Why SME succession matters to regional communities
When most of an owner’s wealth sits inside a regional business, an absent succession plan puts both a family’s future and a community asset at risk.
Developed from a conversation between Pete Winn, Kane Leersen and Andy David
Succession planning is not only a private financial matter in regional Australia. Kane argues that local SMEs are woven into the social fabric of their communities, so the future of an established business can affect employees, clients and the continuity of local services. That makes succession thinking an existential need rather than an optional exercise for later.
The exposure becomes clear during financial planning. Kane described conversations in which the usual topics of superannuation, insurance and estate planning give way to a harder fact. An owner may have 95 per cent of their wealth tied up in the SME and no idea how to transfer or realise it. The business is not a side investment. It is the asset around which the owner’s future must be organised.
What is being handed over has also become more complex. Kane contrasted his grandfather’s era, when a farm transfer could be represented by a shovel and a boundary, with modern businesses built from interconnected systems, technology, data and accumulated knowledge. Without a plan for transferring that operating capability, uncertainty reaches beyond the owner’s balance sheet to the community that relies on the business continuing.