Shareholders' Agreements And Valuations
A shareholders' agreement can be an important part of planning for the future of your business and its succession. Coming to an agreement among the shareholders often involves clarifying and refining the relationship between you and your business partners. And it means putting that agreement to paper, to guide each business partner as well as their executors and their successors in the future.
A shareholders' agreement can benefit you, your business, your family, and your surviving business partners by:
- Setting out agreed-upon guidelines for the management of your business.
- Guarding against unexpected changes in the share ownership of the company.
- Outlining rights and obligations in case of a business partner's death or disability.
- Reducing the risk of misunderstandings and disputes.
To compliment a shareholders' agreement, a valuation of your business is sometimes necessary so that certain rights and obligations in the agreement can be quantified, including their related income tax consequences.
Structuring the agreement between the business partners according to their wishes, while at the same time including plans to reduce or defer future income taxes, can be a complex process and requires the sound advice of the accountants at Johnsen Archer LLP.
