The Family Business Forum at King’s College Joins The Network of Family Businesses

The Network of Family Businesses continues to grow with multi-generational families joining. The Family Business Forum at King’s College has collaborated with The Network of Family Businesses to offer all members of The Family Business Forum at King’s College membership and access to the on-line educational seminars, the opportunity to dialogue on-line with other families in business, and access to the growing archive of information and articles.

The mission of The Family Business Forum at King’s College is to provide a learning and networking forum for family businesses, program sponsors, and the students and faculty of King's College, which enhances the family business community in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The Family Business Forum at King's College recognizes the unique joys and challenges associated with operating and sustaining a successful family enterprise in northeastern Pennsylvania. Family-owned businesses are fundamentally important to the U.S. and regional economy and comprise the backbone of our economy, strengthening entrepreneurial families has a great impact on the community.

This is an exciting step in continuing to provide a growing network of business families access to educational resources as they strive to build their family legacy.

Passing the Assets to the Next Generation Does Fair Mean Equal in the Family Business

In today’s seminar Scott Heintzelman, CPA, CMA, CFE of McKonly and Asbury LLP provided great insight and thoughtful questions as Business Families consider passing the family assets to the Next Generation. His thought-provoking theme – Does Fair Mean Equal in the Family Business raised significant questions and issues that need to be addressed.

Scott holds a B.S. in accounting from Messiah College and is a Partner with McKonly & Asbury, LLP. He serves clients in a variety of industries with a specialization in providing business advisory services to the Middle Market with a special interest and focus in working with family owned businesses.

Scott clearly described that for many families splitting of assets is not clear-cut. Scott stated when people see themselves only as a “family business” they struggle with the desire to treat everyone equally - this despite varying contributions to the business. These families tend to focus only on equality as the deciding factor when setting salaries, paying bonuses and when passing assets to the next generation. This is often the situation when consultants or advisors are required to assist with family disagreements (or worse…all out family war).

When people see themselves as a business family, they tend to focus on the qualitative and not simply the quantitative variables. With family, this is the only way to truly achieve balance and hopefully harmony.

There were several key items Scott believes families need to recognize and can start working on immediately:

1. Business Owned Families should recognize that one size of estate planning does not fit all. Know what it is you want to accomplish when planning for the transition of Assets.

2. Put in place good governance, good systems, and good processes to manage communications:

This could include a Family Council; an Advisory Board; Family Investment Policies; sound business principles; rewards and compensation based on performance (this will reduce the entitlement mindset)

3. Business Families must wrestle with this difficult issue of transitioning the assets while the parents are alive to avoid hurt relationships and to avoid a family battle in the next generation.

If you would like to discuss these critical issues in greater detail, please contact me, I would be happy to talk with you.

Scott, Thanks for raising the questions and issues we all need to address.

Do We Understand Our Priorities

“If I had nine hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first six sharpening my ax.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out. “
Stephen Covey

As a Business Family are we taking the time to think through the issues our family is facing and are we prioritizing appropriately?

How do we know?

Let me know your thoughts and concerns

Passing the Assets to the Next Generation - Does Fair Mean Equal in the Family Business

The Network of Family Businesses has scheduled a virtual educational seminar with Scott Heintzelman, CPA, CMA, CFE of McKonly and Asbury LLP on Passing the Assets to the Next Generation – Does Fair Mean Equal in the Family Business. The seminar is scheduled for Thursday, August 18th at 11:00 AM EST.

In a White Paper found at www.netfamilybusiness.com Scott states the terms "fair" and "equal" are often used interchangeably. However, the two are not synonymous. Equality means that everything is the same in a given situation. Fairness, on the other hand, implies that just treatment is given to everyone. This can vary depending on a person's needs and contributions. For many Business Families splitting assets is not clear. Scott believes when people see themselves as a business family, they tend to focus on good governance (including a family charter), sound business principles and reward people based on performance (therefore attempting to reduce nepotism & entitlement).

Mr. Scott Heintzelman holds a B.S. in accounting from Messiah College and is a Partner with McKonly & Asbury, LLP. He serves clients in a variety of industries with a specialization in providing business advisory services to the Middle Market with a special interest in working with family owned businesses.

Mr. Heintzelman, a Certified Public Accountant, is a member of the American and Pennsylvania Institutes of Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Heintzelman is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA), a certification that provides him with the management expertise to consult with business clients on operations, internal controls, and benchmarking. He is also a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and leads the firm's forensic accounting and fraud prevention team

We at The Network of Family Business are excited to have Scott presenting on this timely topic.

Registration for the On-Line Educational Seminar is available at:

www.netfamilybusiness.com