CPDStore Ireland

Retirement and exit planning for company shareholders is one of the highest‑value advisory opportunities available to accountants today. Clients are increasingly looking for proactive guidance on how to extract value from their businesses, minimise tax exposure, and secure long‑term financial stability. This course will show you why this topic matters now more than ever, how to identify clients at risk of poor planning, and how strengthening your advisory offering in this area can drive measurable value for your practice and your clients.

• The presentation will equip accountants with practical tax‑driven strategies to support clients through retirement and succession decisions.
• Exit planning is a growing advisory need, particularly for SME shareholders approaching retirement with no clear plan in place.
• Being able to guide clients through business sale, share restructuring, or extraction of retained funds strengthens long‑term relationships and reduces adviser risk.
• Firms that offer structured retirement and exit planning services consistently achieve higher client retention, larger advisory revenues, and stronger competitive positioning.
• The session provides actionable frameworks and examples you can use immediately with clients.

Mairead Hennessy covers the following topics during this course:

• Identifying Retirement and Exit Needs Early
   How to spot triggers, risk factors, and key lifecycle moments where clients need guidance.
• Tax Reliefs & Extraction Strategies for Shareholders
   Entrepreneur relief, retirement relief, share buybacks, and tax‑efficient profit extraction.
• Preparing a Business for Sale or Succession
   Structuring, cleaning balance sheets, and ensuring tax efficiency for both outgoing and incoming owners.
• Share Restructuring and Family Transitions
   Tools for generational handovers (e.g. family partnerships) establishing proper governance, and managing tax implications.
• Practical Tips and Traps
   Focus on common mistakes that catch  shareholders out, along with practical steps to avoid them and ensure transactions are structured correctly from the outset. We highlight real world issues that create tax headaches.