Whitepapers
Financial Basics for Family Business: A Roadmap for Directors and Shareholders
Effective communication between management and shareholders is a key component of the long-term sustainability and success of any family business. The cornerstone of a thoughtful and effective shareholder relations program is education.
What Family Business Advisors Need to Know About Valuation
Family business advisors help companies and leaders navigate a wide range of business and family challenges, ranging from corporate governance to succession planning to family relationship dynamics and all points in between. Over the past several years, many of the family business advisors we have met have expressed a desire to better understand the intersection between business valuation and the family business advisory services they provide. We have written this whitepaper to help fill in that gap. The whitepaper is organized in four sections, each of which seek to answer a specific question about valuation.
How to Communicate Financial Results to Family Shareholders
Everyone agrees that communication promotes positive shareholder engagement, but what does it look like to communicate financial results effectively? In this whitepaper, we offer practical suggestions for presenting key financial data in ways that family shareholders find useful.
Selling Your Business
Selling your business is a daunting exercise that requires careful preparation and real-time vigilance. In this whitepaper, we define some practical steps business owners can take to ready their businesses for the best transaction outcome. These steps include identifying the right kind of buyer and transaction design, setting expectations for the timeline to consummate a transaction, hiring an advisor, understanding the various advisory fee structures that best suit each transaction scenario, as well as a few considerations every owner should contemplate before bringing their business to market.
Basics of Financial Statement Analysis
The purpose of this whitepaper is to help readers develop an understanding of the basic contours of the three principal financial statements. The balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows are each indispensable components of the “story” that the financial statements tell about a company. After reviewing each statement, we explain how the different statements relate to one another. Finally, we provide some guidance on how to evaluate projected financial statements.
Corporate Finance in 30 Minutes
Corporate finance does not need to be a mystery. In this whitepaper, we distill the fundamental principles of corporate finance into an accessible and non-technical primer. Structured around the three key decisions of capital structure, capital budgeting, and dividend policy, the guide is designed to assist family business directors and shareholders without a finance background make relevant and meaningful contributions to the most consequential financial decisions all companies must make. Our goal with this whitepaper is to give family business directors and shareholders a vocabulary and conceptual framework for thinking about strategic corporate finance decisions, allowing them to bring their perspectives and expertise to the discussion.
Dividend Policy in 30 Minutes
From the perspective of family shareholders, dividend policy is the most transparent element of corporate finance. The purpose of this whitepaper is to help family business directors formulate and communicate a dividend policy that contributes to family shareholder wealth and satisfaction.
Capital Budgeting in 30 Minutes
Switching costs for capital investment are high and do-overs are expensive. A capital project is simply any use of the family business’s capital resources in the present with a view toward earning a return on that investment over time, and may take the form of acquisitions, capital expenditures, research & development, or other investments. These whitepaper assists directors in evaluating proposed capital projects and contributing to capital budgeting decisions that enhance value.
Capital Structure in 30 Minutes
Capital structure decisions have long-term consequences for shareholders. Family business directors evaluate capital structure with an eye toward identifying the financing mix that minimizes the weighted average cost of capital. This decision is complicated by the iterative nature of capital costs: the financing mix influences the cost of the different financing sources. The purpose of this whitepaper is to equip directors to contribute to capital structure decisions that promote the financial health and sustainability of the family business.
