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Certified Family Wealth Professional

By Geoffrey Baring

19 June, 2013

Certified Family Wealth Professional

A New Cutting Edge Wealth Management Program from IABFM

Wealth Management and Family Owned Business

Few people challenge the wisdom of economics gurus such as the late Nobel Laureate, Professor Milton Friedman's view that "the business of business is business" and that companies exist to maximise shareholders wealth. However, seminal research undertaken by Professor Geoffrey Baring, the CEO of the IABFM, and former Executive Director of the Syme Accounting and Finance Research Centre, at Monash University, came to the conclusion that this may not be the case with family owned and tightly held businesses.  Baring's research has been validated by a number of subsequent studies identifying the same phenomenon.  His study showed that in many instances other objectives, such as providing secure employment for family members, have taken precedence over the shareholder wealth maximisation tenet.

Recognition of this fact presents unique challenges for advisers to family owned businesses.  They can no longer accept that, unlike publicly listed companies, the principle motivator of senior management of family owned/controlled businesses is wealth maximisation.  Hence strategies developed based on this premise may need to be revisited.  Advice provided by wealth management advisers that do not appreciate the dynamics of family owned businesses may be missing the mark as far as their clients are concerned.

Until now the significant differences between family owned/controlled and conventional businesses has not been fully appreciated in wealth management training programs. The IABFM, developer of the internationally acclaimed Chartered Wealth Manager program, has developed a new five day wealth management program specifically for family owned/tightly controlled businesses. The Certified Family Wealth Professional (CFWP) training program has been designed to address the shortcomings of wealth management programs that disregard the unique nature of family owned businesses. The program is available in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.  It is currently being translated into French and Arabic.  An outline of the program can be obtained by placing a request at [email protected].

We look forward to hearing from you and sharing some of our new initiatives designed to meet the challenges presented by family businesses.