Member Article

Garbutt & Elliot launches family business survey

Garbutt & Elliott, which has two offices in York and Leeds, is launching a wide-ranging survey of family businesses on behalf of independent global accountancy alliance Praxity.

The survey will be run by Craig Manson, family business specialist with Garbutt & Elliott and chairman of Praxity’s Family Business Group.

Mr Manson said the aim of the survey was to discover how resilient family businesses were in these challenging economic times.

He commented: “We are interested to see how family businesses perceive the economy and how they are impacted upon in their own businesses by the current climate.

“We can make comparisons with our past research to see how this has developed to help project how family businesses will fare in the future.

“Well-run family businesses are the lifeblood of the British economy, providing clear vision, stability and continuity. They are often the model of good business practice, based on long-term objectives rather than short-term gain.

“They have weathered the recession fairly well, mainly because most didn’t take on debt during the good times. Without family businesses, the economy would be in a much worse state than it is currently.”

The survey addresses the aims, hopes and fears of family businesses across the UK.

It was launched in the wake of an influential joint report by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and the Institute for Family Business (IFB), which reveals some compelling research on whether family businesses receive appropriate levels of advice.

The report found that family businesses needed advisors to manage the complexity of their business and family relationships and that traditional advice from generalists was not always appropriate.

It highlighted a need for advisors to develop new skills to deliver family business solutions in the most effective way and revealed that there was a shortage of talent and appropriate advisors with the right skill-set to service the needs of family businesses.

If you are a Family Business and would like to part in the survey please visit http://www.garbutt-elliott.co.uk/blog/family-business-survey-2013.html.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mark Lane .