Your Best Approach to Determining Value If you're buying, selling, or valuing a business, how can you determine its true value? By basing it on present market conditions and sales of similar businesses. The market approach is the premier way to determine the value of a business or partnership. With convincing evidence of value for both buyers and sellers, it can end stalemates and get deals closed. Acclaimed for its empirical basis and objectivity, this approach is the model most favored by the IRS and the United States Tax Court-as long as it's properly implemented. Shannon Pratt's The Market Approach to Valuing Businesses, Second Edition provides a wealth of proven guidelines and resources for effective market approach implementation. You'll find information on valuing and its applications, case studies on small and midsize businesses, and a detailed analysis of the latest market approach developments, as well as: A critique of US acquisitions over the last twenty-five years An analysis of the effect of size on value Common errors in applying the market approach Court reactions to the market approach and information to help you avoid being blindsided by a litigation opponent Must reading for anyone who owns or holds a partial interest in a small or large business or a professional practice, as well as for CPAs consulting on valuations, appraisers, corporate development officers, intermediaries, and venture capitalists, The Market Approach to Valuing Businesses will show you how to successfully reach a fair agreement-one that will satisfy both buyers and sellers and stand up to scrutiny by courts and the IRS.

The market approach aims to establish the value of a company based on how similar firms are priced on the stock exchange or through company transactions. Using the market approach, price-related indicators such as price to earnings, sales and book values are utilised. An ever-present problem however, is that different valuation multiples and valuation methodologies tend to provide the analyst with contradictory outputs. The solution to this problem so far has been to claim that the market approach is more art than science, thus providing the analyst with the freedom to alter the multiples at their own discretion to reach a uniform value or range. Valuation: The Market Approach puts an end to this problem, providing the reader with a rational scientific-based understanding and the necessary tools to perform a sound market approach valuation, or if reviewing such valuations, provide the tools to challenge the work of the arts-based senior experts. The book begins with an in-depth review of the basics; which is then applied in a detailed worked example. Step-by-step, the reader’s expertise is built towards a complete understanding and implementation of the market approach, not only on a standalone basis but also in relation to the DCF methodology. The book is aimed at the seasoned professional, but will also be invaluable to students as they apply their academic knowledge to the real world of valuation and M&A. About the author: SETH BERNSTROM is a Director at the Valuations practice of PwC. He has 15 years of experience as a valuation expert with a special focus on private equity, with long-running engagements in Valuation for some of the leading Nordic private equity houses. Additionally, he provides valuation support and valuation-related advisory services to large and medium-sized Nordic and (Nordic-based) global companies. In addition to his regular work at PwC, he also acts as Visiting Lecturer on valuation at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Furthermore, he often gives lectures and seminars on valuation at other leading Nordic universities, investment banks, companies, and organizations. He holds a Master of Science in Business Administration and Economics from the Stockholm University School of Business.

Praise for Business Valuation: An Integrated Theory, 2nd Edition "The Second Edition of Business Valuation: An Integrated Theory manages to present the theoretical analysis of valuation from the first edition and expand on that discussion by providing additional guidance on implementing the relevant valuation theories, notably in its expanded discussion of the Quantitative Marketability Discount Model." —Dr. David Tabak, NERA Economic Consulting Your Essential Valuations Reference Whether you are an accountant, auditor, financial planner, or attorney, Business Valuation: An Integrated Theory, 2nd Edition enables you to understand and correctly apply fundamental valuation concepts. Thoroughly revised and expanded, the Second Edition demystifies modern valuation theory, bringing together various valuation concepts to reveal a comprehensive picture of business valuation. With the implementation of new accounting pronouncements mandating the recognition of numerous assets and liabilities at fair value, it has become critical for CPAs charged with auditing financial statements to understand valuation concepts. With thoughtful and balanced treatment of both theory and application, this essential guide reveals: The "GRAPES of Value"-Growth, Risk and Reward, Alternative Investments, Present Value, Expectations, and Sanity The relationship between the Gordon Model and the discounted cash flow model of valuation The basis for commonly applied, but commonly misunderstood valuation premiums and discounts A practical perspective on the analysis of potential business acquisitions Grounded in the real world of market participants, Business Valuation, 2nd Edition addresses your need to understand business valuation, providing a means of articulating valuation concepts to help you negotiate value-enhancing transactions. If you want to get back to valuation basics, this useful reference will become your guide to defining the various levels of value and developing a better understanding of business appraisal reports.

Corporate valuation using multiples is one of the most popular corporate valuation approaches. In this book, the different steps of this valuation approach such as the selection of comparable companies or the choice of the reference variables are discussed. Then, the circumstances required for a sound valuation (e.g., the degree of efficiency of the equity market) are described. Additionally, the book gives insight on how the state of the industry and/or the company has an impact on the proper choice of the reference variables. Finally, it is shown how multi-factor models can enrich the universe of valuation models. While always maintaining the academic rigor, the author addresses practice-relevant topics and delivers hands-on solutions for typical valuation problems.

For decades, the market, asset, and income approaches to business valuation have taken center stage in the assessment of the firm. This book brings to light an expanded valuation toolkit, consisting of nine well-defined valuation principles hailing from the fields of economics, finance, accounting, taxation, and management. It ultimately argues that the "value functional" approach to business valuation avoids most of the shortcomings of its competitors, and more correctly matches the actual motivations and information set held by stakeholders. Much of what we know about corporate finance and mathematical finance derives from a narrow subset of firms: publicly traded corporations. The value functional approach can be readily applied to both large firms and companies that do not issue publicly traded stocks and bonds, cannot borrow without constraints, and often rely upon entrepreneurs to both finance and manage their operations. With historical side notes from an international set of sources and real-world exemplars that run throughout the text, this book is a future-facing resource for scholars in economics and finance, as well as the academically minded valuation practitioner.

"Small Business Valuation Methods: How to Evaluate Small, Privately-Owned Businesses represents a well-written and organized contribution to the business valuation existing theory and practice. It positions itself on the market as an useful tool to approach business evaluation, suited to business owners, professionals, accountants and business students." -Marco Fazzini, European University of Rome, Italy Valuation is the natural starting point toward buying or selling a business or securities through the stock market. Essential in wealth management, the valuation process allows the measurement of the strengths and weaknesses of a company and provides a historical reference for its development. This guide on valuation methods focuses on three global approaches: the asset-based approach, the fundamental or DCF approach, and the market approach. Ultimately, this book provides the basics needed to estimate the value of a small business. Many pedagogical cases and illustrations underpin its pragmatic and didactic content. However, it also contains enough theories to satisfy an expert audience. This book is ideal for business owners and additional players in the business world, legal professionals, accountants, wealth management advisers, and bankers, while also of interest to business school students and investors. Yannick Coulon has 15 years of banking experience with the Suez Group in France and UBS in Switzerland and 10 years of experience with Iomega Corporation as product manager for the Zip drive in Europe. Yannick also teaches finance, including behavioral finance, at a business school in Brittany, France. He owns and manages four golf courses with his brother Emmanuel in western and southern France. He, therefore, has dual experience in teaching and managing small private companies.

Valuation lies at the heart of much of what we do in finance, whether it is the study of market efficiency and questions about corporate governance or the comparison of different investment decision rules in capital budgeting. In this paper, we consider the theory and evidence on valuation approaches. We begin by surveying the literature on discounted cash flow valuation models, ranging from the first mentions of the dividend discount model to value stocks to the use of excess return models in more recent years. In the second part of the paper, we examine relative valuation models and, in particular, the use of multiples and comparables in valuation and evaluate whether relative valuation models yield more or less precise estimates of value than discounted cash flow models. In the final part of the paper, we set the stage for further research in valuation by noting the estimation challenges we face as companies globalize and become exposed to risk in multiple countries.