Canada’s economy is underpinned by family-owned businesses that can represent generational well-springs of wealth and opportunity.
Given that the country is in the midst of the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history – much of which is held by enterprising families – continuity planning is a critical topic for today, tomorrow and a century from now.
Most families spend an exorbitant amount of time, energy and money on the traditional processes: drawing up legal agreements, creating tax-efficient estate and succession plans and purchasing life insurance. But the pieces of the puzzle that are often overlooked are the softer and less-transactional factors surrounding how we get to where we’re going and thinking about what this is all for.
The experienced and trusted team at Baker Tilly brings all of those qualitative dynamics to the forefront in simple terms to help demystify aspects of generational continuity planning that often go overlooked.
“In a lot of cases, it’s an area that families are uncomfortable talking about or addressing,” explains Masato Oki, a Family Office partner with Baker Tilly. “It’s often easier for families to deal with the more concrete items as opposed to the softer, abstract family-dynamic issues, which can lead down a rabbit hole of conversations that can be difficult.”
Too often, not enough time, energy and money is spent on facets of family dynamics, governance, and NexGen mentorship and coaching.
Baker Tilly, however, specializes in facilitating the conversations and planning in all three of those critical areas.
Managing family dynamics
Oki begins this process by understanding a myriad of familial factors: what are the relationships like, where are the challenges, are people getting along or not, how the family spends its time and how decisions are made.
“Once we have an understanding of what’s working or not working, we work with the family to move the dial with respect to their family enterprise,” Oki says.
Guiding the governance process
In the context of governance, imagine three circles – family, business and ownership – that should exist symbiotically.
If not, Oki and his team help make it so by facilitating the introduction of structured systems.
This can happen by establishing an independent governance board, scheduling regular family meetings or establishing formalized family and ownership councils to talk about issues as they arise.
NexGen mentorship and coaching
Much of these initial mentorship lessons can be done in-house within a family by simply exposing younger generations to the family business and stoking that interest and education from a young age.
“Some families assume that the next generation wants to take over and be involved in the business, but that’s not necessarily always the case,” Oki explains. “It’s okay if it’s not, but the key is to plan ahead to ensure the continued success of the family enterprise for future generations to come. ”
Think of the team at Baker Tilly as a navigational crew aboard a large ship, always with an eye on what’s ahead - often encouraging families to keep a 100 year perspective.
“We act as the quarterback within a family’s team of professionals – we can initiate the conversation, identify issues and then collaborate with the family and their entire team to bring holistic solutions,” Oki says.
To learn more about how Oki and the Baker Tilly Family Office team can help your family develop a continuity plan, visit bakertilly.ca/masato-oki.
