More Yesterdays than Tomorrows

As we approach Thanksgiving, or as I like to refer to it, the poster child for the Ab-Roller machine, a big shout out to all those folks who were kind enough to send out birthday wishes to me this weekend via Facebook. There were 23 in all, folks who wisely availed themselves of the immediacy and price-friendly properties of that social media channel.

Not to mention sidestepping the awkwardness of having to purchase one of those belated “sorry this is late” cards. I absolutely hate doing that, but it’s amazing how often I find myself in that exact situation.

But while birthday mentions are nice, it also occurred to me that if I owned a CPA firm, it was well past time I began mapping out a succession strategy, because as much I or anyone else my age would like to bury our heads in the sand on such uncomfortable matters of reality, I have a lot more yesterdays than tomorrows.

Last week, I moderated perhaps my 10^th panel discussion in 2013 on succession planning, and the questions I inevitably received both during and afterward are pretty much along the same lines as the succession panel before that and the one before that.

How far in advance should I start? What happens if there’s no one in my firm that can take over? How do I know if someone’s ready to advance to a leadership role?

For sure, all excellent and pertinent points to ponder and ones that our company principles have been addressing on a regular basis for the past two decades.

One of the jarring statistics I stress to attendees is that one person turns 65 every 8 seconds in the U.S. To put that in perspective, following a 90-minute session, 675 more people in America reach that milestone.

And yet, some practitioners steadfastly refuse to address ownership and transition issues head on. One attendee at last week’s session only asked for my business card because she revealed that her children have been consistently hounding her to slow down after operating her practice for 40-plus years. If left up to her, she would continue ad infinitum.

Sadly, that scenario is far too common, and the results of procrastination are evident. Therefore as painful as it can sometimes be, it’s far better to address succession sooner than later, at least before all your birthday well-wishes over the years begin to fuse together.

Because while Facebook may be a Swiss Army knife of sorts for social media properties and special occasion reminders, I’m fairly certain it can’t help you map out a succession plan.