Good morning all,
It is my pleasure to introduce NCACPA’s Succession Planning Task Force.
In its strategic discussions, the NCACPA Board of Directors has spoken at length regarding the need for education around firm succession planning. As this need has been expressed by many members of the Association, the Board created a Succession Planning Task Force to implement education in this area.
I am pleased to work on the initial NCACPA Succession Planning Task Force along with my NCACPA colleagues Ben Hamrick, Stacee Rash, Kelly Puryear, and Dave McIntee. Over the next few months, we will introduce succession planning tools and tips to our fellow members. These will be available on NCACPA’s Succession Planning Tools & Resources page.
Most large firms have succession planning built into their firm-operating agreements. Those firms still face succession challenges, such as building the next generation of future leaders, but typically have written succession plans. On the other hand, several smaller firms, in particular sole practitioners, may not yet have addressed their succession planning matters—which can prove devastating. There have been many difficult phone calls between the Association and spouses of CPAs who had sudden succession planning events in which little or no planning had taken place. Unless you will live forever, succession planning applies to you!
Please ask yourself the following questions:
If you can’t come to the office next Monday who will take care of your clients’ needs?
How much value will your firm lose if the succession planning process is not handled in an orderly manner?
The truth is, every business owner—including every CPA—will face a succession event one day. As a task force, we hope our resources will encourage you to address succession planning in a proactive way to prevent firms and CPAs from being faced with emergency succession planning.
An incredible library of succession planning tools is available through the AICPA Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS). Sharing these resources will be an essential part of our educational campaign over the course of the next several months. Resources will cover topics including identification and development of future firm leaders, key elements in partnership agreements, transition tips, and how to position your firm to be of highest value in your succession plan.
These succession planning tools we will share are available through PCPS, and it is our goal to promote these existing tools to our members to make the utilization of these resources easier. Be on the lookout for NCACPA emails promoting and sharing these tools over the next few months. We want you to feel empowered to protect both your clients and the value of your firm.
We look forward to the task force continuing its work and promoting succession planning to NCACPA members on an ongoing basis.
Michael Gillis, CPA
NCACPA Board of Directors
Managing Partner
DMJ & Co., PLLC
Greensboro NC