Exit planning for business owners is a comprehensive analysis of all the factors that impact a business owner looking ahead to changes in his or her career. It not only addresses the owner’s concerns with succession planning, such as ownership, management and operation of an ongoing concern or positioning the business for sale or liquidation, but also a wide variety of other important considerations, including a client’s personal and financial needs, and those of his or her family, business and community.
Exit Planning for Business Owners
Succession planning or positioning a business for sale starts with identifying objectives and issues critical to the individual client, evaluating current and projected resources (business value, personal and business financial resources), and then identifying the unique combination of strategies and steps most likely to allow a client to reach his or her overall goals. In most cases optimal results are achieved when the planning process begins well in advance of the anticipated exit date. The exit planning team has identified the following elements as essential to establishing a comprehensive exit plan:
- Development of objectives
- List and evaluate financial resources
- Assistance in maximizing and protecting business value
- Evaluate ownership transfer to third parties
- Ownership transfers to insiders
- Business continuity within the family
- Personal wealth and estate planning
- Property sale considerations, such as a motion to approve sale of real property and motion to extend time to file schedules
The exit planning team is comprised of attorneys who are proficient in business, estate planning and tax matters, and who are dedicated to working with business owners and their trusted professional advisors, including accountants and corporate counsel, to affect the client’s seamless and positive transition into retirement, a new business venture or simply into the next phase of a career.