Business Valuation Services
You’re building it. Now find out what it’s worth.
Most business owners have a number in their head. It came from a conversation at a barbecue, a rule of thumb someone repeated, or a multiple they read somewhere.
It is almost always wrong, and it is usually wrong in the direction that costs them money. A valuation replaces the number in your head with one you can defend — to a buyer, a partner, a bank, the ATO or a court.
Normalised earnings and a risk-informed multiple form an earnings-based valuation.
Why this sits at the front
The single number that connects everything else
Most accounting firms treat business valuations as something they’ll do if you ask. We think that’s backwards.
What your equity is worth. Whether you can afford to retire. What a partner should be paid out. What tax you’ll face on exit. Whether the last ten years produced an asset or a job. Almost nobody knows it.
What separates us from most firms
Plenty of accountants will prepare your financials and tax return. Far fewer will tell you what the business is worth and what would make it worth more.
Four levels
Valuations are not one product
The right level depends on what the number has to survive. Most owners start at Level 1 or 2 and only move up when a specific decision demands it. We’ll tell you which level your situation actually needs, including when that’s the cheapest one.
- Level 1
Estimate of Business Value
A high-level indication based on your financial information and industry benchmarks. Fast and inexpensive.
Use it when you want to know roughly where you stand, or before deciding whether a fuller valuation is worth it. Not intended to be relied on by a third party.
- Level 2
Calculated Value
A calculated valuation using agreed methodology and your actual numbers, with normalisation adjustments for owner’s remuneration and one-off items.
Use it for internal planning, early succession conversations, or testing whether an offer is in the right postcode.
- Level 3
Limited Scope Conclusion of Value
A focused, defensible conclusion on a defined scope. More rigorous than a calculation, narrower than a full engagement.
Use it where a real decision turns on the number but the full scope isn’t warranted — a partner buy-in, a bank requirement, or a CGT concession eligibility question.
- Level 4
Conclusion of Value
The full engagement. Comprehensive analysis, multiple methodologies cross-checked, documented assumptions and a report written to be relied on by others.
Use it for a sale, a dispute, a court process, an estate, or anywhere the number will be tested by someone whose interests differ from yours.
Enacted 26 June 2026 · effective 1 July 2027
The deadline nobody is talking about yet
A very large number of Australian business owners are going to need defensible market value evidence as at 1 July 2027, and most of them don’t know it yet.
- A deemed disposal at market value
Assets held on 30 June 2027 are deemed sold immediately before 1 July 2027 and reacquired at market value. Not book value, not a formula — market value, at a specific date.
- It applies whether you transact or not
You don’t have to sell anything for this to apply. Every business asset, every parcel of private company shares, every unit in a trust.
- Retrospective evidence is weaker and dearer
Valuations produced years after the fact are harder to defend and more expensive to obtain. The work is much cheaper done close to the date, and there is a finite amount of valuation capacity in this state.
Reliable market valuation evidence as at that date will be critical, particularly for unlisted assets.
Seven situations
When a valuation earns its fee
The common thread is that a decision gets made on the number whether or not anyone has checked it.
- You’re thinking about selling
Now, or within five years.
- A partner is buying in, or buying out
Somebody has to name a figure, and it will be argued about.
- Succession
A child, a manager or a family member taking over.
- Testing the small business CGT concessions
They turn on market values rather than book values, so the test cannot be run without one.
- A relationship breakdown
The business will be valued by someone regardless of whether you engage.
- An estate
Where the executor needs a defensible figure.
- The 1 July 2027 deemed disposal
Which applies whether or not you sell.
Risk, not arithmetic
Why two identical businesses sell for different numbers
Two businesses with the same earnings can be worth materially different amounts.
This is the useful part of a valuation. The number tells you where you are. The value drivers tell you what to work on, and most of them take years to shift.
- Customer concentration
If one client is 40% of revenue, a buyer is buying that client’s goodwill, not yours.
- Owner dependence
If the business cannot run for a month without you, you haven’t built a business. You’ve built a job with staff, and buyers price it that way.
- Documented systems
Work that lives in someone’s head is a risk a buyer discounts for.
- Recurring versus one-off revenue
Contracted, repeating income is worth a multiple that project work never gets.
- Quality of records
If a buyer can’t verify the numbers, they discount them. Clean financials are worth real money at sale time.
- Customer concentration
- Owner dependence
- Documented systems
- Recurring revenue
- Quality of records
These are review areas, not a quantified discount schedule.
Business Advisory & CFO AdvisoryWhere the value drivers actually get moved, over the years before a sale.
The same conversation
Valuation and tax are not separable
You cannot answer “do I qualify for the small business CGT concessions” without a valuation, because the maximum net asset value test is a market value test. Owners routinely find out during the sale, when the structure is fixed and the contract drafted. Three years earlier, most of what goes wrong is fixable.
Small Business CGT ConcessionsThe four concessions and the tests your structure has to pass.
Business Succession & Exit PlanningWhat happens with the number once you have it.
Method
How a business actually gets valued
Three broad approaches, and a credible valuation usually cross-checks at least two of them.
- Earnings-based
The most common for owner-operated businesses. Normalised earnings multiplied by a factor that reflects risk and growth. The judgement is all in the normalisation and the multiple, not the arithmetic.
- Asset-based
What the assets are worth less what’s owed. Relevant where the business is asset-heavy, or where it’s worth less as a going concern than broken up — a genuine and uncomfortable finding for some businesses.
- Market-based
What comparable businesses have actually sold for. Powerful when good comparables exist and misleading when they don’t, which in a market the size of Tasmania is often.
Questions we get asked
The ones that come up every time
How much does a business valuation cost?
It depends on the level. An estimate of value is a smaller fixed fee. A full conclusion of value is a substantially larger engagement because it involves multiple methodologies, documented assumptions and a report written to withstand challenge. We’ll quote a fixed fee before starting and tell you which level your situation warrants.
How long does it take?
An estimate can be turned around quickly once we have your financials and risk and value driver assessment. A full conclusion of value typically takes several weeks, because the analysis and the cross-checking take time and rushing it undermines the point of it.
What do you need from me?
Generally three to five years of financial statements and tax returns, current management accounts, details of the entities involved, major contracts and leases, and a conversation about how the business actually operates. The conversation matters as much as the documents.
Will the ATO or a court accept it?
That’s what Level 4 is for. A conclusion of value is prepared to be relied on by third parties, with methodology and assumptions documented so someone can follow the reasoning and test it. Lower levels aren’t designed for that and shouldn’t be used that way.
Can’t I just use a rule-of-thumb multiple for my industry?
You can, and it will give you a number. It won’t account for your customer concentration, your owner dependence, your contract quality or your working capital position — which are exactly the things that move the price when a real buyer looks.
Do I need one if I’m not selling?
From 1 July 2027, quite possibly yes, because the deemed disposal applies whether or not you transact. Beyond that: partner arrangements, insurance adequacy, estate planning and CGT concession eligibility all turn on the number.
My accountant already gave me a figure. Isn’t that enough?
It depends what it was and what you need it for. A multiple applied to last year’s profit in a conversation is an opinion, not a valuation, and it won’t survive a buyer’s advisers or a court. If the number is going to be relied on by anyone other than you, it needs to be documented.
Will a valuation tell me how to increase the value?
A good one will. The number is the output; the value drivers are the useful part. Expect to be told which two or three things are holding your multiple down, and roughly what fixing them is worth.
Who does the work
A judgement discipline, as much as a technical one
Izaak de Winter — Chartered Accountant and Registered Tax Agent, in business and tax advisory since 2008, previously a Principal in the business services division of a national firm in Tasmania.
An ongoing conversation connects the business evidence to the next decision.
The methodology is teachable. Knowing which comparable is misleading and which assumption won’t survive scrutiny is not.
Start with the free survey
An indication of where you sit, in a few minutes.
Our Business Valuation Survey takes a few minutes and gives you an indication of where you sit, plus which value drivers are likely holding your number down. It will tell you whether a formal valuation is worth paying for.
Book a consultation