| Details of the deal for this vendor’s story practice sold in 2025 | |||
| Fees sold | £113,808 | Where | Sussex |
| Qualified | ACA | Age | 67 |
| Time scale | 5 months | Type of Practice | Sole Practitioner |
| Payment | 2 tranches | How paid | 65% & 35% |
| Multiple | 1.2 x fees | When paid | Completion and 12 months |
| Offers | 4 offers | Office & staff | Office closed staff transferred |
| Results | Vendor worked for buyer in a time diminishing capacity over a couple of years | ||
This vendor had always intended to allow her practice to shrink as clients sold their businesses and retired, making a point of not taking on any new clients. The aim was to reduce the workload down to one or two days a week. However, just before deciding to sell her practice she was inundated with special projects, together with a couple of long holidays previously booked, which meant she was working harder than ever.
When her PI policy premium doubled, and she had to fill in her ICAEW return, she realised at that point it was not going to be possible to have a complete break from running her practice. Our email arrived just at the right time asking her if she had thought about selling her practice – so she decided to get in touch to see what we could do for her.
She had been receiving regular emails from Draper Hinks for a number of years and was particularly taken with an article a few years prior about how it was better for the clients if a potential vendor found a reputable practice to take over the clients rather than to cast them free to find a new accountant for themselves and what a disaster that could potentially be for them.
The most difficult part of selling her practice was having to contact all of her clients to let them know that she was about to retire. Some of the clients had been with her for over 30 years and had never dealt with anyone else, it was going to be a big shock. She knew it would be a very strange feeling knowing that she would not see or speak to many of them again. She phoned most of the clients to explain what she was doing and why. With all that chatting on the phone, it made her right ear go deaf! So she has now learned how to use the speaker on her mobile – a useful side effect.
She said she would miss the mental challenge and stimulation, problem solving, getting things done to deadlines and looking after the clients. She definitely would not miss the peripheral administration, institute requirements and the mess often caused by HMRC.
She has now retired and has spent time tidying up and upgrading the garden. During the winter, her goal was to do the same thing to the house, mainly decluttering after 30 years of working full time, looking forward to all the free cupboard space in her home. Spending face to face time with the two grandchildren in Australia for at least couple of months at a time without worrying about deadlines. She loves sport so watching the Ashes cricket, Tennis Open, snowmobiling and snow shoeing in Newfoundland was high on her agenda – and this is just for starters!
When asked, she said she would 100% recommend Draper Hinks to anyone thinking of selling their accountancy practice for whatever reason.
If you want to sell your practice, contact Nicola Draper @ n.draper@draperhinks.co.uk