News
Don’t Let Succession Affect Your Success!
12 Sep 2022
Think about the future success of your farming business and work with your family and professional advisors to put a succession plan in place.
A model for succession planning
Business owners, farmers and estate owners work all their lives to create a legacy.
The conversation relating to family businesses and homes, coupled with succession can however be challenging when agreeing plans with the people who matter most… your families.
Implementing a succession plan can be seen to be a threat or challenge and many see it as a conversation about death and finances but, in reality, it’s about creating a plan, to provide the best opportunity for a business to continue and to succeed in the future, by putting the right people, in the right place, at the right time, to allow everyone to understand their role and long term aspirations.
In our experience, it can be often difficult to start this conversation for fear of causing conflict, and occasionally those in a position to hand over the business believe successors may need to improve skills, have greater experience or to show and prove their commitment.
Taking care with the language and avoiding unrealistic expectations, full and open discussions are important. It is a great opportunity to consider personal aims and objectives, and to try to remove barriers and which may cause the family plan to deviate.
Your Succession Plan Tick-List
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Review your business performance and finances, to enable and facilitate future plans for the business.
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Review your asset ownership (Business and non-Business) and business structure for tax efficient objectives.
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Review your Will – make sure this is tax efficient and ties in with your business succession plan and ensure that all the family members have Wills.
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Consider and make plans for pensions, investments, tax, legal, capital assets and housing.
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Equip successor(s) with relevant experience and skills and engage and motivate them.
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Review Partnership and Shareholder agreements to ensure that they do not conflict with Will and Succession Plans.
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Review your IHT position and consider options to mitigate any liabilities.
Starting the right conversation may be the hardest part and sometimes bringing in an impartial facilitator can help. At WR Partners we often take part in these conversations, ensuring everybody is on the same page for the future. If you would like advice on anything raised in this article, please contact the team on 08000 664 664 or email hello@wrpartners.co.uk.
Join us for our Upcoming Succession Planning Webinar
Thursday 13th October at 2:00pm
We’ve teamed up with NatWest Commercial Banking & Coutts Private Bank to bring you expert advice on how to sell your business in the most tax-efficient way.
Our Advisory Services
Get in Touch
We love meeting new, exciting businesses. Get in touch with our team to see how we could enhance and protect your financial position.
Or if you’d prefer to speak to someone directly just give us a call on: 08000 664 664 or email: hello@wrpartners.co.uk.
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