Get your figures clear before a buyer asks.
Ben Davies gets your figures clear and ready for a buyer's questions, so the accounts tell the same story as your contract book and your certificates.
Part of the Reads Pre-Sale Programme. Led by Ben Davies, Financial Preparation Specialist.
Why buyers start with the numbers.
A buyer's first model of a fire safety business is built from its accounts: how much income comes from maintenance contracts, how much from installation projects, and what the profit looks like once the owner's own costs are taken out.
When those figures are hard to follow, due diligence slows down and buyers protect themselves, with a lower offer or more of the price deferred. Clear figures do not change what the business is. They stop it being marked down for being hard to read.
What Ben prepares.
Management accounts a buyer can follow
Monthly accounts that show maintenance contract income and project income apart, with the margin on each, so a buyer can see what recurs.
Adjusted profit and add-backs
A schedule of add-backs, such as the owner's salary and one-off costs, so adjusted EBITDA can be worked out from the figures rather than argued over.
Cash flow and working capital
A cash flow forecast and a clear view of debtors, stock and maintenance billed annually in advance, which a buyer will ask about when the price is settled.
Who prepares the figures.
Ben Davies, Financial Preparation Specialist
Ben Davies is a CIMA-qualified management accountant. He spent ten years at Nationwide Building Society, from apprentice to accountant, before founding LedgerFix Consulting. When a buyer needs the financial picture explained in plain terms, he is the one who explains it.
When to start on the figures.
The figures matter most in the final year, but the accounts a buyer will read are being written now. The sooner contract and project income are shown apart, the more years of clear figures you will have to show.
See every stage of the programme · Next: Tax, legal and finance
Find out what your figures say now.
Start with a valuation range, then talk through what a buyer is likely to ask about your accounts.