How can accountants help clients plan a business exit?
Accountants are often the first adviser to know a client is thinking about an exit. They can help by preparing reliable earnings figures, identifying adjustments, reviewing shareholder arrangements and starting readiness conversations years before a sale — and bring in specialist exit planning, valuation or transaction support when needed.
Written by Tony Vaughan
Last reviewed: · Editorial policy
You often know a client is approaching an exit years before a business sale adviser does.
Where you can help most
- Financial preparation
- Consistent management accounts, clear adjusted earnings and resolved director-loan balances reduce friction in due diligence.
- Valuation
- An indicative planning range helps clients test whether their retirement plans are realistic.
- Shareholder planning
- Aligning shareholders with different objectives and timescales early avoids later disputes.
- Succession and retirement
- Year-end meetings are a natural point to raise timing and successor questions.
- Sale readiness
- Use the Exit Readiness Assessment and Owner Dependency Score with clients as a structured starting point.
Business owner
Existing professional adviser
ExitPlanning specialist support
You keep the client relationship
For each client you choose how involved to be: introduce and hand over, work alongside us, stay involved through a transaction, or decide case by case. Your enquiry starts with an experienced ExitPlanning adviser. Together we clarify the client’s objectives and agree what specialist capability, if any, is appropriate.
Tax structuring remains the accountant's own professional responsibility.
My client wants to sell, but the accounts need several explanations. Where should we start?
Start with consistent management accounts and a clear explanation of adjusted earnings. Unresolved director-loan balances can also create due-diligence friction. These are practical preparation tasks before a transaction, rather than reasons to wait until a buyer asks questions. An indicative valuation can then help the client test retirement expectations against a more reliable financial picture, with specialist valuation support brought in where needed.
Two shareholders want to leave at different times. What should their accountant raise before discussing a sale?
Raise the difference in objectives and timescales before treating a sale as a shared decision. Early shareholder alignment can avoid later disputes. A year-end meeting is a natural opportunity to ask each owner about retirement and succession, alongside reviewing shareholder arrangements. Reliable earnings and an indicative planning range can support that conversation, but they do not resolve differing personal objectives on their own.
What can I bring to a year-end meeting when a client mentions retirement but has no exit plan?
Bring a structured conversation about timing, possible successors and readiness, rather than jumping straight to a sale process. Year-end meetings provide a useful setting; the Exit Readiness Assessment and Owner Dependency Score can structure the discussion. Combine that discussion with what you already know about earnings and shareholder arrangements. Specialist planning or valuation support can be introduced when needed, without turning the initial meeting into a transaction mandate.
Confidential consultation
The earlier you plan, the more options you keep.
A discreet, no-obligation conversation about your plans, your timing and what would make the business more transferable.