As Marshall B. Paisner explains in his book Sustaining the Family Business: An Insider's Guide to Managing across Generations, “too many owners of family businesses fail to execute a plan. When it comes time for them to retire, the only sensible exit strategy is to go public or sell out. If your goal is to live a certain lifestyle, you must make arrangements early on” (Paisner, pg. 115). However, going public is not an easy option, and as Paisner points out, “The use of public money as an exit strategy is at best risky and at worst a disaster. . .if you choose this route and hit a string of bad years or make one poor management decision, the roof can fall in” (Paisner, pg. 157).
So, for most business owners, selling at a profit is usually a better option than trying to go public. However, to do that one has to plan from the very beginning of entering a business and run the business every day as if the business could have a potential purchaser at any moment. So, one has to learn to value one’s business according to market standards and run one’s affairs in such a way that transferring ownership of the business can be both smooth and lucrative.
To make this process and an exit plan feasible, one has to:
- Create the business in such a way that the business and the owner become separate and distinct legal entities
- Put into place a process for valuing the business at periodic intervals according to parameters that match IRS standards
- Owner’s Benefit: Here the annual discretionary cash flow expected from the business in a year is calculated on the assumption that most businesses prepare accounts with an aim towards minimizing income taxes. Even highly profitable small businesses have been known to operate with low net incomes shown in their account books.
- “Rule of Thumb”: Here the worth of a business is calculated by multiplying the gross profits before interests and taxes by a number from 3 to 5 depending upon the circumstances. The lower the amount of tangible assets held by the business, the lower the multiplier.
- Asset Valuation: This method includes accounting for things like fixed assets and equipment, fair market value, inventory, goodwill, etc. The value of an asset-driven business is usually calculated by adding an “owner’s benefit” to the asset valuation.
- Industry Average: Here the business is valued by comparing it with similar kinds of businesses sold in the recent past.
When considering the sale of a business, one also needs to be aware of proper timing; it is always good to sell a growing business when interest payments are low, assuming a firm decision to exit the business has been made.
Reference:
Marshall B. Paisner, Sustaining the Family Business: An Insider's Guide to Managing across Generations (Reading, MA: Perseus Books, 1999)