Insights from the 2025 Grant Thornton Family Business Survey offer accountants a new depth of clarity around the challenges facing such organisations, as well as the enormous opportunities they enjoy.

And family businesses do have opportunities that others don’t, says Kirsten Taylor-Martin CA, partner and national head of family enterprise consulting at Grant Thornton. They have superpowers.

“When they have everything set up and they work well together, it’s just magic. You just can’t compete with it,” Taylor-Martin says.

“They’re driven by their family values. They welcome staff into their family. They have an agility that means if they come up with an idea, they can make it happen tomorrow. There’s often no red tape. They can just make it happen.”

Drawing on research data and insight from decades spent consulting to family businesses, Taylor-Martin says there are several key themes accountants should be aware of when advising family business clients.

1. Succession planning is urgent and personal

Perhaps unsurprisingly, succession planning remains the most significant challenge, according to the research.

While the technical side of succession planning is vital, barriers also now often include emotional resistance, financial uncertainty and a lack of clarity about what life might look like outside of the business.

The older generation, known in the report as ‘incumbents’, may not have planned retirement financially or practically, as they’ve been throwing all they have into the business.

Meanwhile, the younger generation, known as ‘rising’, are ready to take over.

“So often, you’ll speak to different family members and they’ll tell you different perspectives of the same story,” Taylor-Martin says. “You can see it’s coming from love, but they haven’t necessarily thought through all of the implications of that action.”

Lesson for CAs

Succession cannot be approached as a transaction. It must be framed as a transition.

2. Governance forms a bridge between family and business

Taylor-Martin tells a story of a colleague who, having consulted for many years to corporates, worked with his first family business client.

“He worked with the business to help them with their strategic plan, but they hadn’t spent time on governance planning,” she says. “He commented how different the process was because family dynamics became part of the decision-making process.”

This problem is exacerbated as different generations prioritise different challenges. Incumbent leaders tend to prioritise operational and economic challenges, where the rising generation is more concerned with succession and family relationships.

Without structure, such differences can bring friction and worse.

The report points to governance frameworks as the mechanism for aligning priorities, and ensuring communication and understanding at all levels. Such frameworks – a prerequisite for effective decision making, Taylor-Martin says – might include family charters, advisory boards and family councils.

Lesson for CAs

An opportunity exists to move into facilitation, helping clients design frameworks supporting accountability and communication.

3. The rising generation is waiting, waiting, waiting…

Prior to the research, Taylor-Martin assumed the rising generation would be aged 25 to 40. However, 31% are over 45 and 10% are over 55.

This indicates they are very experienced but still not in leadership roles.

It may be due to differing views of retirement between generations, Taylor-Martin says.

“A lot of baby boomers don’t want to retire, they’re fearful of retirement,” she says. “At the same time, members of the rising generation do want to retire. They do want to enjoy life.”

And so, it’s possible the rising generation could retire before the leadership baton is passed.

Lesson for CAs

Succession planning should begin earlier and include advice relating to financial planning for retirement.

4. Digital transformation means different things to different generations

The research revealed a divergence in generational attitude towards technology. Incumbents approach technologies such as AI cautiously.

AI was in the top six challenges for incumbents but was not even considered a challenge by the rising generation. Taylor-Martin says she suspects this is because the rising generation perceives AI only as an opportunity and never as a threat.

Lesson for CAs

Bridging the tech gap requires technical advice and facilitation to help families balance prudence with innovation.

5. Investment isn’t just for business, it’s also for relationships

The successful family business, Taylor-Martin says, does not happen by accident.

“They need to invest their time and energy into building a family governance framework around how the family is going to work together, rather than pay the litigators during a dispute further down the track,” she says.

The investment is not simply financial. It must involve time, communication and structure, with the outcome being a framework that enables trust, clarity and continuity.

“What does a successful family business look like?” Taylor-Martin’s viewpoint is simple: “When the business is prospering, the family celebrates together. It’s that simple.”

Lesson for CAs

Supporting family businesses means engaging with both the financial and the human sides.

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