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Ten years ago, a client told Jeff Bartling that if he wanted to hire an outstanding accountant for his firm, he should talk to Marv Debner.

Bartling, CEO and managing partner of LWBJ Financial, took that recommendation to heart. Over the next eight years, he got to know Debner, then a partner with Deloitte & Touche LLP, by taking him to lunch on a regular basis. In 2007, he finally persuaded Debner to join LWBJ.

Now, as Bartling prepares to retire from public accounting at the end of the year, Debner is one of eight LWBJ partners from whom the firm will select its next managing partner.

“A lot of my background and work has been in succession planning,” said Bartling, 49, who has practiced as a certified public accountant for the past 27 years. “So we realized that we had to do a good job with this in our own firm. So it’s been on our minds for quite a long time.”

Bartling is one of several Greater Des Moines executives in the financial services industry who will retire at the end of the year, setting in motion carefully weighed succession decisions, in many cases made years in advance.

Among other key business leaders who have announced their retirements is Doug Reichardt, who will step down as chairman of Holmes Murphy & Associates on Dec. 31. At Principal Financial Group Inc., John Aschenbrenner will retire from his position as president of insurance and financial services at year’s end, after serving more than 37 years with the company.

At each of these companies, deep benches of management talent and comprehensive succession plans have led to smooth transitions to the next generation, say their top executives.

“One of the best quotes that I’ve heard on the topic,” Bartling said, “is that the longer it takes to build a succession plan, the more successful it will be.”

The West Des Moines-based public accounting firm, which Bartling co-founded with three partners in 1992, has about 70 people on staff during tax season, making it one of the largest locally owned certified public accounting firms in Iowa. Over the past five years, it has added on five more partners to its founding group, including three others who, like Debner, were recruited from Big Four accounting firms.

“We’ve spent a pretty substantial amount of time in growing our firm with a group of partners that are interested in continuing that group,” Bartling said.

Debner chairs the firm’s executive committee, which after tax season ends on April 30 will name a new managing partner.

Holmes Murphy also has a very deliberate executive succession process, said Jim Swift, the company’s president and CEO, who on Jan. 1 will succeed Reichardt as chairman and CEO.

“We started on this plan probably three or four years ago,” said Swift, who joined Holmes Murphy in 1980 and by 1993 was leading the company’s brokerage division.

“We’re really unique in that our founders Holmes and Murphy established a nepotism policy where family members couldn’t be involved, so (succession planning is) really part of our model,” he said. “We can attract quality people, and they know that they can be a leader and an investor, and that they can have significant input in how the business is run.”

At the outset of the succession process, the company added three future leaders to its executive committee, Swift said, “and we are continually looking to develop our future leadership.”

As part of that process, for about the past 10 years selected Holmes Murphy executives have attended “HMA University,” an internal development program that is a prerequisite to becoming a shareholder in the firm.

Internal development is a constant theme at Principal, said Larry Zimpleman, the company’s chairman, president and CEO.

“Clearly, we’re seeking to have the most experienced people ready, willing and able to step into all of these key positions,” said Zimpleman, who reached the top rung of Principal’s succession ladder in May 2008. “We’re continuously thinking about what additional development is needed in order to make them ready for these positions as they become available.”

Candidates are categorized into three broad buckets, Zimpleman said: those who are ready to step into the next position now, those who need one to three more years of development, and those who are three or more years out from advancement.

Aschenbrenner’s successor, Dan Houston, will assume leadership of Principal’s life, health and specialty benefits businesses in addition to his current role of leading the company’s asset accumulation segment.

As more executives within the Baby Boomer generation reach retirement age, “we’ll continue to see these (sucessions) play out over the course of the next several years,” Zimpleman said. “I think it is one of the hallmarks and strengths of this company in that we do have the experience (like Aschenbrenner), but also a deep bench of people with 20 to 25 years of experience like Dan.”

At LWBJ, the “bench” huddles yearly for an annual partners’ retreat, “where we cover everything about the firm,” Bartling said. “I think that has been a very solid process for us.”

Continued development of leadership and talent “allows your company to grow without having a founder continuing to run it,” Bartling said. “We’ve been able to build the partner group to the point to where my exiting is not a big end of the road for the firm.”