As advisors, unless and until we know more about an owner's company and what goals he or she wants his Exit Plan to achieve, we cannot possibly know which route is best. It is the job of your Exit Planning advisor to help you plan and implement your exit strategies by asking the questions that help you to clarify your goals. Experienced Exit Planning advisors ask the right questions so that you know where you are going, who is going to help you get there and the route you are going to take.
We recommend that you begin your Exit Planning journey with two things:
- a road map and
- an experienced guide.
The road map describes the Exit Planning process you will follow. Finding and using experienced advisors may not be easy.
First, no one professional has all of the answers. The issues you face in exiting your company are complex and will require input from professionals in a number of disciplines. For example, an accountant skilled in Exit Planning brings a host of skills (especially tax minimizing techniques) to the process that your attorney does not possess and vice versa. In addition to being skilled in a particular practice area, each advisor must also be familiar with, and better yet, experienced in Exit Planning.
Lawyers and CPAs are expensive. Won't this Team cost me more money?
Assembling and meeting with your Advisory Team not only facilitates the exchange of information and ideas but it reduces your costs by increasing the efficiency of each advisor. Instead of your advisors proceeding in a disjointed and inefficient manner, have a single meeting with all advisors present to coordinate everyone's efforts.
An Advisory Team consists of the following professionals:
- CPA/Estate Planing Accountant
- Financial Planner/Investment Advisor
- Insurance Professional
- Certified Valuation Analyst
- Business/Estate Planning Attorney(s)
- Business Consultant (as needed).
If a third party sale is likely, you will also need a:
- Transaction Intermediary (Business Broker or Investment Banker) and
- Transaction Attorney.
Let The WBI Group and Dugan & Lopatka Be Your Team
- CPAs: Dugan & Lopatka, CPAs, PC - One of Chicago's top 30 CPA firms. Minimizing tax implications for you and the buyer.
- Insurance: Dugan & Lopatka Insurance Solutions, LLC - The Buy-Sell, life, disability and long-term-care insurance you will need to have in place before your exit your company.
- CVA: Dugan & Lopatka Valuation Group - When you want to know the real value of your company, use a certified valuation analyst.
- Business Intermediary: The Wheaton Business Intermediary Group - When you want to sell to outsiders, you need the resources to market your company and structure the deal.
- Attorney: Not us but we work with some of the best exit planning attorneys in the country.
Our organizational chart is upside down. It reflects our belief that the customer is on top and those that are below support those people above them. Dugan & Lopatka has twenty-four CPA team members, one certified valuation analyst, one licensed financial planner, one growth consultant, six para-professional and support team members, and seven principals. We also have six technology professionals.