Firm Celebrates Transition to 100 Percent Ownership by the Company’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)
SC&H Group, Inc. (SC&H Group), a leading audit, tax, and consulting firm, celebrates a transition to 100 percent ownership by the company’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). At last Friday’s “All-Hands Meeting,” the employees of SC&H Group learned more about the transition completed in August.
The SC&H Group ESOP, a retirement benefit plan, was established in 2006 when the firm’s original founders sold shares to the ESOP. By 2016, the ESOP had purchased more company stock and the ESOP held 61 percent of the stock of the company. These shares of company stock have been allocated to employee accounts over time and are expected to be completely allocated by the end of 2016. The move to 100 percent ESOP ownership will make new shares of company stock available for release into employee accounts for more than twenty years into the future.
This accomplished two important goals for our company’s future. First, we now have new shares available in the ESOP to continue to reward our valued employees. And second, it establishes a sound strategy for ownership succession at SC&H Group,” said Ron Causey, CEO and Co-Founder of SC&H Group.
While there are no plans for any immediate changes in the current company leadership, Causey points out that moving to 100 percent ESOP ownership is a way to plan for the future. “We all end up retiring eventually. This transition provided shareholder liquidity so we can begin a smooth transition to the next generation of talented leaders.”
An ESOP is a retirement benefit plan that enables employees to own the company where they work through a tax qualified trust. First created in 1974, there are approximately 7,000 ESOP-owned businesses in the United States, employing millions of employee owners.
