your family’s goals, and your company’s goals must all be considered in a successful succession plan.

We Can Help.

Hunter Group, together with our professional colleagues networked across the USA, share national experience as leaders in planning for the special accounting and consulting needs of the family and owner-managed business. We have access to the specialized training and expertise of more than 2,000 CPAs across the country.

We provide both sophisticated financial planning and comprehensive help with business and interpersonal issues. This enables you to design and integrate the four plans described above which you need for the future success of your family business.

Financial Services include:

-    Wealth transfer and preservation
-    Improvement of cash flow
-    Business and personal tax planning
-    Business valuations and structures
-    Business profitability enhancements
-    Family compensation structures

Personnel Services include:

-    Improving communication
-    Clarifying goals
-    Establishing commitments
-    Developing performance standards
-    Building trust and creating a process for addressing future business and family matters