You’ve spent your life starting and growing your business, but eventually all good things come to an end. For some, the decision comes early in the life of a business. For others, it’s one of the last decisions you’ll make as an owner. Regardless of how you get to the ownership transition stage, understanding the process—and being prepared for it—is essential to ensuring a smooth exit.
There are many questions to consider when it comes to exiting your business:
How long should you plan ahead for the sale or transition of your business?
Who is going to buy your business?
What does the process look like?
What should you do now to prepare?
Exit planning has many moving parts, and as many as 75 to 85% of transitions fail to sell. Proper planning and sound strategy can help ensure your business, your family, your employees, and your financials are set up for success. Common roads taken when going through ownership transition include employee stock ownership plan, third party sale, public offering, and transfer to family.
How Eide Bailly Can Help in Your Ownership Transition
There are a variety of options to consider when it comes to transitioning from running a business full-time to scaling back, including setting up employee ownership options, exiting, retiring, selling to private or public entities or succeeding to family.
Each option needs careful consideration, and we have many teams ready to assist with whatever direction feels right. Our professionals can help you manage and plan for the future wealth that will come with certain transitions. Whenever you’re ready for the next step, we’re here to help.
Eckroth Music is a family business that has been around for 50 years. Here's how Eide Bailly helped them transition their business to the next generation.
The personal touch and extraordinary effort the Eide Bailly team put forward has far exceeded our expectations and any experiences we've had with past CPA firms. "
Preparing to exit your business isn’t one big decision. It’s a series of choices, assessments and reassessments. It’s a process, and the longer you give yourself, the better off you’ll be. We’ve put together a list of resources and a free comprehensive guide to help you get started.
Understand the possible decisions and actions that arise throughout your ownership transition journey.
Let’s talk.