Happy 2020 Everyone!
I wanted to provide an update regarding our work to date on NCACPA’s Succession Planning Task Force. Please see https://staging.ncacpa.org/succession-planning-tools-resources/ on NCACPA’s website for complete 
details.
I feel that the task force has published a selection of very helpful material so far and we plan to continue to post information after April 15. Among those resources are articles including these examples:
- Ben Hamrick submitted an excellent piece on why succession planning is important as a seasoned CPA, followed by Stacee Rash who spoke from the young CPA perspective. These two articles show us why succession planning is important to our profession and how very essential it is to our clients. I feel we have a fiduciary obligation to our clients to have a proper succession plan in place.
- Look no further than Kelly Puryear’s article on why your “Practice is Like a Truckload of Peaches” to see how significant succession planning is to your own personal financial planning.
- In December, we were very fortunate to have Terry Putney and Joel Sinkin from Transition Advisors guest write an article entitled, “The Four Exit Ramps for Your Career.”
Just as we often tell our clients, a properly designed succession and exit plan enables business owners to:
- Control the process and timing of their business exit
- Achieve their personal financial goals
- Maximize their company’s value
- Facilitate their retirement
- Explore all available options for their exit
- Promote long-term growth and survival of their business
- Minimize taxes on the transfer or sale of their business
We are all familiar with the old saying, “Nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” I would also add that for every business owner there is also the certainty that a succession event is guaranteed. Let’s all hope that it is a properly planned for event; however, many of us know examples of where that was not the case.
Our Succession Planning Task Force will continue to provide materials and encourage the discussion around succession planning. We are also going to be working on a joint task force with the North Carolina State Board of CPA Examiners on North Carolina CPA succession planning and what role the board may take in this matter.
Best of luck to everyone in the New Year and beyond.
Michael R. Gillis, CPA, PFS, CGMA
Partner| [email protected] | p: 336-275-9886
 | DMJ & Co., PLLC 703 Green Valley Road, Suite 201 Greensboro, NC 27408 www.dmj.com | f: 336-553-2301 |