A farm shop near Bovey Tracey has been run as a family partnership for three generations, selling produce grown on the family's own land alongside goods from other local suppliers. As the founders began to think about stepping back, they asked us to help plan how the business would pass to their son and daughter in law.
We prepared the partnership accounts each year as usual, but also spent time modelling how profit shares and responsibilities might shift as the younger generation took on more of the day to day running. This included looking at how the partnership agreement itself might need to change.
The transition is still in progress, with the founders gradually stepping back over a period of a few years rather than all at once. Having clear, well kept accounts throughout has made the conversations between the generations much easier, since everyone can see exactly how the business is performing.