How to Align Firm Culture and Integration in an M&A

In our recent webinar, ‘M&A Success Drivers: How to Align Firm Culture and Integration’ we were privileged to have Beverly Flaxington, co-founder of The Collaborative , to share her insights and process on how to identify a strong culture fit and then integrate two firms.

Finding the right firm to sell to or buy is a high stakes decision and a challenge for many RIAs. Firm culture is a critical component to the success of a deal. Firm integration impacts the profitability for all parties. Bev provided insight on the criteria to assess and understand a firm’s culture, how to ready your staff for the changes ahead, and the essentials for retaining the clients through the sale.

As a bestselling author, international Keynote speaker, and college professor, Beverly brought a distinctive and actionable perspective for business growth and success. To listen to a replay of the webinar, click here.

To encourage you to include firm culture as well valuation and revenue multiples, we created a 12-Point Culture Match Checklist as a guide for M&A discussions. The questions, while easy to ask, are harder to vet then one would think.

Related: How the Buyer and Seller Relationship Has Evolved

12 Point Culture Match Checklist

We have a clearly defined culture

Culture is part of our strategic planning discussions

If you asked a variety of our employees to describe our culture they would all use similar words to do so

Our leaders lead on culture

We can describe our culture to others in M & A discussions

The Client Experience at our firm is a strong driver of culture

We review our culture at least once a year to make sure we are in alignment with what we say, and what we actually do

We deliberately hire people who are a fit for our culture and confirm this in the interview process

When thinking about merging or acquiring another firm, culture is at the top of our list in terms of priorities to discuss

We would walk away from an M & A opportunity if the culture was not a fit

We have a plan for how we will incorporate culture into a merger once completed

We have a communication plan for announcing the merger to our clients