Six ways an accountant can help your business: Part six

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When you start a new company, you aren’t usually considering an exit strategy at the same time. However, the business structure you decide on could affect your future exit plans. Decisions you make while building the business can all have an impact if you decide to leave the company, sell it or retire.

An outsourced accounting service will ensure you have access to the best advice when planning for a possible exit. Here, we have listed some of the more common options available:

Selling up

Probably the most common solution is to sell the business. You could sell to your staff or sell to an outsider or trader. If you think this is how you would exit the operation you may want to consider forming a limited company, because this model means the enterprise is a separate entity, making it much easier to sell than if you were a sole trader.

Leaving it to the family

If you have worked for many years building up a successful company, it is natural that you would want to leave it to the family, allowing your relations to reap the rewards of your efforts. If this is your intended plan – to retire and pass the reins on to other family members – invite the selected person to work alongside you a few years in advance so that they develop a sound understanding of the company.

Shut the business

If you want to just close the business down when you retire, you should plan your exit strategy in advance. The business structure adopted can have a huge impact on how easy it is to sell and should be planned from the start. Some of the decisions made during the early stages of running the business will affect the manner in which you exit.

If you would like to discuss this area with us, please give us a call.