I am sure there are a million things I could be writing in my blog this month but I am suffering from a bad cold and my brain is full of cotton wool and broken biscuits.   I can manage my day to day duties fine but when it comes to sitting down at my computer and trying to be creative with a blog – no chance.

I run my own business and know that if I don’t do certain jobs they will not get done.  I am sure there are a lot of accountants out there that feel the same when under the weather.  Yes you may have staff and yes they may do a fantastic job, but where certain jobs need to get done and it is only you that can do it, the pressure builds up.  Stress can be the result.  This cannot be better demonstrated for the accountancy field than the extra work that comes in during January.

At this time of year we get many accountants saying they will do one more January and then they will sell.  We already have a raft of sellers who say they want to start the process of finding a buyer in February or March 2017. They are filled with trepidation and anxiety looking at the months ahead and the mountain of work they are going to have to get through between now and then.

However, I will predict now, as I sit here typing, that in February 2017 there will be a number of accountants that will have changed their minds.  They will get to February, feel exhausted and washed out.  They may have been working 7 days a week for many weeks and hate the sight of a tax returns.  But when the money starts coming in at the end of the month and they have had their best billing month of the year, coupled with a few good nights of proper sleep uninterrupted by the things they have forgotten to do, it is amazing how the stress and worry is soon forgotten.  In fact they can become positively cheerful.

There are two times in the year where we get a lot of sellers – February and September.  The reason why February is busy for us is obvious.  September is busy because some accountants go on holiday and realise that if they sold their practice and retired they could have more holidays.

We also tend to get a rush of buyers in February and March each year.  They too have had their best billing month and so start to think that if they acquired fees their best billing month could be even better the following year.  With coffers full of cash buyers are ready to invest in an acquisition.

I would say to anyone thinking of selling their practice, do not wait until February or September.  Contact us when you are ready to sell.  Obviously December and January may not be the best months to start to find a buyer.  But if you find that you are in a situation where you have to sell then we will do our best to find someone suitable to take on your practice.

Don’t get me wrong, we have sold practices in December and January.  A potential vendor contacted me in December one year and said he had to sell his practice because his doctor had told him if he didn’t he would die.  He had suffered a heart attack and the stress of running the business was the main factor in his condition.  I found his reason a very compelling argument and we managed to find him a buyer despite the time of year.

So if you want to talk to us about selling your accountancy practice or buying an accountancy practice we are here to help.  Contact me Nicola Draper at n.draper@draperhinks.co.uk.

Please remember everything discussed will be kept in the strictest of confidence.