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Quality of Financial Information – is it Important?

When we develop an opinion of value for a particular operating business, we look at the quality of the financial information as either an additional risk factor or value driver. In business valuation and especially from an investor’s viewpoint, quality of the financial information or truthfulness of the data plays an important role. Everyone has… Continue >>>

How to Benchmark the Value of a Business

What is a reasonable selling price for a business? This is a question that arises for many business owners and others interested in pricing a business. To some degree, every business is unique and therefore, no one-size-fits-all valuation formula works for all businesses or for a particular industry. For example, sometimes a dentist may hear… Continue >>>

Separating Personal Goodwill in a Corporation Sale

A sale of a corporation under an asset sale arrangement should be carefully planned to establish the personal goodwill that may exist and if it is being sold in a “separate transaction” apart from the sale of the assets of the corporation. This is particularly true where a closely-held C corporation’s transaction deal is structured… Continue >>>

Market Transactional Valuation Multiples are not about Averages

In October of 2003, I co-chaired a valuation roundtable session with Dr. Shannon Pratt, a highly regarded individual within the business appraisal profession. A question was asked regarding the use of market data in the market approach as it applies to the valuation of closely held companies. I thought it would be helpful to revisit… Continue >>>

When an EBITDA Valuation Multiple Doesn’t Work

Many business owner’s when they want to sell their business, often read about an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) valuation multiples. But when they’re questioned further, what they really mean is they want to sell for a higher EBITDA valuation multiple than discussed in the industry journals. Here, I will identify occurrences… Continue >>>

Benchmarking (adding value)

Assessing risk is a crucial part of valuing a closely-held business. Business appraisers use risk assessments in the income approach to estimate rates of return (discount rates) and in the market approach to select valuation multiples. All else being equal, the higher a company’s risk, the lower its value, conversely lower risk (value drivers) increases… Continue >>>

Tax Reform & Reasonable Compensation

The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) contains a provision for reasonable compensation as defined in IRS Code Section 162. Reasonable compensation has always been an important issue in business valuation, but the TCJA has put a much brighter spotlight on the matter, which will be closer scrutinized starting in 2018. There is a new… Continue >>>

Creating a Reliable Buy-Sell Agreement

A buy-sell agreement can be an important tool in smoothing any business ownership transition, whether the aim is to maintain control, provide liquidity and a ready market for the stock, retain key employees or ensure an orderly ownership transfer in the case of death, disability or divorce. Of course, it’s important to decide how to… Continue >>>

Reasonable Compensation Guidance

Adjustments for reasonable or replacement compensation – whether in corporate practice or when conducting a business valuation can be one of the most difficult adjustments to quantify. There are numerous factors that should be considered when adjusting compensation levels. Oftentimes, American Business Appraisers find an individual’s, whether they are the owner or principle within the… Continue >>>

Three Key Factors in Business Valuation

The three key factors are profitability, growth and risk. Profitability, or more specifically, anticipated benefits will be the most important consideration by investors (i. e., buyers). Anticipated benefits will consider such items as the nature, capital structure, and historical performance. Growth considerations are generally the expected growth in earnings, along with the anticipated outlook for… Continue >>>

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