Help biz owners pass the torch

As your businesses owners clients celebrate small business week, try connecting with them to share some planning tips.

They’re most in need of succession advice, given of two-thirds of Canada’s small and medium business market hasn’t yet taken steps to protect their legacies, according to a recent report by the Canadian Financial Executives Research Foundation (CFERF).

In particular, the report finds many owners haven’t chosen who will take over when their CFO retires. And since the business market accounts for 45% of the GDP and the creation of more than half of Canada’s jobs, that’s a major problem.

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“On the horizon, we face a looming shortage of financial leadership in Canada,” says David King, Canadian president of Robert Half Management Resources.

“By virtue of their size,” he adds, “small and medium businesses are particularly vulnerable [since] they run leaner operations.” He says they’ll struggle to find a good replacement CFO, and owners have to consider “the boomer [is] generation expected to retire in the next 5 to 10 years.”

Thus, “it’s more important…for organizations of this size to…have a strategic plan in place that is understood” by all staffers that would be affected by a management change.

To help your small biz clients, read and share these articles:

Biz owners want advisors to help with benefits

How business owners view money, retirement

Dividends still best for business owners

Small biz less satisfied with banks

Bust myths about small biz