Windy City Denial

For the past decade, late August for me meant an 11^th hour family vacation sandwiched between attending the annual Midwest Accounting and Finance Showcase in Chicago – well, technically Rosemont, the burgh just off the runways of O’Hare.

True to form, this year was no different — a whirlwind college tour/vacation in Virginia and, just days later, off to the Windy City for a two-day tour of booth duty and conversations with attendees about their succession planning and transition needs that will hopefully come to fruition in the form of an M&A deal or consulting agreements.

During my days as an editor, I used to adhere to the old trade show mantra of diligently “walking the floor” and talking to as many attendees as I could. But now living on the other side as a vendor, I see these events from a whole other perspective as those who are truly interested in your services — as opposed to garden variety tire kickers — who eventually wade up to your booth.

And this week I witnessed a distinct climate of confusion and ultimately denial within the Land of Lincoln.

Case in point: My colleague and I engaged a pleasant-looking woman with a smaller CPA practice and were assured that it was far too early to begin thinking about any type of succession strategy. When asked how many more years she wanted to work full time, she said, “Oh at least three to four. So I have a lot of time.”

Excuse me? I beg to differ, but you don’t. In fact, had you waited much longer your retirement strategy would have to be radically altered.

Another gentleman — conservatively in his mid-70s and who navigated the trade show floor with the aid of a walker —revealed to us that he was “eager to buy a firm.”

Now bless someone who wants to continue working in his golden years, but why on earth would you want to absorb the cost and potential debt of an acquisition when you’re clearly on the 18^th hole and headed to the clubhouse in terms of a career? He was clearly an upstream merger in denial as were dozens of others who visited.

When I get to that stage, trust me, I will be securely under a palm tree making fast friends with a number of exotic beverages in lieu of worrying about compatible billing rates, offices leases, and IT systems.

Now to be fair to the great state of Illinois, its public accounting community is hardly the only one among 50 whose practitioners are hazy — and sometimes lazy — about planning for succession and transition.

But it had better be on your radar sometime, somewhere or one of the last scenarios you’re likely to encounter will be enjoying a cool drink in a hammock.