Business Valuation Columbus Ohio
Assessing Business Value in Columbus
Have you ever wondered how much your business is actually worth? Assessing the value of your Columbus business can be more complicated than just working out the value of its assets. The value of a business might change depending on who you ask, but luckily there are certain consistent principles applied to any business valuation that is performed. This seems like it could be overwhelming, but it shouldn’t be. At Redwood Valuation, we built our foundation on years of experience that we leverage to assist our customers seeking business valuations.
409A Valuation in Columbus, OH plus IRC 409A Valuation, and Purchase Price Allocation
Call Redwood Valuation Partners for your next business valuation (206) 660-1295
Why Get Your Columbus Business Valued?
If you want to know exactly how much your business may be worth if you sold it, you should seek a business valuation. Don’t try to go into business negotiations about selling a business before you’ve gotten a valuation from a skilled accountant who’s an expert in the field.
A business valuation can also help show you where your business’ value comes from. There are as many factors involved in the value of a business as there are businesses themselves. A business that is important for a particular city, such as Columbus, may have high value there, but not elsewhere. By the same token, hidden value may lurk in a business that doesn’t seem as impressive at first glance. It all depends on your perspective.
It’s imperative, then, that your business valuation is handled by professionals. In addition to understanding your business, an accountant doing a valuation should know the ins and outs of finance, venture capital, tax law and other fields. The advantages of doing a business valuation correctly include understanding your selling price and stock compensation. However, any advantages of doing a valuation are up to you and your business. If you need help determining if a business valuation is right for your circumstances, get a free consultation from Redwood.
Approaches to Business Valuation
When assessing the value of any business, there are three broad approaches that are considered standard. There could be other approaches to business valuation, but the three described here encompass the most common methods. These approaches to business valuation are applicable whether your business is located in Columbus or not. The right approach for you depends on you, your business and what you hope to get out of a valuation.
Asset-Based Approach
Finding the value of a business based on its assets isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. In this approach, a business’s investments are added up to determine value. An accountant going forward with an asset-based mindset is theoretically attempting to imagine what it would cost to set up another, identical business. This exercise can reveal a lot of information about a business, including its liabilities and assets. The difference between the assets and the liabilities of the company is the business value.
Don’t be fooled by how simple this approach seems at first glance. In practice, determining which assets and liabilities to include, and how, is a tricky process. Additionally, there are two different ways of going about this process: a going concern asset-based approach and a liquidation asset-based approach.
The first option is a going concern asset-based approach. Simply put, the accountant can subtract the value of any liabilities from the assets that the business has. In the other approach, a liquidation asset-based approach, the accountant first imagines that all the assets and liabilities were paid off, as though the business was liquidated. After a real liquidation, the business would receive cash; this now becomes the business’s value in a valuation.
The specifics of your business may reveal whether this sort of approach is right for you. It is possible that a different method is more suitable for your particular business. There are certainly some businesses, such as those that are in a sole proprietorship, that would be well-advised to take a different approach. By contrast, corporations spread out the ownership of assets throughout the company and could benefit more greatly from a valuation based on assets.
Market-Based Approach
Sometimes it is important to take in the whole picture, meaning the entire market, and not just your one business. The value of other businesses in Columbus could provide insight on your own. Viewing your business side-by-side with other, similar ventures can provide crucial information for figuring out the value of a business.
This approach has the benefit of viewing overall market conditions rather than having a more narrow focus. In this approach, it is also very important to consider what a buyer in the market would currently pay for your business and what the fair market value would be.
It would be great if the sort of information necessary for this approach was easy to obtain, but it is not always the case that competing businesses will divulge the necessary figures. Some of the difficulty with a market-focused approach arises when you encounter non-competition clauses and other information a business has decided to make private.
Income- or Earning-Based Approach
This approach to business valuation looks at potential and future value in order to draw conclusions. An income-based approach tries to use current income and earnings to predict how much a business will be worth in the future.
Of course, assessing value this way comes along with the risk of assumptions and predictions that invite uncertainty. Some of this uncertainty is offset by the ability to use concrete data to calculate this valuation. Often, a valuator will “normalize” current earnings, removing abnormal costs and windfalls, to try to get a reliable set of figures to work with. Sometimes, these predictions are divided by capitalization factors that fluctuate based on the market.
There are, as with other methods, additional considerations here, such as the type of business you run. If a business is strongly linked with its owner and that owner sells or leaves the business, an evaluation based on past performance could lose its validity depending on how customers react to the change.
What Kinds of Valuations Exist?
Not all valuations are the same and not all valuations are confined strictly to businesses. There are other value assessments that serve difficult purposes. Others focus on things such as patents and intellectual property.
What is a 409A Valuation?
This type of valuation is concerned with the stocks connected to your business. It is common for employees in many fields to receive stocks as compensation. When compensation comes in the form of stocks like this it is considered a special type of deferred payment that has to be reported.
It’s not as confusing as it seems. Ultimately, it is a matter of reporting stock earnings. For one thing, this type of valuation can help a business find its fair market value. Fair market value is especially important here because employees with stock need to be able to sell it at or above that mark. Other deferred compensation that requires a 409A valuation includes salary deferral arrangements and bonus plans the company issues.
It is important to know whether or not your business is legally required to get this form of valuation. Additional 409A valuations could be required at the end of a new round of funding or once a year, even if you have gotten this type of valuation in the past already.
An accountant such as the ones at Redwood can be a crucial ally in trying to sort through the 409a valuation process any time you find you need to do one. They can also help you choose the best approach to this valuation for your circumstances and business needs.
Valuations for Businesses
A business valuation is a general term and can be suitable for a myriad of situations, including during negotiations, while planning a business or during entity conversations. Maybe you are wondering how much your business can sell for right now. Others desire a business valuation when researching things such as tax liability.
Equity and enterprise valuations are best handled by a talented accountant. At Redwood, we’ve seen our clients’ needs expand as our own business has expanded. Regardless of your specific reasons for seeking out a business valuation, we can work with you to reach your goals. Perhaps you want to ensure compliance with tax reporting or, conversely, find the fair market value of your business.
It takes an experienced team to understand the intricacies of business and finance, as well as IRS regulations. A valuation is an added complexity on top of keeping your business running, so allow our accountants to handle valuations for you.
IP and Patent Valuations
Patents and intellectual property also require their own valuations. Patent and IP valuations come from many different industries in the business world. Taxes are complex when it comes to IP and patents, but it is also important to make sure trade secrets and trademarks can be protected. But you might also seek an IP and patent valuation in order to plan, and secure a merger or acquisition, or during litigation.
Once you have a patent or intellectual property that has value, you need to make sure it is protected. Defining assets that are not necessarily tangible can be complex, though. But the value of IP and patents cannot be understated, especially in recent times when so much of a business’s value comes from these assets in particular.
Purchase Price Allocations (ASC 805)
Another requirement businesses encounter is ASC 805. In the course of negotiations for a business acquisition, things such as liabilities, assets and fair market value need to be assessed objectively. The purchase price is the crucial outcome of such an evaluation of a business.
The goal of a purchase price allocation is to tease apart the pieces of a business, such as liabilities and assets, to find its fair market value. Sometimes a business is sold in pieces and in such cases it’s important to find the value of those pieces before any transaction takes place.
What’s the Bottom Line?
Come to Redwood Valuation Partners when the time comes for your business valuation. Ensure that your Columbus business meets the requirements of the tax code and applicable regulations while finding the value of the assets, liabilities and intellectual property you hold.
Knowing the fair market value of your business can help your future. Business valuations help in situations where you want to sell, sort out your taxes or simply determine the value of your various assets. Intellectual property can be assessed and protected through a business valuation. Don’t get overwhelmed by the details. That’s where experienced accountants come in to help inform and guide you. Our team has worked for years in business, finance and tax issues, allowing us to meet the needs of a wide range of businesses.
While venture capital and auditing can be complicated, we believe teamwork and expertise can help manage the process of a valuation. At Redwood, we have built a team grounded in years of expertise and business knowledge. We know the pressures and stress of running a successful business. We value your time; let us minimize the burden of complicated valuation details while you focus on what you know best ퟀ�” your business.
Whether you want a valuation for selling, taxes or any other reason, we can promise client focus and years of experience when working alongside you. Along with audit defense, we will give you a free consultation before beginning your valuation, which comes with customized report. If you aren’t sure where to start, we can guide you through the process right from the start. The customized reports we include with our valuations give you insight into the details of all of your businesses assets. See both subjective and objective elements of your valuation with an in-depth look at your business. And if an audit should come up, you can rest easy knowing our audit defense has your back at any time.
The bottom line is that a business valuation, for any reason, is best approached with help. Don’t try to tackle this task alone when Redwood is ready and able to help you with the process. A free consultation may be the perfect starting point.
Our clients have direct access to Redwood’s managing partners and directors. You know your business better than anyone, and the valuation process includes subjective assessments that require your input. We guide you through this process, save your time, and allow you to focus on what matters – growing your business. Get a quality company appraisal in Columbus, OH.
The Redwood team has performed many IRC 409A Valuation Seattle engagements, and we offer a wide variety of business appraisals to Seattle. Other services include ASC 805 valuation (purchase price allocations), IP valuation, patent valuation, impairment valuation, carried interest valuation, portfolio valuations, IRC 382 valuations, and many other types of stock valuations and business valuations.
With over 50 years of combined valuation experience, we provide top-tier expertise and client service at a reasonable price. Our experience as CFOs and Controllers of venture firms and startups separates us from our competitors who lack the boots-on-the-ground experience that our clients have, which we also share.
If you plan to issue stock options in the next twelve months or have any questions about potential valuations, give us a call for a free consultation and we will give you candid advice about whether a valuation may be needed and how we might help. Our goal is to help our clients achieve their desired goals with minimal burden.
409A Valuation Columbus
Redwood Valuation Partners was formed behind an idea of service positioning us as one of the most well-respected companies in the industry. Our expert knowledge of finance, tax, venture capital, and the audit process helps us understand the difficulties of start-ups. We speak your language! Give us a call and learn how we can help. For information on Business Valuations follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook and find us on Google+ too! (206) 660-1295
