Maximize Your Life’s Work
You’ve worked hard to create a successful organization. Are you building a plan to get the most out of what you’ve built?
ExitSMART™ is a seven-step program that integrates the exit planning and implementation processes of succession. Through ExitSMART™, you get a comprehensive guide to your succession strategy, ensuring you meet your unique goals.
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Take the ExitSMART™ Assessment
Is your succession planning on the right track? Find out with our ExitSMART™ assessment tool.
The Seven Steps of ExitSMART™
Cover every corner of succession strategy with these key areas.
Tax planning and estate planning needs to be done well in advance of exiting the business to minimize tax liabilities.
To create a succession roadmap, we need to establish what you want your future to look like. Determining your personal and business goals lay the foundation for your exit strategy.
A business valuation helps you determine how fast you can get to where you want to go by showing where you are now. This step also identifies what is driving value in your business and discussion of value-creation strategies.
Retire the way you want to with a crafted wealth management strategy.
Take a strategic approach to maximizing value. This stage develops a one- to five-year plan for your business, depending on your succession timeline, to increase your positioning.
Businesses often have complex structures that require a careful exit strategy. Revisiting your governance structure can help create a smooth transition to new ownership.
Your team members are a key value driver for your business and buyers want to know that they will keep the staff once they take over. Improve the worth of your business with a retention strategy.
Contact Our ExitSMART™ Team

John Hughes CPA, CA, MBA
Senior Vice President, Private Enterprise
John Hughes, MBA, CPA, CA, is MNP Senior Vice President, Private Enterprise. John is a member of the Firm’s management team and leads the Private Enterprise practice, which advises Canadian business families, entrepreneurs and management teams to create value and grow their businesses through a diverse range of services and customized strategies.
John was formerly national leader of a Big Four private enterprise practice, and is also the former national leader of Canada’s Best Managed Companies program. His consulting experience has included everything from audits, strategic tax planning and strategy and operational consulting to corporate finance, due diligence, mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings (IPOs).
John obtained a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from York University in 1992. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), qualifying as a Charted Accountant (CA) in 1988.
John’s expertise and passion for Canadian private business led him to co-author two Canadian best-sellers: Building the Best (Penguin 2006) and Power of the Best (2012).

Lynne Fisher
National Team Leader, ExitSmart



Jim Chagnon CPA, CA, TEP
Partner, Private Enterprise & Professionals

Shane King CPA, CA
National Leader, Succession Services