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requires planning well before the retir-
ing partner’s final year. Begin including
Once the planning is complete, incoming staff in meetings with all
teams have been selected, major clients well before the retiring
and internal communication has been partner officially leaves, not just in the
year of retirement.
taken care of, it is time to officially For individual tax clients, tax sea-
let your clients know about the son is a great time to make this first
introduction, since this is when many
pending retirement and introduce clients are already in more frequent
them to their new team. communication and likely already have
meetings scheduled, whether in person
or virtually. Make sure to include the
administrative staff so they can help
their favorite clients and may assume such as the client’s family dynamics, schedule the appointments.
all their clients should be retained and issues faced during the time the client Not all clients will need a meeting.
transitioned. A partner’s exit is a good has been with the firm, the client’s A letter may be sufficient for inform-
time for the firm to evaluate whether length of time with the firm, etc. This ing clients who have had less contact
all the retiring partner’s clients still process can be made more efficient with the retiring partner.
meet the firm’s ideal client profile. by developing a template to capture Communication announcing the
These clients might be better suited this information. retirement to clients should preferably
and better served elsewhere rather than The staff or partner taking over the come from the retiring partner. Clients
being transitioned to the next genera- client should spend time reviewing this may be disappointed to lose their rela-
tion in the office. client memo and the files from prior tionship with the retiring partner, but
One other consideration may be years. They also should look for ways they are also planning for retirement
whether the retiring partner’s retire- to add value through planning and ad- someday themselves and, hopefully,
ment compensation is affected by ditional services that the retiring part- will be understanding.
culling clients. If the retiring partner’s ner may not have thought to pursue or The retiring partner should also
compensation is based on a retained did not have the time to implement. communicate to the client any and all
book of business, that partner might be known changes to level-set expecta-
reluctant to let any clients go. Communications with clients tions. For example, maybe the retiring
Once the planning is complete, teams partner would complete a return in
Communication within the firm taking over the client accounts have a few days for one of their “favorite”
Communicate internally the retire- been selected, and internal commu- clients, or maybe they would person-
ment or scaling back of a partner as nication has been taken care of, it is ally pick up client documents, etc.
soon as possible. Employees tend to time to officially let clients know about The client needs to be aware of all
listen to the grapevine and make as- the pending retirement and introduce such changes that will happen after
sumptions. The current and succeeding them to their new team. One of the the transition. It may be easier for the
leaders of the firm should be as clear pros of having a partner retire is the client to hear this directly from the
and transparent as possible. Discuss the opportunity it gives the younger part- outgoing partner.
succession plans and where they stand. ners and staff to stretch their wings. It
Consider how best to handle this com- presents an opportunity like no other How long should the retiring
munication, based on the firm’s culture for staff members to grow their experi- partner stick around?
— staff meetings, retreats, and/or one- ence, expand their knowledge, and In an ideal world, the incoming partner
on-one meetings with key personnel. build their book of business. or staff should be involved with the re-
The retiring partner should also tiring partner’s key clients for the two
draft a memo on all substantial clients Making those introductions — to three years leading up to the retiring
to share historical information and some tips partner’s final year. The incoming part-
knowledge that might not be captured Ideally, for larger clients, this introduc- ner or staff member should be involved
in their client files. This would entail tion should be done face to face and in client meetings, become the main
personal matters that are important, more than once before retirement. This client contact, and begin managing the

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