Most accountants and small business operators have a pretty well tuned bullshit detector. You can smell a snake oil peddler from 20 paces. We all receive 50 emails and 10 calls a day at a minimum trying to get us to buy the new great tool, the latest time-saving apparatus, or our very own bridge over Sydney harbour. Am I any different? I’d like to hope so.

As financial professionals, we understand the importance of risk management in ensuring the success and longevity of our clients' businesses. One critical factor to consider when assessing risks is the security of a business's location. For businesses where their location is critical to the ongoing success of the business, securing lease terms that extend as far into the future as possible is crucial.

Over the last few years, the Federal Government has introduced a suite of instant asset write-off and accelerated depreciation rules, whereby eligible businesses can either claim...

Business valuations can be complex, and the rules can be hard to pin down sometimes. There are many business valuation methodologies that can be employed, aimed at determining the value of the enterprise.

Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can take many forms; some are better suited to your needs than others. In an ideal world, the best operating entity structure for your business will be put in place before you’ve made your first dollar, but I think we can all agree that such an outcome is highly improbable...

When it comes to assessing the value of accounting practices, the valuation process can often become a labyrinth of confusion, particularly when distinguishing between valuations of a business, an entity, and a book of clients. Ironically, accounting practices, which serve as trusted advisors in their field, are frequently valued using a shortcut methodology known as the Industry Rule of Thumb (IRT).

A commonly employed approach to business valuations is the Capitalisation of Future Maintainable Earnings (CFME), which establishes the business's value based on a multiple of its earnings. So, lets delve into the intricacies of earnings multiples and their significance in business valuations.

The term goodwill gets bandied about a lot in the business world, but I find it is often misunderstood. There are a few definitions, but generally only two of them apply in a business sense...

As a business owner, sometimes there can be a bit of ego involved. The business is your baby, you built it, you've worked hard, and you are the backbone of that business. And there really is nothing wrong with that… except when it comes time to sell it.

The price of a business valuation in Australia can vary significantly depending on factors such as the purpose of the valuation and the firm providing the service. Let’s examine the various types of valuations available and their associated costs, shall we?

Keeping the books clean is an essential aspect of running a business. It involves maintaining accurate financial records of all transactions, including income, expenses, assets, liabilities, and equity. But it also means keeping the finances of the business and the owners separate – or at ‘an arm’s length’.

Businesses are valued in a number of different ways; discounted cash flows, net tangible assets, and cost of creation, to name but a few. The methodology most often applied however, is the capitalisation of future maintainable earnings (CFME)... and with it comes the often-misunderstood capitalisation rate, usually applied as a multiple.

Businesses that are valued on the basis of a multiple of their profit (or Earnings Before Interest and Tax) are being valued using the Capitalisation of Future Maintainable Earnings valuation methodology.

It is widely agreed by business valuation experts that the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) methodology is the most precise way of valuing a business.

Businesses can be valued in a number of ways, including Net Tangible Assets, Capitalised Future Maintainable Earnings, Discounted Cash Flow, Net Realisable Value, and various others.