He Ain’t Fired-He’s My Brother: When a Family Business Should Put Non-Family First

Posting by Joel C. Susco, CPA

Whether you are currently part of a family business or not, the vast majority of us have experience being in a family.  If we have siblings, we may have had some tests of equality given to us – such as, “I had to go to community college, but mom and dad sent little Suzie to Harvard!”  And most of us have also learned that being related does not mean we are completely, or remotely, […]

Experts Weigh In On How Family Businesses Can Survive

How do family businesses survive?  Through sustainable growth, according to many experts.  Here are some of the top best practices for family firms that can guide you into creating and sustaining a successful family business.

http://www.bworldonline.com/BW062309/content.php?id=144

The Changing Face of Newspapers and a Family Business: The Post-ess with the Mostest

Posting by Joel C. Susco, CPA, Principal

This week I had the opportunity to listen to a talk given by Katharine Weymouth, the Chief Executive Officer of Washington Post Media (a unit of The Washington Post Company).  Weymouth is the fifth member of the Graham newspaper dynasty to hold that title since her great-grandfather, Eugene Meyer, bought The Post at a bankruptcy sale in 1933.  She is the niece of Post Company Chairman Donald Graham, and granddaughter of the late […]

Generation XX – Women Heading Family Businesses, at Multimedia Empires and Down on the Farm

Posting by Joel C. Susco, CPA

Smith & Sons Hardware.  Twenty Brothers Pizza.  The Law Offices of Smith, Smith, Jr. and Smith III.  What do these fictional family businesses have in common?  The primary members of the family business are men.  When one thinks of a family business passing from generation to generation, the picture most people initially get is: a man starts a business from scratch, perhaps partnering with a brother or other male family member, hires the sons […]

Good Business Agreements Make for Good Family Business

Posting by Joel C. Susco, CPA

Over lunch one afternoon, two brothers discuss an idea for a new business venture.  From a pile of hastily written notes and doodles on paper napkins a company is born.  After years of hard work and dedication, this partnership of two siblings grows to become a successful business with perhaps hundreds of employees including the children, grandchildren and even in-laws of the original founders.

This story is not uncommon in the world of closely-held companies […]

Putting the Success in Your Family Business Succession Plan

Posting by Admin

Starting a family business, you may think that you’ll run it until you are ready to retire, then pass on the leadership reins to one of your offspring, and that the success and growth will continue at the same pace in perpetuity.  You made a blueprint for the design and continuity of the business, at least the blueprint is in the CAD machine of your brain, if not on paper.  Of course they will know how to […]

Birth Order in a Family-Owned Business: The First Shall Be Last, and the Last Shall Be First

 Post By Jacqueline M. Thompson, CPA

I recently read an article about family-owned businesses that referenced a survey done by McKinsey & Co.  This survey suggested that a firstborn son may be the worst choice to run your family business.  This was an interesting concept to me, given the tradition of primogeniture (preference for firstborn males in inheritance).

If one looks at some common characteristics of firstborn children, the words used are: perfectionist, critical, well-organized, reliable, and list-maker.  They want to […]