What is involved in the process of appraising your business?
· A personal meeting with your professional business appraiser–as part of our services, you will be afforded the opportunity to meet with the appraiser that will be responsible for your business appraisal.
· Engagement letter–the engagement letter should be executed prior to the beginning the appraisal process. The engagement letter should clearly provide you with:
o What is being appraised
o Standard of value to be used in the developmental process
o The date the business is being appraised “as of”
o Expected completion date
o Cost
· Required information–to determine the correct value of your business we will need some basic information about your business. The information that will be needed would be information that will normally be readily available and used in the day to day management of your business. Some information that will be required would be:
o As least 5 years of historical financial information (if available)
o Profit and loss statements for the 12 months prior to the appraisal date
o Schedule of assets (depreciation schedule) nearest the appraisal date
· Officer’s questionnaire–the officer’s questionnaire will provide information about your business that is not contained in the financial statements. The type of information that you can expect to find in the officer’s questionnaire would be:
o Form of organization
o Share/unit holders including percentage of ownership
o Explanation of products and services provided by the company
o Staffing adequacy
o Related entities
o Non-business assets (personal vehicles, condominiums, other)
Once you have provided us with the required information, we will begin the internal process of analyzing and compiling the information.
Typically, your report will be completed within 45 days after we have received all requested information. If the amount of time required is different due to mandatory court dates and/or work load you will be apprised of any necessary adjustments as soon as possible.