Page 28 - Wealth of Experience - Selling a Business 2019

WORKING During the sales process, which professional advisers did you use?

Lawyer Corporate Accountant Business Other Financial
WITH ADVISERS (CONT) finance consultant planner
adviser

Tax Adviser order to live the life they want, without the fear of running
out of money. Knowing this can change the dynamic of a
Planning ahead of a transaction is the best way for owners business sale, shorten the process or provide confidence
to sell their businesses without paying more tax than they that you will be able to fulfil your personal financial goals.
need. With the amount of money that a sale generates,
sound advice is essential. The sense of achievement 63% of our respondents sought personal financial advice
%
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following a successful sale, after years of hard work, can before the sale . Just one member of our survey group 100 % 73 63 % 10 % 10 % 5 %
often be dampened at the hands of HMRC. didn’t appoint a wealth management firm at any stage of
the sales process. Of those who didn’t have a financial
A lot of tax issues emerge when businesses come to plan in place presale, 86% got one within six months of
be sold. Sometimes owners don’t start the process selling .
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early enough. It can take time to implement efficient tax
strategies, and being able to apply a strategy over multiple Business consultant
tax years is often beneficial.
Business consultants provide advice on how businesses WHERE DO COOPER PARRY COME IN?
can adapt in order to improve performance and improve
We would encourage business the sale value. Cooper Parry has experts and lots of them! We used the extensive knowledge
owners to plan early to help reduce This includes advice about how best to structure a
future tax bills. business’s different streams of revenue in the run up to of our people on the inside to help build this report. Here you can see a
the sale, as well as any additional recommendations that snapshot of the team – their specialisms are wide ranging and together they
would make a firm more attractive to prospective buyers. form the perfect mix for your business sale...
A good tax adviser will analyse tax issues relevant to the
company and frequently, also the individual. They will Because business owners can be so closely immersed
assess the tax implications of a deal and provide guidance in their company’s daily operations, sometimes someone
on how best to structure the arrangement. external is best positioned to see weaknesses and
inefficiencies.
Critically, in addition to this, they will look at the tax
structuring goals of the owner, so that they have an Business consultants vary tremendously in the value they
efficient tax strategy in place when any transaction is add. Some offer general advice, while others are far more
completed. specific, focussing on smaller parts of a company or Jonathan Elsigood Andy Parker
individual processes.
It’s sensible to hire a tax adviser experienced in mergers Partner & Relationship Partner Cooper Parry
and acquisitions rather than relying on a regular Getting good advisers is key! Manager Corporate Finance
accountant. For most owners, appointing a specialist When selling their business, every single one of our Cooper Parry Wealth
tax adviser for both corporate and personal advice is respondents consulted some form of professional adviser -
essential. be they a lawyer, business consultant or corporate finance
Personal wealth planner adviser.

You might think you won’t need a financial adviser until The BEI (exit planning solutions) survey states that overall,
post-sale, when you’ve received part or full payment and 48% of US business owners had discussed exiting their
you’re considering what to do with the new found wealth. business with their spouse or other family members.
However, it can be extremely useful to ‘know your number’ However, only 41% had spoken with an accountant about
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- the amount of money needed to live the life you want it and just 40% had consulted an attorney . This suggests
after the sale. that making the decision to sell often starts at home. Krista Fox Charndeep Bains
Selling a business is a tricky process, especially if you’ve
The ‘new breed’ of wealth planners is more adept at Tax Partner Tax Adviser
personal financial planning, understanding personal never done it before, which most owners haven’t. Advisers Cooper Parry Cooper Parry Wealth
financial goals and then scenario planning, in effect cash can help with everything from the technical complexity to
flow forecasting for personal wealth. For many, the value marketing the business to the right people.
of this approach is that owners will understand ‘their 27
number’, the amount they need to sell the business for in

14 Cooper Parry Wealth Of Experience Survey Q29
15 Cooper Parry Wealth of Experience Survey
28 16 BEI 2016 ‘Business Owner Survey Report’ 29