many people have questions about
business valuation services in a
partnership buyout or how to sell shares
in a private company most business
owners want to know how to value their
business when someone approaches them to
be a partner what is a fair price to
offer what is the company worth do I
really need a full valuation or can you
just run some numbers most of the time
you just need a valuation expert to help
you crunch the numbers and give you a
range of value for your company this
still means we have to do the valuation
analysis review three to five years of
financial data look at the industry and
economic factors but sometimes that does
not mean you need a full report there
are ways to do the analysis quickly and
for a reasonable price you just have to
search a bit for the right valuation
expert or accredited appraiser we
purchase data on valuation multiples for
different industries and use technology
such as video web conferencing to review
the spreadsheets and the valuation
numbers we do not always issue report
because then you don't accidentally send
it to the buyer or new partner
negotiation is the name of the game here
and if you give them the report you have
basically given them a starting point
and then they will proceed to negotiate
the price of downwards this is not
usually in your favor instead consider
working together with the valuation
expert you and your future partner even
consider splitting the cost sometimes
this could mean that the expert presents
the numbers to you at the same time so
no one thinks the expert is biased the
business appraiser or valuation expert
can present the historical financial
data adjust the financials for
discretionary expenses or review the
numbers with the potential buyer and
explain the valuation process if you
both share the costs of the valuation
and work with the expert to understand
the range of reasonable value for the
company then you will have a third party
neutral helping you determine a
reasonable price to pay for the shares
remember this new partner is someone you
will be working with in the future by
hiring someone to help you evaluate the
business you can work toward something
as fair as opposed to fighting about the
number and starting off feeling like
someone won and the other person lost
not a great way to start your
partnership agreement for the purpose of
this discussion we assume that when we
talk about a partnership or a private
company the information would be valid
for any type of business structure we
provide mediation and business valuation
services in st. Louis Missouri as well
as all parts of Missouri Illinois and
around the country if you have any
questions about business partnerships
partnership agreements or how to sell
stock in your company give us a call or
text your question to three one four
five four one eight one six three for
more information visit our website at
www.att.com/biz