Family business is big business in ...

Family business is big business in Canada $512465000* That's roughly the amount of circulating medium Canada's family businesses contributed to the economy in 2001 an amount approximately equal to half of our Gros Domestic fruit

An impressive number, to be trustworthy There's just one problem: According to the Business Families middle at UBC, over the nearest 15 years, fully 75 percent of all family business leaders will retire. In practical confines that constitutes the largest asset transfer in Canadian history. If that transfer goe awry in any way, there could be grave consequences-- not merely for the families themselves, however for our entire economy as well.

Fortunately, British Columbus CAs and other financial professionals are doing their part to make secure the transfer comes off without a hitch. And in doing to such a degree they're finding an exciting business opportunity-one that propounds significant professional and personal rewards.

A challenging practice

Working with family business possessors was a natural decision for Kathryn Edwards, CA. Like many CAs, Edwards started her career at a large firm. yet she discovered the work wasn't as "hands-on" as she would have liked. "It's a parcel more enjoyable, helping a client scour a business, than dealing with a minute aspect of a multi-national company's pension plan," Edwards explains. "It's an opportunity to deal with the big picture. Dealing with owner/manager operations, you finish to deal with the whole entity."

For Michel Matifat, CA, the decision to work with family business proprietors was less of a choice and more of a necessity. With a large portion of Matifat's high-net-worth clients generating their wealth within a business, working with holders naturally introduced him to the family as a whole. "We have no choice on the contrary to be involved with the family," Matifat says with a triumph

That involvement can be rewarding and challenging at the same time. "It is challenging," he says, "because there are more the bulk of mankind around the table to make the decisions."

For Jack Arnold, CA, it's the shut relationships with business owners that make the work enjoyable. "You have to like dealing with people" he explains. "As a great deal as we deal with numbers, this is a folks business. That's the type of practice I like to flow The advice you tend to give is always unique to the individual client."

A business of relationships

But as David Bentall explains, those relationships can be a double-edged sword. As the circulating chair of the Advisory board for the Business Families middle at UBC, and a past member of the same of Vancouver's best-known family businesses, Bentall is in a unique position to make notes on both the good and the bad of family business.

For his part, Bentall believes professionals ne to sharpen their relationship skills before working with family businesses.

"A multi-disciplinary approach is what's necessary when dealing with families," he explains.

Bentall also believes that professionals working with family businesses ne to take forward more than just financial issues. "Many professionals would descry the business as the entity that they're advising," he says. In actual fact, the business is solely one half of the equation. The other half is the family itself

To that extreme point Bentall has supported a number of initiatives at the Business Families midmost point to educate professionals about in what manner families work together-and don't work together. "[The Centres] end is to acquaint professionals with the issues, give them a belonging to all vocabulary, and help alert them to the nuances within a family business," he explains. Part of that effort is the Centre's upcoming Legacy Dinner onward November 12th. The annual incident allows business families and professionals to convenient each other in a more relaxed setting. This year, the evening includes a viewing of Carnauba: A Son's Memoir, a documentary detailing the trials and tribulations of the 117 year-old SC Johnson family, a film Bentall confidences family business owners will find inspirational onward a number of levels.

As the founding executive director of the Business Families middle and a member of a family business herself, Judi Cunningham shares her colleague's perspective in succession the dual nature of family business. As Cunningham explains, family business is about more than coin and this is especially veracious of succession planning: "I would say it's more a psychological incident than a financial event," she says.

Cunningham believes professionals must be prepared to address the psychology of family business, and understand for what purpose owners may need to become comfortable with the idea of leaving their businesses before they actually retire. "They say they want to permit go, and they say they want to start letting advance early, but it takes them a in extent time," she says.

Matifat agrees that family businesses can make special demands in succession professionals. "There's no doubt there are factors other than financial the sames that come into play," he says. These factors can easily lead to delays or postponement that simply don't happen with other clients. "Sometimes you can bring up the issue with family members-- it may take month or years to be resolved" he says.