Beyond ESOP - Employee Ownership 101

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Learning Objectives

To identify employee ownership types, features, benefits, advantages, and limitations.
To determine and recommend appropriate employee ownership options to clients when a fit with a client’s needs.
To analyze and engage additional employee ownership advisor partners when missing technical expertise.

Course Description

In the U.S., we are entering a demographic phase that's been coined the "Silver Tsunami," representing the great wave of baby boomer business owner retirements.

However, from your small business client's perspective, selling their business may be very difficult, due to disinterested family members or not generating large enough revenue to attract a private equity buyer. Consequently, only 20% of small businesses put up for sale find a buyer. As a small business advisor or service provider, becoming more knowledgeable about employee ownership as a viable exit and succession planning strategy is a useful tool to add to your service portfolio.

But it isn’t just your retiring business owners who can find value in employee ownership. Employee engagement and retention – which every business owner knows has a direct line to profitability and growth – can be greatly strengthened by building an ownership culture, brought to life most effectively when there is some amount of true ownership, even if only a partial stake in the business.

Key topics covered:

Why employee ownership is especially relevant now
Employee engagement and business success
The Employee Ownership Challenge!
How transitions and succession work
How your firm can get started

We hope that this CPE Finance Webinar will inspire and activate business advisors and service providers to build demand for employee ownership, while simultaneously increasing the "supply" of advisors who can execute one or more pieces of the employee ownership service needs.

In addition, in this course, we'll touch on the many benefits of employee ownership including improved employee recruitment, retention, engagement, preserving quality jobs, and building an ownership culture. These benefits result in stronger companies, faster growth, and higher profits.

Project Equity's Thought Leadership learning products offer convenient CPE opportunities for small business advisors and a framework for increased employee ownership awareness, practice revenue, and client retention.

Webinar Qualifies For

1 CPE Credit of Finance for Certified Public Accountants (CPA-US)
1 General Credit of Finance for Accountant/Bookkeeper/Tax Professionals
1 PDC Credit of Business Acumen for SHRM Professionals (Approval No. 24-TP3AN)
1 RCH Credit of HR (General) for Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI) (Approval No. 649458)
1 PL Credit of Finance for Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
1 CE Credit of Finance for Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC)
1 CE Credit of Financial aspects of estate and retirement planning for Certified Senior Advisor (CSA)
1 CPD Credit for Trust and Estate Practitioners (TEP)
1 CE Credit of Financial Planning for Certified Wealth Strategist (CWS)
1 CE Credit of Employee Benefit Planning for Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP)
1 CE Credit of Financial Planning for Certified Fiduciary and Investment Risk Specialist (CFIRS)
1 CE Credit of Finance for Financial Services Certified Professional (FSCP)
1 CE Credit of Employee Benefit Planning for Wealth Management Certified Professional (WMCP)
1 CE Credit of Employee Benefit Planning for Chartered Advisor in Senior Living (CASL)
1 CPE Credit of Finance for Iowa Licensed Public Accountant (IA-LPA)
1 PL Credit of Finance for CIPM
1 CPE Credit of Finance for Maine Licensed Public Accountant (ME-LPA)
1 CE Credit of Employee Benefit Planning for Chartered Special Needs Consultant (ChSNC)
1 CPE Credit of Finance for Delaware Licensed Public Accountant (DE-LPA)

About Instructor

Alison Lingane

Co-Founder, Project Equity

Alison Lingane has dedicated her career to enabling businesses to be a force for good. She started her career in community-based work, designing and leading micro-enterprise programs for urban youth. Inspired to gain skills to bring programs to scale that create real impact, she got her MBA and co-founded what is now the Global Social Venture Competition, the largest international business plan competition for double or triple-bottom-line businesses.

Prior to launching Project Equity, Alison held executive roles at mission-driven businesses that are designed to have a human impact at scale, including Benetech (where she built and launched their first product, a digital book service for individuals with visual or reading disabilities), Great Schools (the 6th largest parenting website, a nonprofit using information to drive school improvement), and InsideTrack (a venture-backed scaled services company that has delivered 1:1 coaching to millions of college students, resulting in increased college completion rates). She brings those scaling lessons back full circle to her work at Project Equity, turning businesses into community change agents through employee ownership.

A serial ‘social entrepreneur,’ Alison co-founded a thriving PreK-8th grade dual immersion school in Oakland (Escuela Bilingüe Internacional) that serves over 360 students. Alison has her B.A. from Harvard University and her MBA from the Haas School of Business. She has been selected as 2014 Echoing Green Fellow, a 2017-18 Aspen Institute Job Quality Fellow, a 2019 Ashoka Fellow, and a 2022-23 Rutgers Executive Fellow. She is also a recipient of the 2022 Heinz Award for the Economy.

About Instructor

Stacey Smith

Vice President, Project Equity

Stacey has spent most of her career helping businesses examine their impact and aligning it with their values. She started as a CPA with Arthur Andersen, then moved into strategy and organizational development. Seeking to devote her financial expertise to social and environmental issues, she was an early mover in the field of sustainability and corporate responsibility in the US. She joined Business for Social Responsibility in 2001 to build their business consulting practice and spent the next decade guiding Fortune 500 companies to address their negative impacts. Recently, Stacey began consulting to nonprofits and foundations to strengthen their strategy, management, and governance practices. Through her work with the Public Equity Group and her own independent practice, she explored the structural barriers to wealth and other drivers of generational poverty.

At Project Equity she is helping grow our team of professionals to accelerate the adoption of employee ownership as a key to building wealth and high-quality careers in communities. In addition to having been a licensed CPA, Stacey has a degree in Business Administration from the University of Vermont and has done coursework in International Business Studies at the University of Copenhagen. When she is not working, you can find her hiking the Bay Area hills, indulging in the restaurant scene, and playing with her family.

Additional Information

Duration

1 Hour

Course Level

Basic

Instructional Method

Group Internet Based

Pre-requisites

None

Advance Preparation

None

FAQ’s

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NASBA APPROVED

MY-CPE LLC, 1600 Highway 6 south, suite 250, sugar land, TX, 77478

MY-CPE LLC (Sponsor Id#: 143597) is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.NASBARegistry.org.

Ratings and Review

4.8

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Winter Renwick, PMP

The information provided was very helpful and deepened my understanding of the benefits of employee ownership, I believe this webinar was an excellent complement to the EO 101: Nuts and Bolts presentation from the EO Summit. It was valuable to my role that the presenters also included information on potential marketing messages and key points that can frame the benefits of employee ownership when working directly with business owners and employees. Excellent presentation, Thank you!

Nabil Khan, CPA (US)

The instructors were engaging and the topic was definitely relevant for current and future clients.

Michael Rurak, CPA (US)

Very interesting for the topic

John Ouellette, CPA (US)

The audio was a bit inconsistent, though, it is always possible it was from my connection. Content was great given the short time frame for the webinar. Good introduction.