A mixture of the Covid pandemic, Brexit and the cost of living crisis has meant that more practice owners are starting to look at exiting their businesses and the options available to them. Even owners of practices which are thriving in the current market need to consider what their end goals are, because successful transitions require planning.

An added dynamic for the accountancy profession is that the recruitment market has become more competitive and faces a talent shortage, meaning employee retention is more important than ever. More SMPs are looking at providing some form of company ownership to employees to keep hold of them long term.

The most popular forms of combining succession planning with employee ownership for SMPs are Growth Shares and Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs). EOTs can be complex so legal and professional advice should be sought - particularly to ensure that ACCA regulations are not breached.

In order to accommodate new and emerging ownership models and allow eligible firms to continue to use the 'Chartered Certified Accountants' designation, ACCA has implemented a new framework for the use of practice descriptions. Our Control and Description Requirements factsheet goes into further detail.

Nigel Adams of Ad Valorem looked long and hard at Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs). Read more about why he wanted Ad Valorem to go down that route, and why eventually they didn't.