Dave Ragland and Joe Schum talk Buying/Selling Businesses
Buying or Selling a Business
We continued our monthly series with IRC Wealth, talking about buying or selling a business. Dave Ragland and Joe Schum came by with Chet Burgess of Burgess & Associates to share some expertise regarding how to approach choices that arise when coming into a large sum of money through the sale of a business. An example of this was an IRC Wealth client company that was an Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) that sold.
In this case, the employees were seeing pretty sizable amounts of money coming their way from 5 figures to as much as $500,000-1,000,000 or more. Dave and Joe talked about the importance of sitting down with a financial expert to identify the best plan for what to do with those funds to get the greatest value for the employee’s needs.
The group also talked about the importance of establishing a sound operating agreement for partners in a young business that will accommodate the various possibilities for separation for the partners, whether it’s a sale, or a partner opting to leave, or other potential situations.
Chet, a CPA and tax expert, shared how important it is to select a corporate structure that provides the greatest long-term flexibility for a business that will facilitate selling later or transitioning a business to heirs or other partners.
We also discussed options for the business owner who would like to offer rewarding compensation plans that inspire a sense of ownership and increased productivity, without having to give away shares of stock in the privately-held company.
Special Guests:
David Ragland, CEO/Founder of IRC Wealth 
- Masters of Accounting, University of Georgia, Terry College of Business
- Former Manager–Tax, Ernst & Young
- Previous CFO, Allied Foods, Inc
- Previous CFO, Afterburner
Joe Schum, VP of Business Development of IRC Wealth
- Bachelor’s of Science, Economics/Commerce, Niagara University
- Previous VP of Sales, Midwest Medical Enterprises, DVT/Lite
- Board of Advisors, Safe Haven Museum & Education Center
- Board Member, Visions Anew Institute
Chet Burge, Founder of Burge & Associates
- BS Accounting, Bob Jones University
- Previous Senior Accountant, Price Waterhouse
- Former P/T CFO/Partner, Three Taverns Brewery
