Most advisory firm owners think they're 80% done with a deal once they've found a buyer and shaken hands on a number. In reality, they may not even be in the first inning.

In this episode of The SRG Exchange, SRG's consulting team and General Counsel pull back the curtain on what firm owners consistently get wrong about M&A, from timing and valuation methodology to entity structure and equity sharing strategy.

The group covers when to bring in an outside team and what happens when you wait too long, why a business's appraised value and its sale price are not the same thing, where market multiples landed in 2025, why internal succession deals rarely match the economics of an external sale, and how entity planning and equity sharing have shifted from tools reserved for the industry's biggest firms to essentials at nearly every size.

Regulatory scrutiny is evolving, and RIAs involved in acquisitions or succession transitions are starting to see a new area of exam focus: how the SEC’s Marketing Rule endorsement provision may apply to certain client transition communications.

In this episode of The Fine Print, SRG General Counsel Todd Fulks is joined by Christine Ayako Schleppegrell, Partner at Morgan Lewis and former SEC attorney, for a timely discussion on what firms are seeing in exams and deficiency letters, and why this issue is emerging now.

You will hear how a rule many advisors associate with testimonials and advertising is beginning to surface in the M&A transition context, and what firms can do to stay prepared.

Employment agreements are often treated as a formality, until a key employee leaves, client relationships walk out the door, or a succession plan starts to unravel.

In this episode of The SRG Exchange, SRG’s consulting team and General Counsel break down the real-world role of restrictive covenants in advisory firms, and why the biggest risk is often having no agreement in place at all.

The group explores the difference between non-competes, non-solicits, and no-serve provisions, why enforceability varies state by state, and how firms can create protections that are both practical and reasonable.