Given the economic bumper ride of recent times, more than a few small accounting firms might be expected to sell up shop if offered a tidy sum. Yet after two years of aggressive searching, one prospective buyer has failed to find a single taker.

Openside Chartered Accountants, a Wellington-based firm, has spent several years looking to buy one or two smaller firms – anywhere in New Zealand.

The recession has caused business owners to put their selling plans back even further and many have no idea who the buyer will be, according to the latest ASB Succession Planning Monitor.

The monitor surveyed 421 privately owned or franchised small businesses (annual turnover under $1 million) and medium to large businesses (annual turnover between $1 million- $150 million) over the April to June 2009 quarter.

Business owners are putting off selling their businesses as they wait for asset prices to pick up, according to the latest ASB Succession Planning Monitor.

The monitor, which measures market sentiment about whether now is a good time to sell, has shown a further decline in the first quarter of 2009.

The net index has slumped 7.1% to a whopping -81.1%, with only a meagre 8.3% saying now is a good time to sell.

While a number of reasons were stated a major one was that being a business owner assured their own employment.