Family-owned businesses are all about continuity. Where will we be in five years’ time, in ten years’ time? How do we keep the family assets intact, how do we keep relations within the family good? Like you, we know that continuity comes first. Like you, KPMG attaches great importance to personal relationship, the fit between people. And while we strive for the highest possible quality of service, we are averse to self-congratulation. We prefer to simply get to work. Like you.
Economic, technological and social developments are taking place so rapidly that the flavour of the month seems to dictate. However, family-owned businesses make a different choice, the long term is what matters. This year’s profits? Of course they are important. But there is more to life than maximising profits. How do we pass the company on to the succeeding generations? That is the question that really matters.
The everyday challenges
It’s not a simple task. After all, you also face the challenges that every firm faces: how do I recruit and retain sufficient and sufficiently qualified staff, how do I optimise financing, how do I increase my grip on the organisation, how can I save costs, what about digital security of and within the company? Moreover, current events demand your attention: for example, what does Brexit mean for your business, how do you configure governance around the new privacy legislation, what are your obligations regarding the UBO register?
The modesty that characterises many family-owned businesses can work against them in the employment market. So you have to be creative to come up with solutions.
But what about the strategic choices?
These are things that demand your attention in the short terms, but in the meantime you want to see the big questions answered at the strategic level. Then it’s about the choices you make with regard to innovation, digitisation and becoming more sutainable and the energy transition. After all, those are the trends that will shape the future, the trends based on which you will determine the growth strategy of the company. Is your business really ready for the future?
Knowing the value of loyalty
KPMG has the knowledge and expertise to support you in this regard. We have always had a strong commitment to family firms. You don’t want an accountant who only looks at the bare figures, an HR consultant who immediately recommends compulsory redundancies is not helping, you can’t use a tax specialist who operates at the margins. Instead, you want an accountant you can trust, an adviser who knows what loyalty means and a tax specialist who understand that as a Dutch firm operating in the Netherlands you want to pay your fair share of tax and that you don’t want friction with the Tax and Customs Administration. So knowing the family is a big part of their job. So that they only devote their attention to the fiscal solutions that suit the family and suit the company.
The family assets
There are several aspects that set family-owned businesses apart. After all, besides the future of the company you are also concerned about the future of the family.
So you think about managing the family’s assets. KPMG Meijburg & Co has specific experience with consultancy around family offices (pdf 2,7 MB). In tax and legal terms, we take care of everything for you. Again, continuity comes first: it’s not about the highest yield but about preserving the family assets and a responsible investment policy that suits the family culture.
Employees who have been in place for a long time, the great care taken over decisions, the social commitment: a family-owned business is a brilliant environment.
Family relations
The family’s future is also dependent on good mutually agreed arrangements. These are generally laid down in a family statute and if circumstances change – for example, due to the rapid growth of the business – that statute needs to be amended accordingly. In supervising this process, KPMG opts for a personal approach: the ultimate objective is the quality of family relations.
If succession is at issue
Many of these elements come together in the particular situation when business succession is at issue. In fiscal terms this is a very specific situation, particularly due to the Business Succession Regulation which means strict requirements must be met. But above all, succession is a family issue, for which you want trusted and discreet advisers with a feel for personal relationships.
Sometimes only minimal details are regulated in the family statute. But they can prove very important to relations.
Why KPMG?
You want to do business and you want your family to prosper. That’s why your view is directed at the long term. You don't believe in boasting, you'd rather just get to work. KPMG suits this culture of the family firm. Involvement is the key as far as we are concerned, it’s about people. It is no accident that KPMG promises People-driven progress.
Down-to-earth and Dutch, with an international network
Besides that, our character is Dutch and down-to-earth. Of course, if that is appropriate, you can benefit from our extensive international network, of the highest quality and as in the Netherlands specially equipped to serve family-owned businesses. But KPMG Netherlands has a special position in that international network. The K from the name refers to Piet Klijnveld, one of the founding fathers of accountancy in the Netherlands in the early 20th century.
Over a hundred years later, those Dutch roots still help KPMG’s identity, internationally but above all in the Netherlands. Certainly, the Anglo-Saxon influences are there, but they do not predominate. What predominates is our ‘regular’ Dutch way of doing things.
