151 - Business Succession from a Forensic Accountant's Perspective

Poised for Exit

Poised for Exit
151 - Business Succession from a Forensic Accountant's Perspective
Jun 29, 2023
Julie Keyes

Business Succession from a Forensic Accountant's Perspective

In this episode we had the pleasure of interviewing Ryan Stremater, Senior Manager at SDK CPA's and forensic accounting specialist. Ryan's job puts skepticism before all else. He's an expert at digging deep into the details of the story that financials tell about a business and he's been an expert witness in some very interesting litigation situations. 

What we know after talking with Ryan is that any seller of a business would never want to be faced with the kinds of situations he sees on a regular basis and preventing those from happening and living with regret is simply a matter of hiring the right advisors well before a liquidity event!

Post closing disputes happen often, and the most common that Ryan sees are in adjustments to Working Capital and Earn Outs after the closing. Ryan said that Earn Outs are "Today's disagreement over price that becomes tomorrow's litigation over outcome".  In other words, be very careful with Earn Outs, and make sure you have the right team of advisors to structure it properly, should you have to go that route in a sale. 

Lots more to learn: listen to the episode now and connect with Ryan Stretmater here

Thank you to our show sponsors! Dayta, JAK, Sunbelt Business Advisors and Trust Point

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Connect with Julie Keyes, Keyestrategies LLC
Founder, Consultant, Author, Pod-caster and Instructor