A new CFIB report finds most Canadian owners lack a formal exit plan, creating a major opportunity for financial advisors
Canada's small business owners are approaching an ownership transition of historic scale and most are not ready for it.
A new report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), released October 22, 2026, finds that 63 per cent of small business owners plan to exit their business within the next decade, representing more than $2 trillion in business assets that could change hands. However, only six per cent have a formal written succession plan in place.
The scale of the coming transition
The CFIB's 2026 Business Succession Planning Survey, conducted online from May 21 to June 11, 2026, polled 1,731 small business owners across Canada. The results are nationally representative, weighted by industry and age of owner, with a margin of error of ±2.35 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Retirement is driving most exits - cited by 78 per cent of respondents - but the data reveals that financial and operational pressures are also accelerating departure timelines.
About 21 per cent of owners cited burnout or stress as a reason for leaving, while 20 per cent pointed to high operating costs, including tariffs, labour, and regulatory compliance, as factors pushing them toward the exit. Eleven per cent said their business was simply not profitable enough to continue.
Those dynamics are not evenly distributed. Owners in retail and hospitality are particularly hard hit, with 25 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively, citing the high cost of running a business as a reason for exiting.
Why succession planning matters for advisors
The CFIB data makes a compelling case for early intervention by financial professionals. Business owners with a formal succession plan - defined as a documented process with a clear timeline, typically developed with the support of accountants, lawyers, and financial advisors - reported far greater confidence in their exit: 86 per cent expressed confidence in achieving a successful transition, compared to just 54 per cent among those with no plan at all.
The data on completed transitions reinforces that finding. Among business owners who had previously acquired an existing business, those whose acquisition involved a formal succession plan were more likely to describe the transition as smooth (81 per cent) than those without one (69 per cent).
Despite these advantages, planning remains rare and often delayed. Even among owners who plan to exit within 12 months, only 23 per cent have a formal plan. The most common source of planning support is an accountant (41 per cent), followed by a lawyer (21 per cent) and a personal financial advisor (17 per cent). Concerningly, 38 per cent of owners with any form of succession plan developed it entirely on their own.
Wealth Professional has previously reported on how advisors can help bridge the business-owner succession gap and the case for proactive client conversations has only grown stronger since.
Finding a buyer remains the biggest barrier
The most commonly cited challenge among surveyed owners is finding a suitable buyer or successor, flagged by 47 per cent of respondents. This challenge is compounded by limited awareness of acquisition as a pathway into entrepreneurship - half of current business owners built their businesses from scratch, rather than purchasing an existing one.
Other significant barriers include being too busy to plan (37 per cent), difficulty valuing the business (37 per cent), and a lack of experience navigating a business transfer (34 per cent). Among those who struggle with valuation, 66 per cent said they simply did not know what their business was worth, while 50 per cent did not know where to start.
Business owners planning to sell to family members face a distinct set of challenges. Conflicting visions around the future of the business are cited nearly twice as often among those planning a family succession (19 per cent) as among the broader owner population (10 per cent).
The CFIB's report also draws attention to Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) - a succession model introduced in Canada in 2024 that allows employees to acquire the business through a tax-efficient structure. The federal government has proposed making permanent the capital gains exemption of up to $10 million available on qualifying sales to an EOT.
However, awareness remains low: only eight per cent of business owners say they are familiar with EOTs, even as 19 per cent of owners with employees said they would consider the model. Advisors who can speak to the EOT structure may find it opens new planning conversations with clients who had previously assumed family or third-party sale was their only option.
Wealth Professional's guide to succession planning for business owners provides a useful primer for advisors looking to deepen their knowledge ahead of those discussions.
What advisors should do now
The CFIB recommends that business owners plan early, engage professional advisors, and review their succession plan regularly as personal and business circumstances change.
The conversation around business succession and advisor responsibility has been building for years. With $2 trillion in business assets expected to change hands over the next decade and business exits already outpacing new business creation in several quarters since early 2024, according to CFIB research, the window for advisors to add meaningful value is open - and narrowing.
