Finance, Succession, Exit Strategies & Acquisitions
Finance
Our definition of business success means to achieve growing and sustainable profits. Without sustained profits, you’ll eventually run out of cash and be out of business.
Financial statements are important because they contain significant information about your company’s financial health. Financial statements help owners make informed decisions by highlighting which areas of the company provide the best ROI (return on investment).
With a solid understanding of the financial statements, construction company owners will know what’s going on and understand what actions to take. Knowing what the numbers represent and what they are telling you allows you to succeed on purpose.
At Ascent, we work with our clients to examine and interpret their company’s finances, often identifying opportunities for cost reductions and correcting accounting errors that lead to tax savings. Our intimate knowledge of construction company accounting and financing options helps our clients maximize their financial positions and provide stability so they can take advantage of growth opportunities, reinvest in the business to improve operations, or make the next key hiring decision.
Succession Planning
When you hear the word succession, do you think ‘retirement’? When we think about succession planning, we’re also thinking about key employees and positions at your company. What happens if your best project manager leaves, or your CFO?
Assessing employees to identify future candidates for leadership positions is not an easy task. While their performance in their current position is a relevant consideration, they may not be ready to take on more responsibility successfully. An assessment will identify skill and talent areas that need development to better prepare candidates for future leadership positions.
At Ascent, we bring proven, measurable strategies for identifying high-potential candidates. We base our assessment process on years of personal experience in management and executive roles at successful construction companies. Our consultants have direct experience managing construction projects, teams, divisions and companies, enabling us to evaluate both our client’s organization and employees for current and future leadership roles.
We develop Transition and Training Plans for key employees, preparing them to take on increasing levels of responsibility as the company continues to grow, or prepare them to assume leadership if the owner retires or sells the business.
Exit Strategies
Are you nearing retirement or thinking about selling your business? A business that doesn’t run without the owner isn’t worth much ‘on the street’. The best companies find ways to standardize, systematize and automate as many processes as possible.
Whether you’re considering closing your doors forever, selling your business, or handing it to your heirs, it’s in everyone’s best interest to have a solid exit strategy. A business exit strategy is a strategic plan to sell your ownership in a company to investors or another company. The exit strategy gives the owner a path for reducing or liquidating their stake in their company and potentially making a substantial profit.
At Ascent, we work with business owners to evaluate their current operations and financial position and build strategic exit plans to help maximize their reward for years of hard work and effort.
Acquisitions & Due Diligence
Due Diligence is an evaluation process used by an interested buyer to better understand the business being sold, and the risks in potentially becoming an owner of that business. The process is not only about checking financials and projections for the business, but also gaining a strong understanding of the business model: how the company conducts business, finds, wins and performs work for their customers, the talent of employees, and how the business competes against other businesses in that industry.
The buyer should know exactly what they are getting before they buy a construction company: what’s working, what will need to be fixed, improved or changed, and how easy or difficult will it be when they actually assume control of the company.
Similar to our Operational Assessments, Ascent’s Due Diligence process examines the business internally from all angles. We measure its internal performance against industry standards and best practices, uncover inefficiencies, evaluate employees and technologies, and report back to buyers with unbiased evaluations, expectations and recommendations.
