If I had a dollar for every time I was asked what an accounting, financial planning or legal firm was worth, I would be a very wealthy woman. Of course, my reply is generally, “how long’s a piece of string” or “that depends on a number of factors such as ……….”. One of the hardest Find out more…

Getting the timing right when deciding to sell your business/practice can often be difficult. There are personal, financial and emotional decisions to be made as well as pertinent business decisions and plans to put in place. Experience certainly highlights that timing is everything. An early, planned departure is far better and more successful in terms of Find out more…

Managing personnel would have to be one of the most significant challenges for all practitioners. Today’s world is about employee satisfaction and engagement. There is the constant challenge of hiring, retaining and rewarding personnel. Questions arise around just who are the right type of employees to target for your specific firm; most importantly, being able Find out more…

Irrespective of what type of professional practice is for sale, it has to be acknowledged that the process of selling is often far from enjoyable, fun or a stress free experience. We know that there are many steps within a transaction, all of which need to be mastered and managed well. We recommend that anyone considering Find out more…

Due diligence, or DD as it is often referred, is an integral part of the practice sale or transaction process. For whatever reason, vendors tend to get a little tetchy around due diligence time, concerned about what the purchaser will want to review and what information they need to make available as part of the Find out more…

As most within the accounting profession will acknowledge as a concern, the number of registered company auditors (RCAs) are dwindling. While I appreciate that not all non-SMSF audits require the RCA status, we tend to find those who perform these type of audits have had a long standing involvement in this area and are typically RCAs. Find out more…

As we enter June, efforts within the practice transaction space will be at an almost feverish pace as purchasers attempt to wind up due diligence activities and finalise contracts for sale. Whilst transactions take place at all times of the year, the January to June period is traditionally a good time to transact, enabling the purchaser Find out more…

Quite often we are asked whether there should be some form of clause within a partnership/proprietorship agreement regarding the contribution of revenue by its partners. This can be a double edged sword; in some respects the answer is yes, and in others, it’s no. Nevertheless, this is certainly a very important topic to discuss when Find out more…

Structuring an offer to either sell or buy a practice is one of the fundamental pillars in the practice sale/transaction process. Typically, the purchaser would submit an offer to purchase a practice, however the vendor could also define the type of terms that they would like to see and would accept as part of a Find out more…

With the release of our benchmarking report early in June, the next couple of months will be a great time for firms to review their main KPIs. After staffing costs, RENT is generally one of the next big ticket items. Commonly, rent represents somewhere between 4.5% – 6.5% of total revenue, although a review of Find out more…