Publications

• 30 Second Ideas
• Accounting Updates
• Alerts
• Articles
• Business Surveys
• Construction Edge
• Healthcare Edge
• Insurance Edge
• Legal Talent
• Manufacturing Edge
• Not-for-Profit Edge
• Quick Links & Good Ideas
• SEC Edge
• Strategy Insights Blog
• Surviving the Upturn
• Tax Highlights

The Value of Advisory Boards

Business owners often operate within a vacuum due to a lack of trusted networks from which they can seek guidance on critical decisions. This was the topic of a recent panel discussion at the Family Business Alliance Annual meeting. The panel members included Daniel Van Der Vliet, Director of the Vermont Business Center at The University of Vermont; Greg Bourgea, Co-Managing Partner at Gallagher, Flynn & Company, LLP; John Wall, President of WallGoldfinger, Inc.; and our own David Spitulnik, Director of Strategic Services at Blackman Kallick, LLP.

An audio version of the complete panel discussion can be heard online at the Family Business Wiki.

As you will hear, Spitulnik believes that peer group forums such as Vistage and YPO, while certainly valuable, stop short of providing the consistent guidance and support needed by many family business owners. Likewise, peer group forums, which are typically made up of colleagues and friends, generally provide only episodic advice. However, advisory boards, he holds, can provide the valuable and consistent guidance companies need. One reason for this is that a company’s advisory board is specifically chartered to focus only on that single business. Advisory boards consist of members personally selected by the business owner or leader and provide nonbinding recommendations.

Once an advisory board is created, the business owner has a consistent round table that can assess the company’s current strategies and from which to tap ideas. Once the owner decides to take an advisory board’s recommendation, the advisory board can then hold the owner accountable for moving initiatives forward on a timely basis.

The general consensus of the panel was, structure notwithstanding, that business owners can benefit from both peer group forums and advisory boards—as long as they are getting consistent counsel and are held to their agreed timelines.

So the question remains: From where do you draw your advice and counsel?

This publication is part of Blackman Kallick’s marketing of professional services, and is not written tax advice directed at the specific facts and circumstances of any person and/or entity. Contents of this publication are of a general nature, and you should not act on this information without obtaining professional advice from your business advisor that is appropriately tailored to your individual needs and circumstances. This written advice is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used by any taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code.