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Black swan events—like the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID pandemic—often come with high velocity and are slow to recover. While these events are difficult to predict, the best way to get ready for the next crisis is with extreme preparation. Looking ahead with intentional risk management, here are 8 ways to prepare your business, family enterp...

No matter what stage of the business cycle you are in, you should always have a defined strategy for your business operations and potential exit. For many family business owners, the sale of their business will be the single largest transaction of their lives. Yet many enter this transaction not fully prepared. To ensure you maximize your sale, the...

While many business owners are struggling to find qualified successors, family members oftentimes oppose proposed sales to outsiders because they think they should have the chance to take over the business. Research from Rothstein Kass suggests that advance planning can minimize family squabbles and ensure smoother business transitions.

Fraud is happening at your organization; you just don’t know it. Then again, maybe you do, but you are not sure how pervasive the problem is, where to begin your anti-fraud journey, or how to enhance your current fraud risk management practices. This playbook—which includes templates, checklists, and tools—draws from best practices and leading guid...

Regardless of industry or structure, all organizations must be proactive to stay ahead of potential risks and unforeseen threats like a pandemic or economic downturn. Implementing an Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) program will help organizations better anticipate, navigate, and minimize the negative effects of the next threat and improve resilien...

If you’re considering a sale of a business, listen in on this 10-minute interview for some valuable potential tax-savings strategies. Attorneys Jason Kohout and Stephanie Derks also discuss income and estate tax planning opportunities, especially for business owners who are in a high income tax state.

In this 10-minute interview, attorney Lindsey Birch of Foley & Lardner joins Brian Lucareli to discuss art ownership. During the interview, Lindsey explained what constitutes ownership of art, what to look for when acquiring fine art or artifacts, insurance protection, and the steps that can be taken to mitigate any future risks regarding title...

While entrepreneurs are intently focused on building their businesses, they may have less time to spend on building, sustaining, and distributing their wealth. Given the importance of early wealth planning and its long-term impact, this guidebook provides insights and tools at each stage of the entrepreneur’s journey to help them move forward ...

Entrepreneurs and business owners often put off wealth planning because they’re so busy with their businesses. Yet, wealth planning is a crucial part of protecting everything they’ve worked so hard for. That’s because their personal and business finances can be interconnected, but they aren’t always at the same stage of growth. This guide by BMO ou...

New cybersecurity guidance for artificial intelligence (AI) systems was issued jointly by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI, the National Security Agency’s Artificial Intelligence Security Center, and cybersecurity agencies of Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., and Canada. The Guidelines, Deploying AI Systems Securel...

For board members and non-executive directors, generative AI stands as a pivotal innovation that offers unprecedented opportunities to drive business value, improve productivity, reach broader audiences, streamline operations, and help address complicated global issues. However, it also raises complex business and ethical questions. To gain the ful...

For business owners and their advisors, it’s probably not surprising that buying another company or other assets requires moving with speed and diligence. But gaining an edge—and winning—on the buy side is a bit more complicated. Effective companies tend to deploy a series of purposeful tactics and avoid common mistakes when pursuing acquisitions. ...

As a subset of estate planning, asset protection is an important part of a family office’s risk management strategy. In this video, Chris Mays and Craig Redler discuss various strategies for asset protection, particularly for individuals and businesses facing potential legal claims and financial risks. They explore different structures such as trus...

Effective pre-liquidity planning is always important for a business owner considering a business sale, exit, or other transaction. But several recent and upcoming developments—related to estate laws, small-business tax exemptions, residency trends, philanthropic endeavors, and high interest rates—make 2024 a uniquely challenging year. This article ...

While the market for private sales has slowed, private equity companies have record amounts of dry powder they need to put to work—for the right companies, this may be the ideal time to explore a business sale or capital raise. In this podcast episode of Business Insights, Terry Hill, Partner in BPM’s Advisory Practice, is joined by Tara Smith Kach...