Complete Financial Services, Inc

Only 5 percent of business owners generally need a business valuation due to death, divorce or some other triggering event or situation, but all business owners can benefit from understanding and growing the value of their business.

Unfortunately, many business owners spend more time working with an investment advisor trying to grow their 401(k) retirement account than they do working on growing their business, even though 50 percent to 80 percent of an owner’s net worth is in the business.

To help business owners treat their business like an investment, we have developed a Know & Grow valuation service that taps into your need for valuation guidance! For business owners to treat their business like an investment, they should do the following:

1. Have a goal. Some people come to us and they want to sell their business as soon as possible, and there’s not much we can do as far as "growing the value" at that point. We can certainly lead them to the right spot as far as the best way to sell it; but at this point it's too late to grow the value. Other business owners, fortunately, understand the need to improve the health of their business. They want to sell in 5 or 10 years, and those are great clients to have because we can do more for them. We help such clients target a healthier business so that they are in a better position to sell down the road.
2. Know the value. Business owners should know the current valuation and understand it. We can sit down with business owners and teach them about the whole valuation process so they really do understand the valuation drivers and risk and how that impacts value. We will also show the owner what percentage of their total net worth is related to the business so that they have a solid appreciation of what’s at stake.
3. Get a plan to grow the value. At Complete Financial Services (CFS), we consider ourselves trusted advisors. Not because that's a nice term, but because we do more than just accounting and taxes. We have in-house divisions that focus specifically on tasks that tasks that are directly tied to the accounting aspects of the business, like Investment Advising. We encourage owners to have annual valuations and to meet quarterly with us to work on growing cash flow, reducing business risk or increasing the compound annual growth rate. In that meeting we give our clients "homework assignments” aimed at helping them learn more and take steps toward growing the value of the business. Business owners tell us that this really holds them accountable.
4. Realize the value. CFS helps the business owner plan for the exit, whether that turns out to be through a sale, an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) or succession transfer. Sometimes, the process of boosting the value of the business makes running it more enjoyable, and the owner realizes he or she isn’t yet ready to retire.

Contact us today and ask about our Business Valuation Services!

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