To understand small business valuation thoroughly, there are various financial terms that you should become very familiar with. Some terms are more relevant than others. For example, the word enterprise can have a different meaning to different people. Understanding what each term means will make the task of small business valuation much easier.
Cost per Action (CPA) is one of the most common small business valuation methods used. This is an easy method that calculates the amount that a company’s worth is based on a number of different factors. Many small businesses do not have the benefit of a brand name, so cost per action can be used to determine their worth. The main problem with this method is that it only considers the long-term value. It does not consider the future profitability of a company.
Another common method used in small business valuation is the sales-to-price (SPP) method. With this method, companies or their product or service are compared at various prices over a time frame. This allows the owners of the business to determine how the items are selling in comparison with other similar companies or services. The drawback is that it does not consider how well the product or service is selling now, but how well it is selling long-term.
A better way to approach small business valuation is to create financial metrics to use as a basis for creating a financial model. When creating these financial metrics, you will first want to gather financial documents from the company. These financial documents may include corporate, personal, business and government accounting documents. Once you have all of your financial documents ready, you can then begin the process of creating the financial models by creating correlation charts between the financial documents and the business valuation metric that you have calculated.
It is important that when creating a correlation chart, you use the best comparables that you have available. This will ensure that you do not accidentally apply one price to an asset and a different price to an expense. In order to create the best possible correlation chart, you should only choose to compare the same type of small business that you are comparing. For example, if you are looking to calculate the value of a business’s assets, you should not include a business that is currently undergoing bankruptcy. Creating a great correlation analysis will help the investor in a small business find the right investments.
To calculate the value of a small business, you should first take cash flows and income statements from the last five years, as well as balance sheet reports from the last three years. By gathering all of the financials from the past three years, you will be able to calculate the average income and selling and purchase costs. This will allow you to calculate the effective value of the company, as well as its potential for future selling or buying.
Once you have gathered all of the financials, you will want to compile them into a report that can be presented to the buyer. The best approach for doing this is to organize them by business line. For example, you could start with the income statement and go down from there. It is also helpful if the financial documents are organized by functional classifications. This will make it easier to identify the assets and liabilities of each line of business.
After you have organized the financials, you should compare them to your expectations about the small business for sale. You should determine the value of the business based on its expected selling price, its gross profit, and its gross revenue. If the market conditions are unfavorable, the valuation may be negative. In this case, you should consider selling the intangible assets of the company instead of the tangible assets. Selling the intangible assets will allow you to cover any risk that was incurred during the purchase process and will allow the small business valuation to be accurate.
Editor-in-Chief since 2011.