Business Valuation San Jose California
Assessing Business Value in San Jose
Have you ever wondered how much your business is actually worth? Assessing the value of your San Jose business can be more complicated than just working out the value of its assets. While the precise “value” of a business is a somewhat nebulous concept, there are consistent methods of assessment that can set you on the right track if you’re trying to find the value of your business. If this sounds technical, don’t worry. Our experts at Redwood Valuation Partners have years of experience in business valuation and are eager to help you through the process from start to finish.
409a Business Valuation Services in San Jose
Call Redwood Valuation Partners for your next business valuation (206) 660-1295
Top Reasons to Seek a Business Valuation
If you want to know exactly how much your business may be worth if you sold it, you should seek a business valuation. If you are considering selling your business, it’s critical to get a valuation first so that you can go into negotiations with potential buyers armed with knowledge and data.
A business valuation can also help show you where your business’ value comes from. The value of any one business could come from entirely different sources than a different business. A local business that is important to the community in San Jose may have a high value for that particular community, but not for a potential buyer. In contrast, a business that seems modest and small may actually hold a lot of value for a buyer. It all depends on your perspective.
Therefore, getting experienced accountants to do a valuation is critical. Getting your business valued requires knowledge of finance, tax law, venture capital and the audit process, as well as of your business. But the benefits of a business valuation come in many forms, from stock compensation to expenses to selling prices. But the reasons and advantages of a valuation are different for every circumstance. A free consultation from Redwood may help you clarify the reasons for your valuation and the best approach for your particular business.
What Approaches Are There to Business Valuation?
An accountant doing a business valuation will likely take one of three main approaches to assessing the value of a business. There could be other approaches to business valuation, but the three described here encompass the most common methods. These methods apply to an array of businesses, whether they’re in San Jose or elsewhere. The best approach for your business depends on your reason for getting a valuation and your long-term goals for your company.
Determining Value Based on Assets
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. The difficulty lies in the details, where figuring out the worth of a business and sorting through assets and liabilities becomes more complicated. Additionally, there are two different ways of going about this process: a going concern asset-based approach and a liquidation asset-based approach.
A going concern asset-based approach is a little more straightforward. 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. For example, a sole proprietorship in which assets are in the name of the business’ owner are not good candidates for this approach. A corporation, in which all assets are owned by the company as a whole, is a much better candidate for an asset-based approach.
Market-Based Approach
Sometimes it is important to take in the whole picture, meaning the entire market, and not just your one business. For example, you could compare your business to others located in San Jose. The goal is to see what your business would be worth by comparing it to other similar businesses.
An approach that is concerned with the market as a whole takes a much more detailed view of factors outside of just the details of your business’s finances. An accountant using this approach will try to determine the fair market value of your business and what a buyer is likely to pay for it in the current climate.
This approach encounters difficulties in that often other businesses are not eager to share their worth with competitors. Private and protected information such as non-competition clauses can prove a barrier to obtaining some of the information needed to make a valuation.
Making a Valuation Based on Income or Earnings
An income- or earning-based approach is different from the other two in that it is concerned with future potential. However, this method starts in the present, looking at the earnings of the business today to try to predict its future earnings.
Obviously, this invites an element of risk in that the accountant or valuator is attempting to determine value based on a predication. However, they can use hard data to back up this prediction. Often, a valuator will “normalize” current earnings, removing abnormal costs and windfalls, to try to get a reliable set of figures to work with. Additionally, capitalization factors may indicate abnormalities in the market itself that should be considered during a valuation.
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.
Types of Valuations
A valuation has benefits beyond just figuring out what a business is worth and there is therefore a lot of variety in types of valuations. There are other value assessments that serve difficult purposes. Others focus on things such as patents and intellectual property.
409A Valuations
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. Stocks given to employees are regarded by the IRS as deferred income given to someone in one year but actually paid in a different year.
This may seem overwhelming. Ultimately, it is a matter of reporting stock earnings. A benefit of this form of business valuation is that it can determine a company’s fair market value. Any employee offered stock as part of their compensation must be able to buy equity in your company at or above the fair market value determined through this valuation. 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. Even if you have gotten a 409A valuation in the past for your business, the law could require that you get another one each year or every time a new round of funding closes.
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. Experience and expertise are key benefits that only an accountant can offer if you have to work through a 409A valuation.
Business Valuations/Looking at Business Valuations
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. Perhaps you are interested in finding the likely selling price of your business on the market. Or you might be hoping to assess your tax liability by looking at your business’ value.
Whatever the reason, a skilled valuator can help you get equity and enterprise valuations. Redwood’s expert team has grown to keep pace with our increasing client needs. 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.
IRS regulations, business needs and finance are complex fields that call for knowledge and specialization. While you’re concerned with your business running smoothly, let experts tackle the ins and outs of a getting a valuation done.
Valuations for IP and Patents
Intellectual property and patents have separate valuation concerns. Most businesses do have some sort of intangible property that want to protect and valuate, though. IP and patents are always under threat from competing trademarks and leaked trade secrets, as well as tax concerns. Litigation, mergers, acquisitions and business planning provide additional cause for an IP and patent valuation.
Once you have a patent or intellectual property that has value, you need to make sure it is protected. It is sometimes complicated to find the value of these intangible assets. 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.
What is a Purchase Price Allocation?
Another requirement businesses encounter is ASC 805. During a purchase or acquisition, businesses seek to find their fair market value, including their intangible assets and liabilities, to bring to the transaction. This is particularly important for assessing purchase prices in an acquisition.
A purchase price allocation ultimately comes down to determining what various parts of a purchased business are worth, including assets and liabilities. In a transaction, a lot of smaller pieces of a company can be traded and purchased and it’s important to understand the value of all of these.
What’s the Bottom Line?
Come to Redwood Valuation Partners when the time comes for your business valuation. Whether you are comparing your business to others in San Jose or looking elsewhere, a business valuation can show you the fair market value of your business and assets and keep you in compliance with any tax code regulations.
Knowing the fair market value of your business can help your future. Whether you are looking to assess your value for the sake of selling or have yearly tax considerations, a business valuation will help. You also could seek a business valuation in order to protect a patent. Assets and liabilities are complicated. Get experts on your side who know how to cut through the complicated legal language to get you the information you need. We know how to assist you with a business valuation whether it is for tax issues, value assessment or any other reason.
One of our core values is teamwork, which we believe can help even in the complex world of venture capital and auditing. Our team consists of experts who have worked in their specialties for years. We know the pressures and stress of running a successful business. We let you get to the important work of running your business while we take care of the intricacies of business valuation.
Our principles when working with clients include intense focus, long experience and grounded expertise, no matter the cause for the valuation. Along with the obvious, our valuations include customized reports, audit defense and free consultations. If you aren’t sure where to start, we can guide you through the process right from the start. Take a deeper look at your business with the customized report we provide as part of our valuations. Get a deeper look at your business that includes objective factors as well as subjective ones during the assessment. Finally, you will have nothing to fear from audits, as our audit defense is prepared to protect you should the occasion arise.
In the end, if you need a business valuation, you will likely need help with that valuation. Redwood has the experts on hand to make your business valuation a painless process with lots of benefits. Find out how to get started with a consultation.
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 San Jose, CA.
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 San Jose
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
