Accountants most trusted advisers for family businesses.

A survey of 614 family business owners conducted for the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. found CPAs were the most trusted advisers outside their family circles. Of the small business owners polled, 3 1 % considered their accountants to be their most important outside business advisers, well above attorneys (9%), bankers (4%) and company managers (4%).

This even holds true for CPA-owned family businesses. James B. Downey, CPA, president of Kaune Corp., a family-owned food retailer in Sante Fe, New Mexico, employs a CPA firm on a regular basis. "A CPA is my main source of advice on general business and taxes," Downey said. "Most of the outside advice I need comes from my CPA."

However, family businesses relied heavily on the advice and counsel of family members in the business. Downey's company, for example, has no directors who are not family members, which is consistent with the poll results showing only 12% of family businesses had directors outside the family. Over half (51%) held regular meetings with family members involved in the business.