What you get

We turn what you already have into the financials, buyer materials and document room you need before going to market.

Here is exactly what we ask you for, what we do with it, and what you hold at the end.

01The exchange

What we take in, and what we give back

You give us

  • Three years of tax returnsbusiness returns, as filed
  • Your booksprofit-and-loss and balance sheets, or an export from your accounting software
  • Bank statementsso every number can be traced
  • Sales by customeran export from your invoicing system
  • Lease, contracts and licenseswhatever you have, in whatever state
  • Ninety minutes of your timeone conversation about the business and its history

You get back

Everything you send us is confidential. We never contact your staff, customers or suppliers, and your files are deleted 90 days after we finish unless you ask us to keep them.

02The timeline

Four weeks, start to finish

  1. Day one

    Kick-off

    We agree the fee in writing, sign a confidentiality agreement, and send you a short list of documents.

  2. Week 1

    Documents and conversation

    You upload what you have to a private folder. We talk for ninety minutes.

  3. Week 2

    The numbers

    We recast three years of financials and analyze your customers. We come back to you with questions, not homework.

  4. Week 3

    The story

    We write the memo and build the document room. You check the facts.

  5. Week 4

    Hand back

    A final call to walk through everything, your fix-it list, and your indicative value range.

03You get back

Recast financials

Your books were prepared for tax reporting, not for a sale. A buyer needs a clear view of what the business earns for its owner. We rebuild three years of results to show true owner earnings, and tie every adjustment to a document, so a buyer’s accountant can follow it and a bank can lend against it.

What’s inside

  • Three years of profit-and-loss, restated on a consistent basis
  • A schedule of every add-back, each linked to the invoice or statement behind it
  • True owner earnings for each year, and the trend
  • A one-page reconciliation back to your tax returns
  • Notes on anything a buyer’s accountant is likely to question

This is not an audit, and we never call it one. It is your own numbers, presented the way buyers and lenders read them.

Last year, as a buyer would read it
Profit on your tax return$212,000
Owner’s pay above a manager’s wage+ 85,000
Family vehicle, phone and travel+ 31,000
One-off legal bill+ 18,000
True owner earnings$346,000
Illustration only. Figures are invented.

04You get back

Customer analysis

Buyers worry that customers may leave with the owner. We use your sales records to show how durable those relationships are and where the risks sit.

What’s inside

  • How much revenue depends on your largest customers
  • How much comes back every year without being won again
  • How long customers stay, and what they spend
  • Revenue by service or product line, and by season
  • A plain summary of the risks a buyer will raise, and your answer to each

Customer names are never shown to a buyer without your written say-so.

Where last year’s revenue came from

  • Largest customer 14%
  • Next four 22%
  • Everyone else 64%

71%of revenue from customers who also bought the year before

9 yrsaverage time your top twenty customers have been with you

Illustration only. Figures are invented.

05You get back

Your story, written for buyers

Buyers look at dozens of businesses. The memo is what makes them pick up the phone about yours. We write it from our conversation with you and from the numbers, in plain language, and you approve every word.

What’s inside

  • A one-page summary a buyer can read in two minutes
  • What the business does, for whom, and why it has lasted
  • How it runs day to day, and who runs it
  • The recast financial summary
  • Three realistic ways a new owner could grow it
  • 8 to 35 pages, depending on the size of the business

Your broker can use it as it is, or make it their own.

Contents of the memo

  1. The business in one page
  2. History, and why it has lasted
  3. What it sells, and to whom
  4. Why customers choose it
  5. The team, and who does what
  6. Financial summary, recast
  7. Where growth would come from
  8. What is being sold, and why now
Illustration only. Figures are invented.

06You get back

An organized document room

Deals slow down, and sometimes die, while a seller hunts for paperwork. We collect, sort and index everything a buyer’s checks will ask for, and tell you what is missing while there is still time to find it.

What’s inside

  • One private, indexed folder, laid out the way buyers ask for it
  • Every document named and dated consistently
  • A list of what is missing or out of date
  • A check that your lease(s), contracts and licenses can pass to a new owner

You keep the folder. Nothing is shared with anyone until you decide.

Your document room

  • 01 Financials 3 years, recast and original
  • 02 Tax returns 3 years
  • 03 Customers sales by customer, contracts
  • 04 People roles, pay, agreements
  • 05 Property and equipment lease, asset list
  • 06 Licenses and insurance
  • 07 Suppliers agreements, terms
  • Missing: signed lease renewal flagged for you
Illustration only. Figures are invented.

07You get back

A fix-it list

Some things are worth fixing before a buyer sees the business. We rank the issues by their likely effect on value and the chances of closing, then show what each one will take to fix.

What’s inside

  • Every gap we found, ranked by its effect on price and on whether a sale closes
  • What to do about each, in plain steps
  • What can be done this week, this month and this quarter
  • What is not worth fixing, and how to explain it instead

The free readiness score gives you a first version of this list in ten minutes.

Your fix-it list

This week

List every personal expense in the books

Find the signed lease

This month

Introduce your manager to your top ten customers

Write up the ten tasks only you can do

This quarter

Move regulars onto service agreements

Renew the lease with an assignment clause

Illustration only. Figures are invented.

08You get back

An indicative value range

Most owners have a number in mind. Few have evidence for it. We show you what businesses like yours have actually sold for, apply that to your recast earnings, and give you a range you can defend.

What’s inside

  • A range for the business as it stands today
  • A range with the fix-it list done
  • The earnings figure and the market multiples behind both, with sources
  • What would move you to the top of the range

This is an indicative range, not a formal valuation. If you need one, we will point you to a certified appraiser.

Indicative value range

As it stands today

$0.9M to $1.1M

With the gaps closed

$1.2M to $1.5M

Illustration only. Figures are invented.

09Price

One fixed fee

Business worth under $1M

From$5,000

$1M to $3M

From$10,000

$3M to $10M

From$15,000

Over $10M

On requestContact us

Half when we start, half when we hand back. We don’t take a percentage of your sale, and we don’t act as your broker. For a business worth more than $10M, we quote a fixed fee for the work involved: write to contact@handoveradvisors.com.

Start with your free readiness score