AcceleratingCFO

Assembling the M&A Avengers!!! The sale of a business is a major event in the life of an entrepreneur — with many nuances and transactional elements. There are obvious areas of expertise required. However, it’s important to round out the team with additional professionals, with specific skill sets, that ensures all aspects of the transaction have been reviewed by seasoned professionals with experience and expertise in the M&A area. ?? Business Brokers have many contacts with companies seeking to both buy and sell businesses. The right advisor will add value to your sale, be a good resource, and will set expectations for what the business is worth and identify proceeds in terms of both cash and non-cash considerations. ??Corporate Lawyer: Your lawyer should have specialized knowledge in the M&A field. Your corporate lawyer will provide insight that will limit post-transaction risk and provide clear and defined terms if contingency payments are to be received after the sale of the business. ??Fractional CFO: If you have a good fractional CFO on your team (like AcceleratingCFO!), you will be able to handle the heavy lifting required by potential buyers, specifically the financial documents needed to evaluate your business and determine if there is a deal to be made. ??Human Resources: The HR consultant will help guide the communication to key personnel in such areas as sales, operations, and finance executives. ??Financial Advisor: Most entrepreneurs will have formed a relationship with a financial advisor prior to the transaction; but if not, now’s the time to do so. Financial advisors will identify how to invest funds in an intelligent way to maximize wealth and minimize tax liability. ??CPA: You will need an accountant, who knows your personal and business tax circumstances, to minimize your tax liability. Your CPA will also be partnering with the fractional CFO and attorney to ensure that the best interests of the seller are maintained. If you are thinking of selling now or in the future, you should start thinking of strategies to maximize your selling price.

Stress Relief!?!?!? At this point in the year, whether we are accountants or business people, deadlines are upon us! Tax filings and reporting deadlines are all coming up fast — not to mention all the fulfillment requirements for goods and services.?Lack of planning can create undue stress, which becomes detrimental to our physical, mental, and financial health. Plan for Worst Case Scenarios: We’ve all looked up to the people who give themselves earlier deadlines, e.g. they assume a report is due on the 5th when in reality it’s due on the 15th. We may have even called them crazy at times; however they’re always the ones that avoid last minute snafus by preparing early! If you’re a procrastinator, preparation is the best, along with policies and procedures that ensure timeliness. Build Stress Relieving Routines: Over the years, countess stress management techniques have been publicized and popularized. Common ones, including exercise, sports, yoga, and meditation, have proven to be excellent ways to clear the mind or body of any negative effects related to everyday stress. Whether as a part of your personal development plan or pure curiosity about the methods, it’s really important to find something that you enjoy and then pursue it on a regular basis. For example, I have started playing racquetball again and has adopted a modified approach to meditating and reflecting in the morning to clear his head and prepare himself for his workday. This works well for him. And he’s found it to be a great way to be present in the moment and have a more positive outlook on the upcoming day. Be Grateful: With everything going on in the world, we have stepped back and examined how fortunate we are to live in the world and able to pursue a livelihood and business in this country. We each have a support system – family, friends, community, church, neighbors, etc.— who we can turn to and lean on in difficult times.It’s our support system that has helped us through the years when payments may have been slow and coming or our work flow decreased. Practicing gratitude helps us realize how much we have instead of how much we are seeking. And those that are grateful for what they have tend to attract like-minded people and thus be surrounded by positive individuals. By working together and remembering our passion for helping others, we are motivated through the challenging times and can fully focus on realizing dreams. We all have various stresses in our lives and there is no way that we can avoid them.?What we can do is learn how to cope with stress and be able to improve our overall mental health.?It’s important as a leader of an organization that your employees, customers and partners see you as a role model of how he/she should handle their daily work activities and business dealings. Our ability to maintain our stress level is not just good for our health, it’s good for business.