Jen: This is the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook. I’m Jen Lemanski and I’m back again with Kimberly Wood, an Audit Senior Manager and one of the faces of PKF Texas’s Transaction Advisory Services Team. Kimberly, welcome back to The Playbook.

Kimberly: Thanks for having me.

Jen: So, we’ve talked about transactions and we’ve talked about sales. How far in advance should a company prepare for a sale?

Kimberly: First, they want to always be thinking that their company can be sold, because when they’re not thinking about it, they’re going to be approached. But generally, it’s about three years. This way, they can get their procedures and policies in order, and if there are any deficiencies then they can revise them. They also want to consider they could ride out their business cycles or take advantage of them. They don’t want to be a forced seller, so they want to think about, is this a next generation company where somebody else is going to take over, or do they plan to retire, have health issues, etc.

Jen: Perfect. And now, when they get approached by a buyer, they should have everything in order, correct?

Kimberly: Yes, this of course is ideal and will make that sales process just that much easier.

Jen: Great, well, we’ll get you back to talk a little bit more about the sales process later.

Kimberly: Sounds good.

Jen: For more about this topic visit pkftexas.com/transactionadvisoryservices. This has been another Thought Leader Production, brought to you by PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook. Tune in next week for another chapter.