LLP diary: the final straight
This has been the longest month in our march towards LLP.
Only the strength of our initial planning, regular meetings and the
occasional unwelcome spotlight on those lagging behind their deadlines have kept
us firmly on course.
Several thousand revised or new letters of engagement have left the building
in the past few months, and the majority have been returned. Notification of our
new status has also gone out to over 600 suppliers, our clients, our pensioners
and our employees. I even told my mum.
Now it’s important matters like the stationery that occupy our minds. Getting
every piece of headed paper and business card into the shredders this weekend
will be a fun job. I just pray the bright new LLP replacements roll up on time.
The sad thing is that most of the clients won’t notice the difference.
Perhaps surprisingly, one of the easiest tasks has been gaining power of
attorney from all of the equity partners. This allows any necessary last-minute
changes to the documentation to be carried out by the agreed designated members.
The alternative was for all of the equity partners to be in the office at
midnight on Sunday 3 July. Funnily enough, they didn’t fancy that.
To slip momentarily into horseracing jargon, we are in the home straight with
one hurdle to leap. Sitting in an otherwise empty office, with just the nervous
tic of my project manager David Brown for company, I feel a sense of
accomplishment at a job well (almost) done. Although judging by the way that he
is banging his head on every piece of wood, I am not sure that he shares my
confidence.
After much hard work from the team and only a few hiccups along the way, we
are at the point where I am filling the Mont Blanc. In only a few days, it will
nervously hover over business transfer agreement ready to commit the partnership
to history after 217 years.
This is a major step to take and I am glad to be able to report that we are
now within an ace of accomplishing the task. With luck, I will be reporting on a
successful project next month. If not, my partners will replace this column with
an advert for a new managing partner instead.
Mike Tovey is managing partner of Chantrey Vellacott DFK
