Succession is always an issue

In recent times I have been working with a family who have a successful business but no succession plan or anyone interested in taking over from the current owner. The only real option is to get the business ready for sale or establish systems that make it sutable to be operated by external management. However, the owner did employ an external general manager in recent times but it all turned to mud as the owner endeavoured to work on his business and not in it as the saying goes. It has been discovered that there are many thousands of dollars missing and the owner is back working in the detail and not focussing on business growth. A difficult situation for someone who started with nothing and built up a large business through their own street smarts and hard work. No wonder the cash flow was tight and I am puzzled how their external accountant did not realise that something was wrong as they were producing monthly trading results and using excellent diagnostic software. The owner now has someone working on the internal systems and processes and slowly progress is being made. When a small business becomes a medium sized business systems, processes and checks and balances are required. Its hard for many who have built their business from the ground up to accept outsiders into the fold.