BUSINESS PLANNING - A/K/A - BUSINESS SUCCESSION PLANNING
Copyright 2001 - Thomas J. Keating, IV, All Rights Reserved
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Business succession planning is a truly gargantuan subject. Its general goals and motives can be simply stated, but, owing to (a) the wide variety of legal forms of business organization, (b) the even wider variety of family (and by that I mean both biological and business family) dynamics, (c) the nearly infinite variety of human goals and aspirations, both economic and otherwise, and (d) the tax laws which impinge, from a bewildering number of directions, both on the business and on its owners, it is not feasible, indeed not even thinkable, to attempt a complete overview here.
I am concerned, however, that even though this is a dauntingly vast subject, it should not be approached in a half-vast manner, and I have given a bit of thought to how to prevent that result, within the limitations imposed by my available time, effort and talent.
My solution, for better or worse, is to not attempt even a partial overview of the subject, but instead to offer, to those who are interested, a form of business planning questionnaire which (a) contains a modicum of tutorial information, and (b) provides a logical framework upon which the would-be business succession planner can organize his background information, his thoughts and his preferences, in such a way that they can be readily presented to and assimilated by his professional advisors, and the planning process thus moved forward in an orderly and efficient manner.
For technical reasons which I will not bother to discuss here, it is necessary to deliver this material in the form of a "PDF" file, and, in order to download and print it in the proper format you will need a "PDF" file reader, which can be obtained from a number of sources.
Although the questionnaire form was originally intended and used in my home State of Maryland, I have rewritten some portions of it to eliminate specific references to Maryland law, with result that it may be at least somewhat useful in all of the United States, and may perhaps (although I say this without any great degree of assurance) be of some limited use elsewhere as well.
Now a final remark directed purely to the lay reader. You might wish to secure from your own advisor a copy of his form of questionnaire, or whatever is the equivalent, without disclosing what you have found here, and compare it generally to the one I have furnished. If there is no such, or if it is rudimentary, you will know one of two possible things about your advisor. One, that he does not do much of this type of work, or, two, that he has learned how to keep many more ideas in his head at one time than I can.
So, if business succession planning is on your list of "things to do", get yourself a PDF file reader, put at least 40 sheets in the printer, and download the questionnaire, which you can do by clicking here.
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