Tag: Transferring

Single Appraiser vs. Multiple Appraiser Choices

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Buy and Sell Agreements, Company Wealth, evaluations, Funding your Buy and Sell, Selling Your Business, Uncategorized, Valuation, Working On Your Business

This month I wrote about multiple and single Appraiser choice.  My friend Ed Pratesi was nice enough to give me some of his thoughts, which I definitely respect due to his experience and training.   Ed, thank you for this contribution.

Ed Pratesi wrote:

I read with interest your comments on Single Appraiser vs. Multiple Appraiser choices that owners have for a BSA. I agree in part with your assessment that the single appraiser choice is preferred but I do have a number of caveats and suggest that before the number of appraisers needed is secondary to choices made before this decision. Let me explain my thoughts:

Firstly, the choice of number of appraisers almost always works, whether one, two or the three step approach – except when it doesn’t!

Prior to the determination of the number of appraisers needed is preceded by what I refer to as the education process that a business appraiser must take the owners through in order to develop an agreement and a process that will likely be triggered when an unanticipated or unfortunate event has occurred.

In never ceases to amaze me that owners will spend money on creating a business plan, invest in physical assets and talent and not spend enough time on one of the most important events that will occur in their lives – either their exit or a partners exit. My complaint is not pointed at the owners but at the appraiser called in to initially called in to assist in the valuation.

My point simply is the an appraiser needs to explain the valuation process, the valuation methods used to value a business, the applicability or not of the methods to the company, a discussion of the definition of value – (for example fair market value or fair value, more on this in a later discussion), a complete discussion of adjustments that appraiser consider in the valuation process, and what discounts could apply and the reasons for application of discounts.

This part of the valuation process is more consultative and sets the framework for the conduct of an initial appraisal and of the work product. Finally, once the appraisal is complete a meeting to discuss the results and the process is essential and should be prefeaced with scenario planning should a provision of the BSA be triggered.

The goal is to get buy-in on the process not just the number!

I hope I have addressed part of the discussion of the number of appraisers – more to follow if desired…

Ed Pratesi

Edward E. Pratesi, ASA, CM&AA, ABV, CVA

Managing Director | UHY Advisors N.E., LLC
6 Executive Drive, Farmington, CT  06032
D: 860 519 5648 | C: 860 558 0453 | F: 860 519 1982

epratesi@uhy-us.com |  www.uhyvaluation.com

www.linkedin.com/in/ed-pratesi-140b762

 

The Major Reason Why Business Owners Don’t Plan For Maximizing Their Business’ Financial Potential Is Now Eliminated!

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Company Wealth, Strategies of growing business, Uncategorized, Value drivers, Working On Your Business

Many business owners spend the majority of their time running their businesses and inadvertently end up neglecting some of the more important aspects of their business. This is the time where all the details of the success of your business are planned. We call this “working ON your business”.

Business owners can be vulnerable to financial mistakes because of many factors.

One of the key details of a business owner is what happens to their business in the following scenarios:

  1. What happens if I die?
  2. What happens if I become ill, or have a long-term disability?
  3. What happens if I lost my key person, or my key group of employees?
  4. What happens if I can’t control cash flow, or just don’t want to run the business any longer?

Unfortunately, many business owners don’t spend the time working on their business for many reasons.  Many owners think it’s expensive, complicated and very time consuming.

The truth is that by not working on their business, should any of the above scenarios occur, the consequences would be much more expensive, time consuming and potentially devastating.

In our planning practice, we estimate the average time to create a business and estate financial plans for a business owner, is five to ten hours, not including time with attorneys and accountants who are a part of the team.

How does our process work?

Our system is built around planning with the least amount of time needed for the business owner’s time.  To do this we use technology in communication such as phone conferences, video conferences, and audio and video productions to explain our client’s situation.  This allows the business owner to eliminate using work hours for this project.  We can do this technologically with clarity and brevity.  Our plan is focused on brevity for the business owner.

Our Process: 

  1. Viewpoint Meeting: Define what are some of the areas of concern using our Viewpoint System.  This is a 30 minutes conversation.  Our business owners need about ten minutes to prepare using this aid.
  2. “The Selection Meeting”. Once we define the areas of concern, we dig deeper with a 45-minute Selection Meeting. This is where we discuss all of the possible areas where the client may have problems and concerns.
  3. “The Planning Stage” is the longest meeting. This is about 1½ hours.  Prior to the meeting, we send our client material which they can review and prepare on their own time.  This takes them about 20-30 minutes to complete.
  4. The Discovery Meeting is about one hour where we bring together our findings based on their personal situation and discuss which issues and direction of implementation the client may wish to go. Again, our client receives the information to review prior to our Discovery Meeting[i].
  5. Implementation Session: This is where we start implementation needed to solve the issues.  This is the time when all of the client’s advisors work together to get the planning completed.  For example, our findings are discussed with the professional team and look for their advice and suggestions.    Also, this process brings everyone on the team up to date on the business owners’ situation.  This process breeds new ideas and strategies (earlier in the process, I would have been in touch with these advisors between the Discovery and Implementation Meeting). This may be the first time the client has had all of their advisors working together and sharing knowledge about the business owner! 
  6. Semi-Annual or Annual Review:  This is where we move on to the next area of concern; One concern at a time (in some cases, there may be overlapping of concerns and they can be bundled in the planning).  If there are no additional concerns, we review what has been implemented. This is an automatic process, so we are always adjusting as the business situation changes.

For business owners who realize that they need work  on their business, our process can maximize their business’ potential profit, organize them in a timely fashion, and fine-tune them in the future, so they can maximize their “business potential value” when they exit from their business.

[i] We plan for this time, but do not limit this session to a time schedule.

Disadvantages Of The Buy And Sell Agreement! [i]

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Buy and Sell Agreements, Inside Sale, Selling Your Business, Working On Your Business

Certainly, having a Buy and Sell Agreement (BSA) has many advantages, many of which I have discussed in our past posts (May 2019, Advantages of Buy and Sell Agreements).  However, I would like to go over the disadvantages of a BSA.

RESTRICTIONS ON ESTATE PLANNING

BSA can restrict ownership transfers and consequently management duties. These restrictions can be applied to you also. The restrictions could limit your personal planning by limiting your options for the ownership interests during your lifetime or at death. It may prohibit you from making gifts of your ownership interest to your family. Depending on your planning, your BSA could limit your plans to leave ownership interest to your family. The BSA may require your ownership interest to be sold at your death.

RESTRICTIONS ON FINANCIAL PLANNING 

A BSA can restrict the persons to whom you could sell your ownership interest to and restrict when you can sell it.  An example would be in a situation that you need to sell your interest because you’re in a financial bind. The BSA may require you to sell to your entity or your co-owners, who may not want to buy.

Special election to the defer federal state tax of deceased owners

This could limit an estate owner from using Code Section 6166 which is a way of paying your estate tax over a period of time, giving you the option of paying over a 15-year period, five years of deferral and a ten-year payout.  A purchase from your estate could cause the loss of the right to defer the estate taxes.

A sale of Corporate interests may result in a loss of the entities corporate structure

This could limit the entities right to use its own loss carry back and carry forward losses on a significant change in ownership, which is possible without a well throughout BSA.

The cost of putting together a BSA

It takes time and money to put together a solid buy and sell agreement, Of course this is a disadvantage and it can be expensive, however, in order to have an optimal BSA, you will need to invest time and money.  You will also need a competent council to prepare the necessary documents.  This incurs costs.  Being educated in this strategy is to your advantage when designing your BSA.

A poorly drafted buy sell agreement can be costly:  By failing to carefully work out the terms of buy-sell agreement or by having mismatches between triggering events and the identity of the purchaser versus the funding source, a real mess could be created.

[i] Buy -Sell Agreements for Baby Boomer Business Owners Z. Christopher Mercer, ASA, CFA, ABAR

The Final Act! The Day Will Come! Part 2

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Company Wealth, Income from your business, Key People_Or Group, Selling Your Business, Valuation, Value drivers, Working On Your Business

In part-one of this article, I mentioned how purchasers will prefer to buy a business where everything looks good and there are no apparent problems. Smart and neat operations will attract serious buyers; however, this is only one part that is needed to achieve your selling objectives.

There should be no hidden problems or secrets which can jeopardize the purchase. Any undesirable factor not disclosed to the purchaser can lead to a non-sale, or at the very least, something they can use as a negotiating tool. The fact that a deal has fallen apart, is not only frustrating, but will cost you money, time, and distraction from your business.

An owner who unknowingly discloses secrets or situations in their business can end up becoming a deal breaker. Issues which are known need to be dealt with to have the best chance of a good sale. Since there may be issues which are unknown the best answer to this is to search for the problems in advance and take care of them. Think of this the same way you would treat the sale of your home. You would normally fix up, repaint, and clean up before you put the home on the market. You should do the same thing with your business.

Not only would you want your physical location to be clean and tidy, but this also flows over to the other parts of your business, such as accounting, financing, marketing material, department procedure manuals, and an array of other business items. Prepared written policies and procedures are a great selling point for a prospective buyer. Remember, when someone is interested in your business, it’s their team that inspects every aspect of your business in doing their due diligence. This is a micro inspection of all aspects of your business, so it will pay to make sure there isn’t a bunch of dirty secrets hanging around.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS AND PHYSICAL APPEAL
The first time a prospective buyer visits your company they make value judgements. They will observe everything from your reception area to your signage in and on the building. If the impression they get is positive, they will want to investigate your company more. You don’t want to lose their interest based on visual appeal of your business. No matter how good your business seems to do on paper, the prospective buyer may lose interest based on your first impressions.

This observation doesn’t end with just the building. Your premises, marketing literature, dress attire of you employees, uniforms, office settings, rubbish areas and a host of other areas should be updated and tidy. Continue reading “The Final Act! The Day Will Come! Part 2” →

Business Succession Planning Is  A Necessity For Every Business! 

Featured by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Buy and Sell Agreements, Company Wealth, Inside Sale, Uncategorized, Valuation, Working On Your Business

Business Succession planning for businesses, especially private companies, should be on the a top propriety in the planning area.  Whether the sale will be to top management, middle management, family or to outside sales, it should be an ongoing planning concern.  

A number of private established company’s do not have any such planning, and newer companies in where the owners have no family to take over have the same problem.  In both situations there is a challenge to create a succession plan.   

Business succession planning could be the hardest planning of all.  However, it is a must in planning.  It is the only way the current owners can guarantee that the wealth of the company will either be passed on and continued, or the wealth is transferred to the families through the sale of the business.  Without the succession plan, the largest potential of business wealth can be lost forever.   

The lack of a Succession planning is the reason why many stockholder owners walk the floors at 2am.  They have a true concern for the successor of the firm and the protection of the wealth of the firm.   

 Some of the questions that the owners of firms have:  

  1. What if I die or become very sick?  
  2. What if I lose my key person or key group?  
  3. What if don’t want to do this any longer?  
  4. What if there is an economic downturn and I can’t recoup?   

Other areas of concern are:  

  1. If I want to sell, when do I sell?  
  2. What is the business worth?  
  3. Does the senior management want to leave and retire, or stay active?  
  4. Can the main group of owners afford to retire without creating a cash flow crunch?  
  5. How vulnerable is the company if key people leave and take the secrets with them, or even start their own business, using the company’s business model, or share vital business secrets?  

 The questions discussed above along with many other questions, are the basis of the planning and will help the planning team of advisors guide the owners through the maze of planning traps and opportunities as they walk the path together.    Continue reading “Business Succession Planning Is  A Necessity For Every Business! “ →

Business Valuation After The 2017 Tax Cut And Jobs Act

Featured by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Company Wealth, Selling Your Business, Uncategorized, Valuation, Working On Your Business

Because of the Tax Cut and Job Acts of 2017, the marginal rates are lower.  The impact of the recent tax cut is very straight forward.   Lowering the rate, means a higher after-tax cash flow which translates into higher value for businesses.

Business owners know their business better than anyone.  That being said, you would also assume they would know the value of the businesses? Not so fast!

Knowing your business and knowing what you think it is worth in reality can be two separate issues.  If it were that simple, appraisers would not be needed, but they are, and they play very key role.  They arrive at a fair market value after taking many facts into consideration.

Valuations; “The Walk Way Number”

The “country club” concept of a business owner having a number in his/her head as to what they would take, if offered, offers some interesting conversations during happy hour!

Over the years I have spoken to business owners, and periodically I have been told that the owner has a figure in their head, and if they were offered that figure for their business, they would take it!  They seem to know their business better than anyone, so it is reasonable to believe they have a handle on the value of their company.   In more cases than not, that figure would allow the owner to go and do what they want in life as it would give them the capital needed, and the can walk away from the business.

However, there are some different sides to this concept!   A more logical way of knowing the business value!

Continue reading “Business Valuation After The 2017 Tax Cut And Jobs Act” →

Planning For The Tax Efficient Insider Sale!

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Buy and Sell Agreements, Company Wealth, Inside Sale, Passive Ownership, Uncategorized, Working On Your Business

The sale of your business to an insider requires the simultaneous presence of a capable insider purchaser coupled with your intention to exit.   The reason is the “capable insider” who wishes to purchase your business is not interested in hanging around forever waiting for you to decide to sell.  Without   a solid commitment from you on the timing of your exit, prospective purchaser will ultimately become disinterested.

There is also the possibly of you having to finance part of the purchase price.    Chances are that you will be helping finance part of the sale, which represents actual years after your exit, which you are tied to the company.

Using a two-tier system for the purchase of your interest!

Under a two-tier   purchase system, a portion of your stock would be transferred to your inside buyer initially, and the balance would be transferred when the business is sold.

By using the two-tier purchasing system, there are a number of advantages:

  1. Providing stock ownership to a key employee today can provide incentives for better job performance.
  2. It can help reduce the risk that they will be attracted to a job offer from a competitor and ultimately leave you with your company secrets.
  3. Improves the likelihood of a bank financing the balance of their purchase in the future at your final exit.
  4. It gives them “skin in the game” when they contribute some of their funds to purchase some of the stock, giving them additional motivation to help the company be successful.
  5. Allows you to become a mentor to your key employee to further develop their skills under your watch, while still controlling the company.

Continue reading “Planning For The Tax Efficient Insider Sale!” →

Transferring A Business To Insiders

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Buy and Sell Agreements, Selling Your Business, Working On Your Business

Selling your business is an important financial transaction that requires a well developed exit strategy. Many owners view their business as much more than an asset. They’ve poured their hearts and souls into it. Maintaining the established business culture motivates them to sell to insiders. In fact, 95% of all sale transactions involve insiders, who may include co-owners, family members, managers and key employees. The insider group that is buying the business is called a key employee group (KEG).

There are four ways to transfer a business to insiders: Continue reading “Transferring A Business To Insiders” →