Succession planning strategies need revamp

by Fiona Moore

Financial planning businesses should put succession plans in place at least 10 to 15 years before they think they may need it, according to Guest McLeod senior partner, Timothy Rossell.

Rossell says many financial planning businesses only think of succession planning when they have an immediate need for it thereby missing the central point, which is to ensure that a planning business has continuity built within it.

A successor in Guest McLeod’s business structure, Rossell says his company is currently in its fourth generation of succession.

He says through overseas travel, listening to what a lot of other people have done with succession planning, and trial and error, Guest McLeod has developed some alternative approaches to succession planning.

“We think we’re doing some things differently. It’s all about structuring the business. We do not think of it [succession planning] as an exit strategy of business. Rather, how do we ensure the viability of the company,” he says.

Rossell says the alternative strategies to succession planning that he and his fellow senior partner Philip Guest will present, incorporate both common sense and experience.

These include not expecting successors that are coming through the company to duplicate the experience of their predecessors and unlike the practice of many financial planning businesses, successors should be given the best clients not the worst.

Rossell says successors should be encouraged to contribute to the firm as a whole and should not, as is the practice in many financial planning businesses, have to pay cold hard cash for equity in the business.

Timothy Rossell with present more of his alternative views on succession planning in the session,‘Succession planning - what works and what doesn’t,’at 3pm on Friday.