Assisting Exit-Ready Businesses

More than one million small businesses in Canada contribute somewhere between 25% and 41% to Canada’s GDP. These small enterprises also account for almost 78% of all private jobs created in Canada and about 70% of the total labor force¹.  This market is a sweet spot for advisors in the tax and financial services industry who are ready to provide education on recent tax changes and new planning opportunities.

That advisor will assist business owners and their families to maximize their investment in the small business, income split, and re-invest resources with tax savvy to be exit-ready at any time.

These skills are important in current uncertain economic times, when news headlines infer that Canada may be in a recession, something Finance Minister Joe Oliver and others are denying in recent news reports.  

Statistically, businesses have been flourishing in recent years with the number of bankruptcies in Canada falling by 56% in the period 2000 to 2013. Further, almost 14 percent of small businesses are now owned by females; another 18% in equal male-female partnerships. 

But in 2015, almost 50% of all owners of small and medium sized business are between 54 and 68 years of age, and over 77% have more than 10 years of experience. This demographic provides a very unique opportunity for retirement income, succession and estate planning for business owners, and a significant advantage for successors to acquire vibrant businesses they can take to the next level. The extent to which professional advisors assist with planning conversations on individual, corporate and family trust structures can help to establish and execute on family wealth accumulation, growth, preservation and transition goals.

Tax and financial advisors are invited to learn the latest tax and business management strategies to help answer these questions at the fall Distinguished Advisor Workshops from Knowledge Bureau.  The topics will include case-study and peer-to-peer learning featuring the following topics:  

1. Year-end tax planning tips for individuals featuring the provisions of the April 2015 budget and anticipated changes from the October federal election.
2. Year-end strategies for the corporation and family trusts. A full explanation of planning options, including changes to income splitting rules, maximization of capital gains exemptions and the problems inherent in new Life interest and testamentary trust provisions and how to work around them. Some issues for business owners with multiple real estate properties will also be explored.
3. Financial Planning for the Business. Most advisors and their clients realize that business growth really doesn’t mean anything if the financial statements are not done or interpreted on a regular basis. But in this session, you’ll learn that growth is about following the flow of money generated by the business to a definitive financial goal by establishing the resources, systems, processes and procedures that produce a framework for continuous growth . . . during the shareholders’ lifetimes, at transition to the next generation and beyond. 

Assisting Exit-Ready Businesses. In this practice management component of the Distinguished Advisor Workshop, the focus will be on the soft and technical skills required to establish “exit-ready” businesses, within a Real Wealth Management Model.

That is, what is the role of the Real Wealth Manager who specializes in tax, investment, retirement and/or succession and estate planning services in facilitating specific strategies at year end to accumulate, grow, preserve and transition family wealth? 

To learn how to better position the family for the results they need to meet their income and equity value goals next year and beyond, participants will be asked to reflect on the “One Big Thing” they can do to help business owners understand their sweet spot in improving the financial plan for the business.

For more information, please call 1-866-953-4769 or register online:   https://www.knowledgebureau.com/index.php/workshops//

¹ Statistics Canada, Key Small Business Statistics August  2013