Get Your Firm "Sale Ready," Even if it’s NOT for Sale
$179 Member | $279 Non-Member
Credit
PDH Credits:1.0
Description
You’ve decided to sell your house. You fix that broken screen door, prune the hedges, and cut the lawn. You want to show your house in the best possible light to potential buyers to maximize its sales price. Well, the same goes for your business.
Join Carl von Hake to examine five key areas that sway potential buyers — whether external or internal — and get your firm "sale ready" even if you're not ready to sell just yet.
When you think about it, the things that make a firm valuable to a buyer also make it valuable to the owner. The time and effort invested in getting your firm’s house in order for a sale will pay big dividends, whether you decide to sell the firm or retain ownership.
- Solid Operational History: Buyers like to know that, once acquired, the firm and its management team will continue to drive growth, cash flow, and operational excellence. After all, the buyer needs a return on his or her investment, and past performance can be an indicator of future performance.
- Complete, Well-organized Company Records: Missing, incomplete, incorrect, or contradictory records make it difficult for a buyer to understand your business, which creates unnecessary risk, and gives the buyer an excuse to move on.
- Realistic Expectations: A business valuation performed by an experienced valuation expert is a strategic investment that will you get an unbiased idea of the market value of your firm from which you can base negotiations of the sales price, but you also get feedback on how you can make your firm more valuable.
- Strong, Reliable Processes: If your processes are too dependent on you as the owner, that limits scalability, longevity, and profitability in the long term. To increase the marketability and value of your firm, run it so it can run without you.
- Clean Financial Statements: Financial statements that are well organized, prepared using the appropriate GAAP accounting methods, and conform to industry norms make the buyer’s due diligence process easier and faster.
Faculty: Carl von Hake, CPA, Associate Principal, Rusk O’Brien Gido + Partners