Adapt or struggle with succession, warns UHY managing partner

FIRMS ARE ENDANGERING their business model through a lack of contemporary succession planning, warns UHY Hacker Young's managing partner.

Ladislav Hornan (pictured) warns mid-tier firms that they need to embrace a more corporate ethos but also to address the worthiness of creating capital value and its payment through goodwill.

He said that some mid-tier firm could struggle with succession planning because they have failed to place enough importance on commerciality and nurturing business development skills.

The managing partner, and chairman of global network UHY International, made the comments in an opinion piece on Accountancy Age, Succession is about more than planning.

He suggests in the article that firms need an up-to-date and carefully crafted partnership agreement to help tackle these issues.

"What all of these issues come down to is the need for long-term strategic planning, which is properly documented so as to make it very clear what will be expected in the future of the incoming younger generation and to avoid knee-jerk reactions to fundamental business issues," he wrote.