Six in ten Irish family businesses have no succession plan. Here is where to start
Recent Irish research shows most owners have their wealth tied up in the business and no plan for leaving it. A practical starting point for owners who may sell next year or in ten years.
Tommy Boyle, Founder, Business Answers · 13 October 2026
The short answer
- The ifac Family Business Report 2026 found 61% of Irish family businesses have no succession plan, and 77% of owners say their personal wealth depends entirely or mostly on the business.
- Two in five owners in the same survey would consider selling within the next five years.
- Fitzgerald Power's survey of Irish SME leaders found only 33% had an exit plan, and even fewer actively managed the drivers of their valuation.
- Exit planning starts years before a sale. The first step is an honest look at how ready the owner and the business are today.
Two pieces of Irish research published in the last year say the same thing in different ways. Most owners have built something valuable, and most have no plan for how they will eventually step away from it.
The ifac Family Business Report 2026, based on research by Amárach, found that 61% of family businesses have no succession plan in place. 77% of owners said their personal wealth is entirely or mostly dependent on the business, and two in five said they would consider selling in the next five years. Fitzgerald Power's survey of more than 80 Irish SME leaders found that only 33% had an exit plan.
Put those numbers side by side and the gap is plain. A large share of owners expect to sell within five years, most of their wealth sits inside the company, and only a minority have a plan.
Why owners put it off
In my experience it is rarely laziness. The business is busy, the owner is the person holding it together, and a sale feels like a problem for later. For family businesses there is often a harder conversation underneath, about who takes over and whether the next generation wants it at all.
The trouble is that the work that protects value takes time. Reducing how much the business depends on the owner, cleaning up the accounts, building a management team and getting key contracts in writing are not things that can be done in the few months before a buyer arrives.
What a buyer actually looks at
Buyers pay for a business that will keep performing once the owner has gone. They look at whether profit is consistent and well documented, whether customers are spread or concentrated, whether there is a team that runs the day to day, and whether the numbers they are shown hold up in due diligence.
Fitzgerald Power's research found that even fewer owners than the 33% with an exit plan were actively managing these valuation drivers. That is where most of the money is lost or protected.
A practical place to start
Start with an honest view of where you stand today. How long could the business run well without you? Would your last three years of accounts stand up to a buyer's questions? Are your biggest customers tied to you personally? Do you know what you want, a full sale, a partial sale, a family succession or a management buyout?
Our free 22-point owner readiness checklist walks through those questions across finances, team, records, risks and personal readiness. It gives you a clear list of what to work on first, whether a sale is next year or several years away.
If the checklist raises questions you would like to talk through, book a free 30-minute call with Business Answers. Over thirty years advising Irish owners has taught us that the owners who plan early have far more choices when the time comes.
Where these figures come from
Talk it through
Talk your business through with Tommy Boyle
A free 30 minute call with Tommy Boyle. You bring the situation, he tells you what he would look at first and whether there is a piece of work worth doing. Nothing is sold to you on the call.
Or email tommy@businessanswers.ie
Questions owners ask
- How many Irish family businesses have a succession plan?
- According to the ifac Family Business Report 2026, 61% of Irish family businesses have no succession plan in place, and 44% do not have succession planning on their agenda at all.
- How many years before a sale should an owner start exit planning?
- Ideally several years. Reducing owner dependence, strengthening the management team and getting financial records buyer-ready all take time, and starting early gives more options on timing and price.
- What is the difference between a succession plan and an exit plan?
- A succession plan sets out who will lead or own the business next, often family or management. An exit plan covers how the owner leaves and realises value, which could be succession, a trade sale, a management buyout or a partial sale.
- What lowers the value of an owner-managed business?
- Heavy dependence on the owner, customers concentrated in a few accounts, inconsistent or poorly documented profit, and no management team to run the business after a sale are among the most common factors.
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