FAMILY BUSINESS ADVISORY SERVICES

Mercer Capital provides financial education services and other strategic financial consulting to family businesses.

We help family ownership groups, boards, and management teams align their perspectives on the financial realities, needs, and opportunities of the business.

We also help family business boards and management teams explain strategic financial decisions to shareholders and help shareholders communicate preferences to boards and management teams.

We have had the privilege of working with successful family and closely held businesses for the past 40 years. Given our experience, we are convinced that an engaged and informed shareholder base is essential for the long-term health and success of a family or closely held business. Yet, cultivating an engaged and informed shareholder base is often difficult. We can help.

DEDICATED WEBSITE

Family Business On Demand Resource Center

Mercer Capital’s Family Business On Demand Resource Center is a dedicated website for enterprising families and their advisors facing the financial challenges that are common to family businesses.

On this website, we have curated and organized a diverse collection of resources from our staff of family business professionals, including short videos, articles, whitepapers, books, and research studies.

Our focus is on the financial challenges faced by family businesses, which include capital budgeting, capital structure, dividend & redemption policy, mergers & acquisitions, shareholder engagement & education, taxes, and valuation.

If you’ve ever had any questions about these topics – or know someone that does – please visit the Family Business On Demand Resource Center.

Visit the Website

Services

Customized Board Advisory Services

We work with you to frame the decision to promote better outcomes, and help you formulate the relevant questions that need to be addressed and answered during board deliberations concerning your dividend policy, capital allocation, and capital structure decisions.

Management Consulting

We work with family business management teams to assess hurdle rates, develop sustainable capital budgeting processes, and evaluate potential acquisitions & divestitures.

Independent Valuation Opinions

We provide independent, unbiased, and reliable valuation opinions for gift & estate tax planning, buy-sell agreements, and shareholder liquidity programs.

Transaction Advisory Services

When an attractive offer arises, we work with family business directors to respond to acquisition offers, evaluate strategic alternatives, provide fairness and solvency opinions, and manage the marketing and sale of family businesses.

Confidential Shareholder Surveys

By designing, administering, and summarizing the results of a confidential shareholder survey, we solicit relevant and timely shareholder feedback so you and your fellow directors can make fully-informed decisions in light of the preferences and risk tolerances of your family shareholders.

Benchmarking / Business Intelligence

We turn available financial data from publicly traded peers and other sources into relevant information that helps you and your fellow directors make better corporate finance decisions.

Shareholder Engagement

If your family business is to function as a source of unity rather than division, your family shareholders need to be positively engaged with the business. We develop and provide customized financial education for your family shareholders and  present on a wide variety of topics.

Shareholder Communication Support

Poor communication is the most common cause of family shareholder angst. We help family business directors identify the appropriate frequency, format, and content of financial reporting to shareholders to preserve family harmony.

Blog

Family Business Director

Most Recent Posts

Research and Resources

Whitepaper
The 2023 Benchmarking Guide for Family Business Directors
Family business directors need the best information available when making strategic financial decisions that will help set the course of their business for years to come. This Benchmarking Guide is the resource directors need. Going beyond the basics of revenue growth, profit margins, and balance sheet composition data, this Benchmarking Guide equips family business directors with the information needed to make informed decisions regarding capital budgeting, capital structure, and dividend policy. Market data is transformed into meaningful information in this Benchmarking Guide for family business directors and their advisors. Also provided are questions and insights to help guide directors in their deliberations on these important decisions.
Whitepaper
What Family Business Advisors Need to Know About Valuation
Family business advisors help companies and leaders navigate a wide range of business and family challenges, ranging from corporate governance to succession planning to family relationship dynamics and all points in between. This whitepaper helps fill in that gap.
Infographic
5 Reasons a Private Company Should Conduct a Shareholder Survey
Wouldn't it be better to make corporate decisions based on the characteristics and preferences of actual flesh-and-blood shareholders than the assumed preferences of generic shareholders that exist only in textbooks? If so, there's no substitute for simply asking.
Book
The 12 Questions That Keep Family Business Directors Awake at Night
The 12 Questions That Keep Family Business Directors Awake at Night identifies the issues we see our family business clients struggle with such as dividend policy, shareholder liquidity, evaluating acquisition offers, and promoting shareholder engagement, offers our perspective, and suggests possible next steps for family business directors to consider. Our hope is that the book helps stimulate strategic conversations.
Whitepaper
How to Communicate Financial Results to Family Shareholders
In this whitepaper, we offer practical suggestions for presenting key financial data in ways that family shareholders find useful.
Whitepaper
Corporate Finance in 30 Minutes
Corporate finance does not need to be a mystery. In this whitepaper, we distill the fundamental principles of corporate finance into an accessible and non-technical primer.
Whitepaper
Distribution Policy in 30 Minutes
Of the three primary corporate finance decisions, distribution policy is the most transparent to shareholders. The purpose of this whitepaper is to help directors formulate and communicate a distribution policy that contributes to shareholder wealth and satisfaction.
Whitepaper
Capital Structure in 30 Minutes
Capital structure decisions have long-term consequences for shareholders. Family businesses should evaluate capital structure with an eye toward identifying the financing mix that minimizes the weighted average cost of capital. This whitepaper equips directors and shareholders to contribute to capital structure decisions that promote the financial health and sustainability of the company.
Whitepaper
Capital Budgeting in 30 Minutes
Switching costs for capital investment are high and do-overs are expensive. A capital project is simply any use of the company's capital resources in the present with a view toward earning a return on that investment over time, and may take the form of acquisitions, capital expenditures, research & development, or other investments. This whitepaper assists directors and shareholders evaluate proposed capital projects and contributes to capital budgeting decisions that enhance value.
Whitepaper
Financial Basics for Family Business: A Roadmap for Directors and Shareholders
Effective communication between management and shareholders is a key component of the long-term sustainability and success of any family business. We have written these whitepapers to help family businesses make strategic financial decisions and communicate those decisions to their shareholders.

Professionals

Travis W. Harms, CFA, CPA/ABV

President

Timothy R. Lee, ASA

Managing Director

Nicholas J. Heinz, ASA

Managing Director

Bryce Erickson, ASA, MRICS

Managing Director

Z. Christopher Mercer, FASA, CFA, ABAR

Chairman

John T. (Tripp) Crews, III, ABV

Vice President

Zac L. Lange, CPA

Senior Financial Analyst

Kate Mabry

Financial Analyst

Estate Planning Opportunities in the Current Environment

As family business leaders tackle the many operating challenges thrust upon them by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is tempting to let tasks like estate planning fall to the bottom of the to-do list. While estate planning may appear to be less pressing than other issues, the positive impact of effective planning on the long-term health of both the family and the family business is hard to overstate. If your family business is overdue for some ownership transitions, you should not miss the current opportunity for tax-efficient estate planning transfers.