The first family offices in the modern era with their own infrastructure including professional and administrative staff were created by wealthy families to look after the needs of family members, ranging from sophisticated wealth management to household services.
Read MoreThe Wates Corporate Governance Principles, published by the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC), could be the catalyst for a change in how privately-owned family businesses approach corporate governance.
Read MoreNon-Executive Directors (NEDs) can add value to a family enterprise in several ways. They bring outside experience and independent judgement to bear in major matters requiring board decisions. They can act as a link between the board and the shareholders, provide the benefit of their personal contacts and help to ensure that the overall governance of the family enterprise operates effectively.
Read MoreWould a family business choose to base how it is governed on the general assumption that the key players are not to be trusted?
If you are likely to answer this question ‘no’ then would it possibly change your mind to know that distrust underlies the model of corporate governance that is often recommended to family businesses as a good model to follow?
Read MoreWhere there are a small number of family members, some of whom are also involved in the enterprise as owners or managers, important discussions concerning the overlapping interests of the family and the enterprise are likely to take place spontaneously whenever needed. This tends to mean that they happen informally over dinner, at weekends, or during vacations.
However, as a family grows and their enterprise becomes more complex, the governance of the family becomes as important as the other parts of the family enterprise and informal governance may need to be replaced by more formal arrangements.
Read MoreAny strategy that seeks to optimise all forms of a family’s wealth that are connected to their enterprise needs to consider how the family is governed. This blog post looks at the goals and tasks that can be assigned to family governance.
Read MoreThe shared purpose in a family enterprise is the set of goals, objectives or outcomes that the owners are striving to achieve through being in business together, whether that is a commercial business or a family office, or both.
It is helpful to know that research on this matter has established that while families consistently prioritise financial concerns, they also consider non-financial objectives to be highly important.
Read this informative article to learn more about the role of shared purpose in family enterprises.
Read MoreEvery transition between the generations in a family enterprise must pass through distinct stages. If any stage is ignored or not managed well, the transition will either falter or be unsuccessful.
The stages are Preparation, Disengagement, Exploration, Choice and Implementation and the tasks in each stage are summarised in this informative article.
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