Dan Elliott
Sep 95 min read
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Business Valuations
You’ve put a lot of hours into building your business, so don’t get less than you deserve. Even if you’re just thinking about selling but you’re not quite ready to take the plunge, let us give you an assessment of your company’s worth so you at least have a ballpark figure in mind.
The process of coming to a price for a small business is like making a complex meal. You put in a lot of ingredients to get the result. What are the ingredients for pricing a small business? A business valuation helps you determine how much a business is worth.
We will look at your company’s profitability, vendor relationships, employee base, and financial records. To ensure that you get top dollar, we will calculate your future profit margins and any economic changes that would increase the value of the company. This data will give you a solid baseline to consider when setting an asking price for your small business.
Do You Need A Business Valuation?
Whether you’re buying or selling a business, a business valuation is a necessary step in the process. You might be more familiar with the term ‘business appraisal’. These two interchangeable terms describe a complicated process used to determine what a business is worth.
While you’ve likely heard of a business appraisal, you may not be aware that there are different types of business evaluations for different circumstances. There are some circumstances where a formal valuation is needed. In other instances, a less formal approach can be taken.
Our business brokers will help you navigate the various types of business valuations and determine which type of appraisal you need for your specific circumstances.
PRICING A SMALL BUSINESS
A Prepared Investor's Guide
9 Key Ingredients For Pricing A Small Business Correctly
In the last 20 years as business brokers in Houston here’s the question we’ve been asked by small business owners approximately 10,000 times:
"What Is My Small Business Worth?"
Every business owner wants a simple clean answer. And unfortunately, too many business brokers, CPAs, and fishing buddies are more than happy to give them a simple yet incorrect one. But intuitively we know this can be a complex question to answer. The process of pricing a small business is like preparing a complex meal. You put in a lot of key ingredients to get to the end result.
Sales Revenue
Is the business growing? Shrinking? Is it volatile year-to-year?
Profits
After adjusting for the owners often way too complex or obscured earnings, what profit is the business actually making?
Customer Concentration
Is the largest customer a large part of the total business sales? Is it the same large customer every year? What is the risk of losing that customer?
Vendor Concentration
Is the business dependent on a critical supplier? Is there a replacement supplier if something goes wrong?
Family Involvement
What family members are involved in the business?
Industry And Regulation
Any big industry or regulatory changes in the works? Good or bad?
Financial Records
Does the profit and loss statement accurately reflect the financial performance of the business? Can the tax returns and P&L be reconciled easily?
Accounting
Is the accounting done on a cash basis? Accrual? Are tax returns and financial statements prepared with consistent accounting principles?
Interest Rate
What is the current interest rate environment? Generally speaking the higher the interest rates the lower the business value to a buyer due to the higher cost of borrowing to pay for the business.
Important Note
And there are about 12 – 15 more issues that need to be considered when determining what a buyer might be willing to pay for the business. My advice is to ignore “Rule of Thumb” business pricing methods. Instead, contact us to set up a confidential discussion with a Sunbelt Texas professional. We’ll guide you through the process of determining what is an appropriate price for your business in today’s market.
Business Appraisal "Calculation of Value"
This valuation is often used in buying a business or selling a business. The premise is that buyer has no formal ties to the business and the transaction is an arm’s length transaction for the sale of 100% of the business. This valuation is generally viewed as a purely financial opinion of market value and makes no assumptions about how a specific buyer might value the business.
Estate Plan Valuation
This is a valuation done for business owners who have the business inside their estate and required the appraisal for tax planning issues.
Buy/Sell Partner Appraisal
This is often used when one business partner is buying out another business partner.
ESOP Appraisal
This is used when the company is installing an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) so that the employee-owners have a way to understand the value of their business ownership interests.
Divorce Valuation
Self-explanatory and similar in many ways to the Partner Buyout Valuation listed above.
Personal Goodwill Valuation
Sometimes used in a business transaction where an owner is personally involved and critical to the business. For instance, a world renown heart transplant surgeon likely has a lot of personal goodwill built up because people seek out that surgeon INDIVIDUALLY. If that surgeon left the business it’s likely many patients would not contact the business.
Minority Interest Valuation
This is a valuation used to assess the value of an interest in a business where the minority ownership is not liquid. For instance, if I own shares of IBM I call my broker and have the shares sold at a published price in 5 minutes. However, if I own 10% of XYZ, Inc. which is not a publicly traded company with 90% owned by my boss Mary, then I would need to try to find someone to buy my 10%. In this case, since Mary owns 90% of the company and is my boss, my 10% is probably not worth 1/10 of 100% value of the company. This valuation helps determine what your 10% is really worth.
Different Types of Business Valuations
It’s important to know what type of business valuation your transaction requires. Here is a summary of the most common types of appraisals.
TYPES OF BUSINESS VALUATIONS
Want to Learn More?
READ OUR BLOGS ABOUT BUSINESS VALUATIONS
BUSINESS VALUATIONS BLOG
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