Guess What?

It never ceases to amaze me how many business owners are willing to guess at what their largest investment is worth!!! As a general rule the largest investment any business owner has is their business and while most of them are very good at running the business, they are woefully inadequate in figuring out what that business is worth.

Even worse, some of them want business brokers to join in the “Guessing Game” with them.One of our offices recently had a business owner who had a broker from another firm guess at what his business was worth and then came into our office and asked our brokers to guess along with him. I guess he wanted us to guess so he could compare the two guesses and see which guess matched up most closely with his guess.

Our brokers are trained to stop guesswork. Too much is on the line for business owners and business brokers to guess about the value of their businesses. CBI-Sunbelt brokers/advisors are trained to help business owners review their financial information to determine if a professional, third party, certified business appraisal will help them find the real value of the business.It’s not recommended for all businesses, just those that fit certain guidelines which indicate a valuation will help the business owner. Want to guess what your business is worth? Go see one of our competitors. Want to know what your business can sell for in today’s market? Call a CBI-Sunbelt Advisor. There’s no guessing about that!! 

Don’t Wait….

Thinking about selling your business? You can wait until you think the market is right but then, by the time you’re ready, the market will have changed.Many business owners who thought they would wait until the market changed and until they were ready have found out their businesses aren’t sale-able now.Many business owners get wrapped up in the tyranny of the urgent and leave the important undone.If you’re thinking about selling in the next couple of years NOW is the time to start getting ready.

Here’s what you’ll need to start:

1.       3 years of corporate or partnership tax returns or Schedule C’s if unincorporated.

2.       A Year to Date 2010 profit and loss statement which accurately reflects the income and expenses of your business.

3.       A current balance sheet showing assets and liabilities

4.       An equipment list showing all equipment owned by the business with estimated FMV (Fair Market Value) of the pieces of equipment.

5.       A copy of any leases related to the business (real estate and/or personal property leases).

This list will get you started and your CBI-Sunbelt Advisor will help you determine what else you need. Don’t wait…start gathering this information today!! 

A Good CPA/Accountant is worth weight in gold!

If you’re reading this and haven’t gotten your tax returns completed, there’s still the extension route. However, all sources we have are telling us that the IRS is going to be cracking down on non-filers and looking very hard to find hidden revenue to pay for the ever growing federal government’s deficits.  

Privately held businesses are considered to be “wealthy” so don’t be surprised if the tax man cometh knocking. One of the best ways to keep the wolf from your door is to have CPA prepared tax returns. The IRS assumes (and rightly so) that a CPA prepared return is going to be done correctly, which means they are less likely to audit you. So, if you don’t have a good relationship with a good CPA, go get one!! April 15^th 2011 is just around the corner!