Is Your Firm Prepared for the Future?

Source: Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders

The following is a complete reprint, reproduced with permission, of a blog post by Rita Keller.

NO BIG SURPRISE HERE….

The AICPA has released some information from the 2012 PCPS Succession Survey.

It is not shocking that 79 percent of firms with multiple owners said they expect succession to be a significant issue in their business over the next decade.

It's like many topics, issues and challenges for the profession of public accounting. We talk about it, write about it, read about it and then take decades to resolve it. Just saying.

Solo practices have some work to do; only six percent said they have practice continuation agreements (in the event of the owner's death or disability).

The oldest Baby Boomers are just now reaching retirement age and will be retiring in large numbers over the next decade. There is still time to plan. The owners who are looking at retirement will be focused on exit strategies that maximize the value of their largest asset – the CPA firm. Studies also tell us that Boomers are undecided about when they will actually retire. I see this in many CPA firms; retirement age is a moving target.

Per Mark Koziel, AICPA vice president of firm strategies and global alliances, “It pays to have an orderly plan in place that accounts for all contingencies and includes steps to maintain or increase the market value of your firm.”

There are resources available on the AICPA PCPS website: The Succession Planning Resource Center.

For the original entry, read “New Survey From The AICPA.”

From Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders, the blog of Rita Keller, October 9, 2012. Visit ritakeller.com/blog.