JPAbusiness

When business owners come to see us, wanting to sell their business, we often get involved in providing what we term ‘vendor due diligence’.

When conducting vendor due diligence for clients, our role is basically to ‘pretend’ we are the buyer.

We look at a range of business health factors including:

• financial performance
• business performance
• staff and organisational aspects
• contracts, systems and suppliers
• how the business creates and drives value in terms of its point of difference in the market
• forward order book i.e. the pipeline, to understand the true nature of the business as a going concern
• how exposed the business might be to individuals or particular customers or suppliers.

Topics: Selling your business, Template, Checklist, business advice, selling a business, Business advisor, Business selling, business broker, vendor due diligence, JPAbusiness, Parramatta, Central West NSW, business sale, business sale transaction advisor

Strategic value is the value a purchaser is willing to pay for a business, over and above what an impartial business valuer might determine is ‘fair market value’.

As we have discussed in our eBooks, one common method of determining a business’ fair market value is to use a multiple of earnings.

Multiple of Earnings is the term for how many years or months a purchaser is prepared to wait before they recoup the value they paid the outgoing business owner, based on an assessment of business maintainable earnings (or sustainable earnings).

Topics: Business Value, Buying a business, Selling your business, Template, strategic value, Checklist, business advice, Business advisor, business valuer, JPAbusiness, Central West NSW, business sale transaction advisor, business value drivers

If you’re a business owner considering taking on an investing party or shareholder, some form of written shareholders’ or partners’ agreement is vital.

Use the agreement to make clear all parties’ investment and partnership intentions and responsibilities from the outset.

Remember, this is your business, so you can cover whatever you think important, from business relationships, ethics and cultural issues, to insurances, taxation and debt obligations; it’s your blank canvas.

Topics: Advice, Partners, Business Structures, Shareholders, Template, Checklist, business advice, Business advisor, shareholders agreement, Parramatta, COVID-19, coronavirus, Central West NSW

As a business owner or manager, there are a number of 'levers' you need to control to successfully manage working capital and drive a successful, cash-generating business.

As our Working Capital Checklist shows, those levers fall into two buckets: current assets and current liabilities.

You can use the free checklist to assist you in achieving a firm control of your working capital levers and cash position, so your business proposition is not hampered by poor cash flow.

Topics: Business Value, Selling your business, Cash flow, Working capital, Exiting your business, Template, Checklist, business management, COVID-19, business strategy, coronavirus

Small businesses (under 100 employees) lose almost twice as much to occupational fraud – per case – as large businesses. [Source: ACFE Report to the Nations: 2018 Global study on occupational fraud and abuse]

And according to the PWC Global Economic Crime Survey 2016, seven out of 10 organisations believe the biggest driver of internal economic crime is opportunity.

What you can do

While business owners can’t do much about a fraudster’s personal drivers, we can definitely limit opportunities to commit employee crimes and create a work environment that actively discourages fraud.

Listed below are 15 strategies to minimise the risk of employee fraud occurring in your business.

Topics: Free download, staff management, Checklist, Employee fraud, business advice, eBook, Business advisor, JPAbusiness, Parramatta, Orange NSW

Due diligence is ‘the process of acquiring objective and reliable information on a … company as required, especially before a commercial acquisition’ [Macquarie Dictionary].

At JPAbusiness we regularly undertake due diligence for business-buying clients. The process involves checking and verifying information relating to the basic operations and performance of the business our client is considering buying.

Our role is to identify risks and issues, plus any material differences between what has been represented in information previously provided on the business, and what we identify in the due diligence process.

Topics: Buying a business, Due diligence, Template, Checklist, business advice, eBook, Business advisor, business basics, Parramatta, Orange NSW, free resources

Value can be destroyed overnight if a business sale transfer goes wrong.

A few years back we published an eBook and checklist designed to help people manage this transfer process, after an experience I had while conducting due diligence for a client.

My client was in the process of purchasing a building products business in Queensland, which sold to both the trade market and retail customers.

Contracts had been exchanged and a deposit paid by my client, but the sale was subject to the outcome of my due diligence.

Topics: Buying a business, Free download, Business transfer, Checklist, business advice, selling a business, JPAbusiness, Parramatta, Orange NSW

Prospective business buyers value professional, credible, robust information on a business sale opportunity.

Selling a business is about trying to get someone to share the same, or better, perspective on your business that you have.

Get this information provision right and interested parties can successfully understand and evaluate what you know and value about the business, and then put a fair price on it relative to this type of asset in the marketplace.

Present them with poor quality information and it will reflect sourly on your business.

Topics: Selling your business, Advice, Checklist, selling a business, business broker, Parramatta, Orange NSW

Buying a business is not an investment decision to be rushed into or made lightly.

For those of you considering buying a business, we have created the Business Buyer's Checklist.

The checklist contains 14 questions designed to:

• ensure you have a clear purchase objective 
• work out whether identified business opportunities are a good match for your skills and interests
• prompt you to take necessary steps regarding market appraisal, due diligence and financing.

Topics: Buying a business, Template, Checklist, business advice, business buying, Business advisor, Parramatta, Orange NSW

As a business owner or manager, there are a number of 'levers' you need to control to successfully manage working capital and drive a successful, cash-generating business.

Topics: Business Value, Selling your business, Cash flow, Working capital, Exiting your business, Checklist