As a business grows and develops, there may come a time to consider selling it. You might even be approached with an offer. And while plenty of owners decide they are happy to continue forward at full steam, there are good reasons to think through all the options.

While it is easy for publicly traded companies to know their valuation, only around 1% of businesses are traded on the public market. All the rest are privately held, and for them, the prospect of knowing how much their companies are worth is far more challenging.

As much as we would like to just balance our revenue and expenses, there are a lot of reasons for businesses to know their valuation. To understand your business valuation, you need to determine the value of all of your assets — things like the fair market value of company stocks, fixed assets like buildings or equipment, and intangible assets like brand recognition or customer lists.

Companies offer a wide range of employee compensation methods. Generous salaries, healthcare plans, and PTO are among the most common, but many companies also offer compensation that doubles as an incentive for high performance and long-term commitment. Equity compensation is just one example — but it takes a lot of different forms that are worth exploring.

Outlining strategic objectives and planning for the company’s future with a solid succession plan are both tasks that every business owner should undertake at some point. However, simply doing it doesn’t guarantee a successful transition plan; succession planning poses many challenges and potential pitfalls of which financial advisors need to be aware.

The exact details of a succession planning process are determined by the size of the firm and the urgency with which successors need to be chosen. With an aging workforce, the need for speed is greater. It is less pressing when key positions are filled by younger executives.

What Is the Due Diligence Process?

With any merger or acquisition (M&A), there is a level of risk and uncertainty involved with every deal. As a buyer, one of the best ways to mitigate this risk is to get a full understanding of the target company being considered. This is highly important because once a transaction is completed, any issues that the selling company has been experiencing are now the buyer’s responsibility. This is where the due diligence phase comes in. 

Merger and Acquisition Modeling

Prior to an acquisition or merger, a merger model (a type of financial modeling) will be used to analyze the combination of the two companies in a proposed deal. The primary objective of M&A modeling is to determine how the acquisition may impact the earnings per share (EPS) of the acquiring company, and how this EPS would compare with others in the same industry. However, M&A models can offer deeper financial insights in any given deal. The financial insights and projections arrived at within the model can help inform whether or not to proceed with a merger or acquisition.

What is Merger and Acquisition Strategy?

Before pursuing a merger or acquisition (M&A), there must be some reflection on how a business intends to leverage an M&A to meet its business objectives. Merger and acquisition strategy allows a business to set a group of parameters to consider and assess to identify M&A opportunities and then determine the viability and value creation potential of any deal.

Liquidation rights, also known as liquidation preferences, are a key element in contract negotiations for mergers and acquisitions. They determine who gets paid and when should a company choose to sell or liquidate all its assets.