ABOUT US

ABOUT SUCCESSION PLUS

Succession Plus specialises in providing strategic advisory services and project management in the area of business succession and exit planning for small business owners.

With three critically acclaimed books educating SME businesses on employee incentives, succession plans and asset protection, Succession Plus’s unique IP lies in strategic and project planning for effective delivery of solutions which maximise SME value from start-up to succession.

Succession Plus works with a number of expert partners to implement planned solutions for the mutual benefit of partners and their clients.

Succession Plus is one of Australia’s leading strategic advisory firms, going ‘Beyond Advice’ to offer practical growth and succession planning solutions to businesses across Australia.

COMPANY HISTORY & PRINCIPALS

Craig West founded Succession Plus in May, 2004, after taking a year off to write three books and design the intellectual property that would form the foundation for the new enterprise.  Originally called Peak Partners, the business was a specialised strategic advisory practice completely focussed on assisting small business owners to effectively deal with the four key strategic issues facing SME’s as they grow. Our research has uncovered the fundamental issues facing SME’s as being:

1.       Raising Capital

2.       Building Equity

3.       Protecting equity

4.       Extracting value upon exit

In 2009 the business rebranded as Succession Plus to reflect its sharpened focus on business exit strategies and succession planning.
Steven Kay joined the team in 2010 as the business expanded and offered longer term mentoring and coaching services to assist clients in implementing their business strategy. Peter Clout joined the team in 2011 as CEO of the financial services division. Linda Sirol was admitted as a partner in March 2011 to add to the advisory expertise of the business. With 3 support staff to assist clients the business is focused on becoming Australia’s most influential succession planning advisers.

THE SUCCESSION PLUS PROCESS

IDENTIFY VALUE

Our business succession planning process is specifically designed around matching your wealth and retirement planning needs with the value that can be extracted from your business and personal assets within a set timeframe. Most business owners simply wait until retirement is imminent and without adequate planning suddenly realise their business will not adequately fund their retirement and that the shortfall can cause ongoing financial problems.

The first stage of our process therefore is to identify what will be required in terms of retirement planning and financial needs going forward as well as what exists currently in terms of business value and personal assets  – our initial stage one report includes a comprehensive review of both business and personal situations to ensure we can maximise the outcome.

STAGE ONE REPORT : Our stage one report is a comprehensive review of your business and includes a unique “reverse due diligence” process whereby we act as if we were advising a buyer and analyse the business risk in terms of documentation, compliance, legal, HR and other issues – this 38 page report includes detailed recommendations to ensure the due diligence process does not cause problems with any future transaction and makes changes to your existing business structure for ease of operation, flexibility and effectiveness in terms of taxation outcomes and the ability to provide for intergenerational transfer of future ownership.

The report includes a comprehensive financial analysis and scorecard which highlights any area within the business that requires further development or improvement:

In addition we analyse non-financial KPI’s – these are areas of business operations which will have a direct effect on the risk weighting that we provide as part of our business valuation and therefore any improvement in these areas will improve the valuation of the business overall :

Finally an implementation plan and timeline is prepared to manage the various projects that result from this detailed analysis.

MAXIMISE VALUE:

Typically our clients work with a senior adviser over a period of 12 to 24 months in order to improve these ratings and therefore increase the valuation of the business so it better matches their retirement planning outcomes.

A dedicated adviser is assigned to each client who will work to review strategic  exit options and agree the most appropriate strategy given the clients timeframe and financial position. This will result in the development of a strategic plan for the business which maps out the strategic initiatives for the business over the next 5 years. They will use benchmarking to identify growth and performance improvements and whilst implementing the key recommendations from our stage one report will project manage a restructure (if required) as well as reviewing risk issues including insurances on key people and assets.

Many of our clients have experienced dramatic improvement in performance through the adoption of an employee incentive plan such as our Peak Performance Trust (a specifically designed ESOP for use as part of our business estate and succession planning process )  which is implemented  to attract, retain and motivate key staff within the business – ultimately leading to an increase in value.

This process is typically managed over a 12 to 24 month project timeline to allow all of the relevant changes and structures to be implemented effectively thereby reducing overall risk and ultimately increasing business valuation.

EXTRACTING VALUE:

This stage involves implementing the agreed strategy once all of the restructure and maximisation projects are completed to ensure we extract maximum value. Depending upon the most appropriate strategy which has been selected this stage will involve transactional issues like legal advice, CGT &  taxation and accounting  – a project manager will coordinate all aspects to ensure our coordinated approach is maintained to maximise the outcomes and ensure they are aligned with our retirement planning objectives.

At this stage planning around your self-managed superannuation fund strategy is also important to ensure as we move into the wealth management phase the appropriate structures are used going forward, to assist with the transition for business owner to retirement.

MANAGING VALUE:

This process focuses on managing the wealth we have been able to extract (proceeds of sale, employee share plan, capital raising, merger etc. etc.) to maximise the performance of passive income, minimise any risk areas, protect assets and utilise the taxation and retirement planning benefits of self-managed super funds.

PRINCIPALS PROFILE

Craig West, Australia – Partner
Craig is a strategic accountant who has been advising businesses in management, taxation and accounting issues for over 15 years. He specialises in business structuring and succession planning and has had extensive experience working with clients to improve their performance with proven results.




Linda Sirol, Partner
Linda is an experienced and respected adviser who specialises in advising and mentoring owners to improve business structure, execute strategy, develop meaningful and efficient reporting and business systems, strengthen their leadership team and build a more effective board. Linda’s advice is based on her own track record of success in building and improving businesses.


Detailed bios on partners available in this site