Recent research from Coutts amongst some of the UK’s leading entrepreneurs highlighted that business owners are under-prepared when it comes to business exit. 46% of pre-exit entrepreneurs surveyed believed it would take less than a year to sell; the reality is it will take up to two years of planning before a sale completes.
Business owners admit to being naive when it comes to understanding fully the process of selling their business. Getting good advice from the right advisors is essential in negotiating the best prices and providing access to new possible exit channels. Advice from fellow entrepreneurs who’ve already been through the process is seen as important too.
Whilst the sale might be occupying a lot of head space it’s essential the business owner ensures the business continues to run smoothly and successfully otherwise they jeopardise the chance of maximising the value in a sale.
Alongside these and other useful pointers for business owners and entrepreneurs Coutts offer 5 Golden Rules for Exit Planning:
- Always have the end game in mind
- Build your exit path into your business plan, but prepare to be flexible
- Be realistic about what you can achieve from the start
- Keep an eye on profitability
- Leave scalability in the business
We’d add a few Golden Rules of our own:
- Design your business and the sale in a tax efficient way so you, rather than the tax man, benefit from the sale
- Put in place excellent systems, controls and management reports which make it easy to report to potential buyers
- Do the calculations to show how much you need in realisable assets at the date you plan to retire, work less or be financially independent
The Long Goodbye: Myths, realities and insights into the business exit process is available on the Coutts website.
Andy Parker
Chartered Accountant