Exit Planning Valuations

Baseline valuations for owners two to ten years from exit. Know the number, know the gap, know what to fix.

What this engagement is

Most owners find out what the business is worth at the moment it matters most and helps least: when a buyer is already at the table. An exit planning valuation reverses that. It establishes the baseline value of the business years before the sale, identifies the gap between that number and the number you need, and names the specific factors holding the value down while there is still time to fix them.

The economics are simple. The same business, with the same earnings, can sell for materially different prices depending on owner dependence, customer concentration, quality of the books, recurring revenue, and lease terms. Every one of those is fixable, given time. The baseline valuation is how you find out which ones apply to you and what fixing them is worth.

Who orders it

Owners who are two to ten years from an exit, and the advisors guiding them: CPAs, financial planners, and exit planning professionals building a complete picture of the owner's balance sheet. For most owners the business is the largest asset they hold and the only one without a statement arriving monthly. This engagement produces that statement.

What standard governs it

The work is led by a credentialed team holding both the CVA and CEPA designations: Certified Valuation Analyst for the valuation discipline, Certified Exit Planning Advisor for the exit planning framework around it. Depending on purpose, the engagement is prepared under NACVA standards as an indication of value for a first baseline or a calculation of value where planning decisions, gifting, or buy-sell funding will rely on the number.

What the deliverable looks like

A written baseline valuation with normalized earnings and a supported value range, plus the part that drives the plan: a ranked assessment of the value drivers and detractors specific to your company, with the estimated effect of each on the multiple. Know the number, know the gap, know what to fix. Updated annually or biennially, it becomes the scoreboard for the entire exit plan.

Timeline

A first baseline engagement delivers in two to four weeks from receipt of financials. Update engagements in later years move faster because the groundwork already exists.

How the process works

The first engagement sets the baseline. We normalize the earnings, value the business as it stands today, and score it against the factors that drive multiples in your industry. The output is a range, a gap analysis against your retirement number, and a short list of changes ranked by return on effort. Then the plan goes to work: you and your advisors fix what the assessment identified, and the valuation updates on a schedule so progress is measured rather than assumed. Owners who run this cycle for three or four years before going to market routinely sell at multiples their baseline said were out of reach.

Why early beats big

A dollar of value created two years before the sale is worth exactly as much as a dollar discovered during diligence, and it costs a fraction as much to create. Reducing owner dependence takes eighteen months of delegation, not a week of documentation. Diversifying a concentrated customer base takes years of sales effort. Converting handshake relationships into transferable contracts takes a renewal cycle. None of it can be compressed into the ninety days between letter of intent and closing. That is the entire argument for the baseline valuation: the fixes that move the number all need runway, and the baseline is how you find the runway while it still exists.

Where to start

Start with the no-cost indication of value at indication.oakstonevaluationgroup.com. It is the natural first step of this exact engagement: a grounded estimate, the factors driving it, and a clear read on whether a formal baseline valuation is the right next move. If the gap between the number and your plans warrants a full engagement, we will tell you which tier fits and why.