Have you started to planning? Source: Unsplash/Claudio Schwarz.
The New Year is a time of reflection, re-evaluation and resetting, both in our personal lives and at work. If you own a business, it’s often a time for reviewing the strategy that saw you through the last 12 months and making changes for the year ahead. And after the torrid couple of years we’ve all just experienced, some business owners may be asking themselves whether now is the right time to sell.
If you’re in that situation, you’re not alone. Baby boomers are reaching age 65 at a rate of over 5000 per week. When you get to the retirement stage of business ownership, the questions around selling become more urgent. Who will take over? What will happen to my staff? What will happen to the legacy I’ve created?
These are all questions that should be asked as part of a long-term succession planning process, not at the eleventh hour. However according to Family Business Australia’s 2021 Family Business Survey, most family-owned businesses have no documented and agreed succession plans in place.
Then there is the question of value. How much is the business worth? Business valuation uses detailed risk analysis tools that consider macro-economic factors, industry drivers and business risk to determine an accurate risk score with an appropriate multiple. Unfortunately many business owners don’t understand this or fail to get it right.
