The short answer
Paper succession decides who will own the business and what it’s worth. Operational succession makes sure the business can run without you, and proves it. Most owners get plenty of help with the first and little with the second.
Paper succession
Answers: who will own it, and what is it worth?
- Tax planning accountant
- What it’s worth valuator
- Shareholder agreements lawyer
- Will and estate plan estate lawyer
- Insurance insurance advisor
- Finding a buyer broker
This side matters, and your advisors handle it.
Operational succession
Answers: will it run without you, and can you prove it?
- The work gets done without you
- Customers deal with your people
- Someone else can run the numbers
- Decisions don’t wait for you
- The bank and suppliers know your team
- Licences don’t depend on you
Few owners have this in place. This is what Corefield does.
What do owners usually get?
An owner who takes succession seriously ends up with a good file. Tax planning done. A price on the business. A shareholder agreement. A will and estate plan. Insurance. Maybe a broker ready to list.
Every piece matters. Together they answer two questions: who will own this business, and what is it worth?
What’s missing?
A third question nobody is hired to answer: will the business still run when you stop running it?
An owner can have every document signed and still be unable to take two weeks off. When the time comes to hand over, that’s the question everyone asks, and the answer decides what happens next.
Why does nobody cover it?
Not through anyone’s fault. Succession help grew out of accounting and law, so it’s mostly about ownership. Whether a business runs without its owner is a different kind of question. It needs someone who can read a maintenance record, judge whether a crew can work on its own, and see where decisions really get made.
On a ship, this is normal. The crew changes every few months and the ship keeps sailing, because the know-how lives in its systems and handover notes. Nobody would accept a ship that could only sail with one particular engineer on board. Plenty of businesses are exactly that.
Does operational succession replace succession planning?
No. It sits beside it. Both are needed, and they work best when they start together. The most useful thing an accountant can tell a client might be: “The paperwork is done. The handover isn’t. That’s separate work.”
Related questions
- What is operational succession?Operational succession means making a business able to run without its owner, then proving it. It is the half of succession that paperwork doesn’t cover.
- My business depends on me too much. What can I do?Where it depends on you, and what to fix first.
- Your options, once the business runs without youKeep it with managers, bring in a partner, hand it to family, sell to employees, sell to a buyer, or step back slowly. Every option starts with a business that runs without you.