Fictional owner, Peter Miller, had called his accountant to ask her to help him value his business with the idea of retiring in a few years. No stranger to Exit Planning, his accountant assembled all of Peter’s advisors and launched a complete Exit Planning process. She began, not with an examination of how a transfer [...]

“I haven’t decided what I ultimately want to do with my business, or when I want to exit, or how much money I’ll need, or whom to sell to, so how can I plan my exit? Besides, I don’t want to exit right now.” If you’ve said this, or thought it, you are not alone. [...]

“Exit Planning? I’ll start soon—I’ve got plenty of time.”
“Exit Planning? I’m too busy. I just don’t have enough time.”
The problem with both of these statements is that active business owners seldom slow down. We all know that the only things likely to reduce your pace are death or terminal burn-out. This is not to imply [...]

Many business owners facing imminent exit have the enviable but difficult choice of either selling the business to an outside third party and achieving their financial objectives or, conversely, transferring the business to loyal motivated key employees or family. This is nothing more, or less, than a clash of exit objectives.
Take John Conover for example. [...]

Stan Briggs was perplexed and that’s why he told his advisor, “My son, Patrick, has worked in the business for the last twelve years. In that time, the business has tripled its revenues and its profits. I’ve started to think about scaling back my activity and I realize how important it is (for my own [...]

Let’s review the four areas where business owners who want to both survive in today’s economic climate and emerge from it poised for growth (or sale) can focus their energies. As you may recall, those areas are:

Preserving and Protecting Value
Identifying Value and Cash Flow
Creating Revenue
Creating Value

Most owners are currently waist-deep in the first area: cutting [...]

If you contemplate transferring your business to an insider (employees, children or co-owner) and you want to get paid the value of your business, then, generally speaking, the value of your business cannot exceed four times the true cash flow of the business. We have defined true cash flow as the amount of pre-tax money [...]

It may not be uncommon for a business owner to hear that one of his friends sold her business for a “six times multiple.” That owner’s first question to his own advisors typically is, “Can I get the same type of multiple if I sell my business?” The answer is “Yes and No.” To understand [...]

Business owners must meet the challenges presented by recent changes in the economy. What can we learn from owners and their advisors across the U.S. about which strategies are most effective? We invite you to share stories about how your company has been affected and how you are responding.
General Observations
Owners, who ran tight ships when [...]

The Exit Planning process should begins by determining your goals and objectives such as:
The income you and your family will need after you leave the business; and
Who you wish to transfer the business to — whether it is children, key employees or others.
And, Exit Planning involves the determination of business value and the capability of [...]