Business Valuation
This White Paper discusses having your business owner client use the services of an experienced business appraiser to value their company as they transfer it to successor may help them avoid an unpleasant encounter with the IRS and help them to reap all of the value of their life's work. It also highlights the importance of how obtaining a value helps to dispel many of the common misconceptions that owners have about the value of their business and what the values mean to their overall exit plan.
Business Continuity
This White Paper discusses four primary problems sole-owned and co-owned companies face when an owner dies or becomes disabled. It proposes solutions to each one of the four problems. This White Paper includes the "Business Continuity Instruction Form" for sole-owners.
C vs. C S Corporation
What Difference Does It Make? Use this White Paper to explain why the best form of business entity (C or S) for tax purposes during a business's start up and operational years may not be the best when it comes time to sell the business. Descriptive case studies and clear tables help show owners why entity choice is so important.
Employee Incentive Planning
This White Paper discusses the paths which allow a business owner to leave a company in qualified hands. Incentives can be equity-based or cash-based, but all plans handcuff employees to the business and help it to accrue value. This White Paper explores several plan options so an owner can determine which path is best.
ESOP Opportunities
This White Paper uses a fictional business owner to illustrate how an owner can use an ESOP to achieve three ownership objectives: 1) to cash out at fair market value; 2) to pay no taxes on the sale; and 3) to transfer the company to key employees. While examining how ESOPs work, their advantages and disadvantages, readers learn that ESOPs do not work for all owners or for every company. They do, however, provide opportunity for some owners to leave their businesses in style.
Exit Routes
When owners think about exiting their companies, the number of exit routes might seem unending. In fact, there are only eight. This White Paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each one. Most importantly, it describes a process that enables owners to choose the best exit path for them.
Headwinds
Today, all owners face three significant headwinds that increase the difficulty of a successful business exit. One is our flat economy—today and for the foreseeable future. The second is the substantially higher tax bill that’s due upon the sale of a business. And last, but not least, is the long-term mediocre investment climate that depresses the amount of income owners can expect from their sale proceeds and other investments. Combined, these three headwinds wreak havoc on an owner’s ability to cross the finish line at all, let alone as they originally planned.
Inevitabilities
At some point, every owner leaves his or her business - voluntarily or otherwise. This issue discusses the proven Seven-Step Exit Planning Process™ designed to achieve an owner's financial and other goals.
Transferring Your Company To Key Employees
Owners wishing to sell their businesses to management (key employees) face one unpleasant fact: their employees have no money. Nor can they borrow any-at least not in sufficient quantity to cash out the owner. The transfer methods described in this White Paper employ a long-term installment buyout of the owner or use someone else's money to affect the buyout.
Using Short Term Key Employee Incentives to Increase the Price
One of a business owner's greatest challenges is to attract, motivate, and keep key employees. Keeping key employees is absolutely critical, however, if the business is to be sold at the highest possible price. This White Paper describes the design elements of a Stay Bonus Plan as well as how to convert a long-term key employee incentive plan into a short term plan.
Value Drivers
It is the job of every business owner to create value in his or her business prior to any transfer or sale. Exactly how do owners do that? read this White Paper to learn about those characteristics (or Value Drivers) that buyers look for when deciding how much to pay for a business.
Transferring Wealth to Children - A Primer for Business Owners
Successful business owners often wrestle with the issue of how to pass wealth to children in a way that minimizes - legitimately - their tax bills. This White Paper explains to owners how such a transfer can be designed as well as:
* why fixing their own financial objective precedes any transfer; and,
* how to determine the amount (and if that amount is too much) to be transferred.
This White Paper uses a case study to illustrate the plan design and includes an explanation of GRATs.
