One day, you won’t want to work anymore, at least not at your current firm. How do you pass on your firm for the best chances of success for everyone?
That day when you step out the door for the last time may still seem far off, but when it comes – and it will – you’ll be thankful for an orderly departure. That many accounting firms never make it to a second generation indicates that a lot goes into successful succession plans: impressions of senior staff; the bottom line on your firm’s value and future; and, trickiest of all, just admitting that you need a succession plan.
Hammer out details beforehand, especially if you, rather than merging your firm into another or selling your firm, want to groom your firm’s next leaders from within.
How and when to start?
When Your Client’s World Is Bigger Than the U.S.
Manasa Nadig, EA
A lot of client meetings still start with the same assumptions: W-2 in a U.S. state, mortgage nearby, a 401(k), maybe some RSUs, and a college-savings plan. Yet many of those “simple” clients now own an apartment in another country, freelance for a foreign company, or have parents wiring money from overseas. The tax code does not see those details as background color; it treats them as organizing facts. This is where citizenship, residency, and domicile quietly step onto center stage. For planners, the challenge is not memorizing every cross-border rule. It is knowing when a client is no longer “just domestic” and shifting your planning framework before you stumble into penalties, double taxation, or blown opportunities.
