Succession planning
Overview
Possibly the most important business decision you will ever make, and almost certainly the toughest, revolves around succession planning.
For a family business, succession is a once-in-a-lifetime decision. Perhaps no challenge has as much potential to exacerbate the special stresses – or, conversely, highlight the special advantages – of operating a family business.
And as if the business, emotional, legal and technical issues weren’t thorny enough, consider this daunting fact: only about 30 per cent of family businesses survive into a second generation.
As reluctant as many families may be to tackle the issue of succession, the health and longevity of a family business depend on careful succession planning – developing a robust plan and communicating the results to the right stakeholders at the right time. Doing so will increase the likelihood of your business enduring beyond the leadership transition, delivering lasting value to your family.
Turning generational change into success
At PwC's family business services, we have an experienced team dedicated to helping family business owners develop and execute each step in their succession plan so that the whole process runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
- Come think with us.
- Succession plan and strategy.
- Sale of the business.
- Tax-efficient structuring.
Come think with us.
What are your most important goals– both commercial and personal– when thinking about your business transition? What are your business’ key value drivers? We start by selecting the right people for you to talk with about these owner strategy issues and the challenges you’ll need to navigate along the way.
Succession plan and strategy.
We then use the findings of these owner strategy sessions to clarify a clear succession plan – including timing, future ownership and management shares, as well as issues around capital and family governance.
Sale of the business.
If a sale is the best option, we work with you to get the best price for your business by identifying the right buyer, while respecting your confidentiality.
Tax-efficient structuring.
Regardless of the transition vehicle you choose, we can help you negotiate a commercially optimal, tax-efficient solution to transfer the ownership of your business when the time is right.
Succession planning is one area where your leverage tends to diminish with time. The decisions you make will affect the future of your business, customers, employees, community and, most importantly, yourself and your family. Therefore, it is often wise to solidify a business succession plan sooner rather than later.
We invite you to contact us to explore how we can help you turn your biggest challenge into one of your biggest opportunities by creating a legacy of success.
