Succession planning for accountancy practice owners
A Succession Plan is half a day of work with us and a written plan you keep. It sets out what the firm is worth now, what would move that number, who could take it on, and what to do first.
A Succession Plan is half a day of work with us and a written plan you keep. It sets out what the firm is worth now, what would move that number, who could take it on, and what to do first.
The plan is for owners who expect to sell or step back in three, five or ten years, or who have not yet decided when. Many of the decisions that set the price of a practice are made years before a sale, and planning early gives you time to make them deliberately.
You keep the written plan, which covers:
Owners of accountancy practices, usually somewhere between £150,000 and £2m of fees, who recognise at least one of these:
Pre-work. We send you a short set of questions and a list of what to dig out — the fee list, the last two years' accounts, who does what. This takes an hour or two of your time, and it lets the session work from your firm's own figures.
The session. The session lasts half a day, at your office or by video. We go through the numbers, the client base, the team and what you want from the next few years, and we work through the questions you have been considering on your own.
The plan. We write the plan up and send it to you within about a fortnight, in plain English, with the workings behind every figure shown.
The review. We put a date in the diary to look at the plan again, normally twelve months on, so it stays up to date with what has happened in the firm.
We ask for the following. None of it identifies a client, and we keep all of it confidential.
The plan is a working document for you. It is not a formal valuation report and it is not tax advice. Where something needs your own accountant or a solicitor, the plan says so and explains why. Everything about your firm stays confidential to us, and your practice is not named to any third party at any point.
Practice Group buys practices. The plan is paid for separately and is complete in itself. If you want to rule us out as a buyer for your firm, tell us at the start and the work goes ahead in the same way.
A fixed fee, agreed before we start, covering the pre-work, the session and the written plan. We will confirm it on the first call once we know the size of the practice. It is a one-off fee.
No. The plan suits owners who are three to ten years from an exit, and owners who expect to hand over internally or wind down. It covers every route out, including the ones that do not involve a sale.
No. The plan is a piece of work we do for you alone. We do not publish anything, contact any buyer or name your firm to anybody.
Practice Group buys practices. The plan is a paid piece of work that stands on its own. If a sale to us is ever right, that is a separate conversation that you start. You can also rule us out as a buyer at the beginning, and the plan is the same either way.
It is a considered range with the reasoning behind it, based on your own numbers. It is not a formal valuation report and it is not tax advice. Where something needs your accountant or your solicitor, the plan says so.
Pre-work takes an hour or two of your time. The session is half a day. The written plan follows within about a fortnight, and we put a review date in the diary before you leave.
Tell us roughly where the practice is, and we will reply with what the session would cover and what it would cost.
We will reply by email and use your details only to answer this enquiry. Our privacy notice has the detail.
The guide to succession planning → · the free timeline planner · the owner dependency check
