Training for the Big Win: How Athletes and Family Businesses Need to Train for Success

Posting by Joel C. Susco, CPA, Principal

I was at lunch recently and the topic came up on the similarities between business owners and athletes.  After some time on the topic, we were quite amazed at just how similar they truly are, especially when considering a family business.

Both commit countless hours over many years, striving for the ultimate goal, pushing their hearts, minds and bodies far beyond their comfort level.  Both have the inner desire to achieve excellence, sometimes facing […]

September 21, 2009 Family Owned Businesses, Uncategorized Read more...

From Luxury Rides to Wagons – How Car Company Cousins Porsche & Volkswagen are So Different

Posting by Geoffrey D. Brown, CPA

In our Greater Washington DC Family Business Alliance, we often discuss the trials and tribulations of working with family in your business.  Every now and then, however, these families start or join other companies who may have contact with their former employer.  In the case of Porsche versus VW, we witness the very intertwined relationship – note that Porsche has recently rejected VW’s offer to buy out 49% of their company in order to […]

September 9, 2009 Accounting, Family Owned Businesses Read more...

Gettin’ Crabby With It: How One Family Business is Gunning for Baltimore’s “Best of” Lists

Posting by Joel C. Susco, CPA

When thinking of industries likely to feature family businesses, a natural first instinct is the independent restaurant industry.   But like many other family owned and operated businesses, it is often difficult to get past that second generation hump.  So it is really a success story when a family restaurant survives forty years, and more inspiring still when said establishment experiences steady growth and has accolades heaped upon it.

Read more about how local Hanover, Maryland’s […]

August 21, 2009 Family Owned Businesses, Uncategorized Read more...

Family Values: The Meaning of Shareholder Value in a Family Business

Posting by Geoffrey D. Brown, CPA

In this month’s Journal of Accountancy, there is an article titled “Four Options for Measuring Value Creation.” http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2009/Aug/20091518> At the beginning it states that first and foremost, the role of a corporation is to create shareholder value.  While this is relatively easy to visualize in the world of publicly-traded securities, how does this play out in the world of family-owned businesses?

Publicly-Traded versus Family-Owned

In the publicly-traded sector, you’re creating value for shareholders that, in a […]

August 8, 2009 Accounting, Family Owned Businesses Read more...

Sex, Booze and Rock ‘n’ Roll: Don’t Let Your Family Business Become a “True Hollywood Story”

Posting by Joel C. Susco, CPA, Principal

Wineries and other alcohol-based enterprises are often family businesses, passed on for generations.  We’ve heard that alcohol impairs judgment – is this the case in the alcohol industry as well?  Perhaps not, but read on from the article at the link below to learn about the family squabbles, financial squandering, and foolish squelching of the voice of reason pointing to the downfall of the Seagram’s empire.  Lessons learned?  Maybe that the family business […]

August 3, 2009 Family Owned Businesses Read more...

Fraud Within the Family Business: Damage Control for Both the Family and the Business

Posting by Jacqueline M. Thompson, CPA

There are many resources available to assist family members in working together, for creating the right governance structure, the correct management style, and the most desirable compensation practices for a successful family-owned business.  But what happens when the unthinkable occurs – when a family member commits fraud?  When one family member steals from the business, and, in essence, from the rest of the family?  To where does a business, and in many cases, a […]

July 23, 2009 Family Owned Businesses, Forensic Accounting Read more...

You Can’t Pick Your Family, or Can You? Treating Employees “Just Like Family”

Posting by Jacqueline M. Thompson, CPA, Principal

So often we hear of a business that seems more like a family, whether or not they are related.  “I treat my employees just like family.”  Well, a few episodes of the E True Hollywood Story teaches us that not all “families” operate well together, but in general this is meant to be a positive.  Often the owner has a more paternalistic management style, and they feel that everyone works together and is […]

July 20, 2009 Family Owned Businesses, Human Resources Read more...

Family Business Succession Planning – Resistance is Futile

Posting by Joel C. Susco, CPA

Many of us prefer not to think about what will happen upon our death; we say, “Let someone else deal with it.”  But none of us are immortal, and failure to make proper plans can mean that we leave behind a mess which needs to be sorted out by our loved ones.  At a time when they are emotionally vulnerable, such failure to properly plan could potentially lead to great expense and consume a […]

July 16, 2009 Accounting, Family Owned Businesses Read more...

The Greater Washington, D.C. Family Business Alliance Launches as “Go To” Resource for Area Family Businesses

Bond Beebe, a Washington, D.C. based certified public accounting and advisory firm with offices in Maryland and Virginia, announced today that it has launched the Greater Washington D.C. Family Business Alliance (“The Alliance”) to serve as a “go to” resource for family-owned and operated businesses located in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia. The Alliance’s mission is to help family businesses by providing them the information, knowledge and resources to succeed in business and their family lives. […]

July 15, 2009 Family Owned Businesses, Firm News & Events Read more...

Mad About Madoff: How Much of the Family Business Did This Family Know About?

Posting by Joel C. Susco, CPA

You would have to be living in a cave to not know about the Bernie Madoff controversy and its results.  Or perhaps you are living in the cave because you lost all your money in his Ponzi scheme, and you had to go to the public library to read this blog posting on one of their computers.  Either way, there’s no point in this blog discussing how horrible this scam was, or how it […]

July 10, 2009 Family Owned Businesses, Forensic Accounting Read more...