How much is my small business worth?

What sets the number

Value looks forward. A valuer uses past results to estimate what the business can reliably keep earning, and how risky those earnings are. Five things usually move the figure most:

• Earnings after a fair wage for your work. If you pay yourself little for full-time work, a new owner must pay someone to do your job, so the real profit is lower than the accounts suggest.
• How much the business depends on you. Customer relationships, supplier terms, licences or know-how that sit with you personally are harder to hand over.
• How steady and spread out the income is. Repeat customers, contracts and several sources of income usually carry less risk than one big customer or a single strong year.
• What exactly is being valued. The whole business, all or some of the shares in the company, units in a trust or goodwill alone can each give a different figure, because cash, debts, property and control sit in different places.
• The date. A value is always as at a particular day, using the records to that day.

Why a calculator gives a range, not an answer

Many online calculators and rules of thumb apply an average to one or two numbers, usually turnover or profit. They usually cannot see your owner wage, customer mix, lease or what sits inside the company, so two owners who enter the same figures get the same answer even when their businesses differ.

A business broker's appraisal is different again: usually an estimate of a likely sale price. It can help when selling, but it is not normally a documented valuation for tax, a shareholder buyout or a restructure.

For tax purposes, the ATO describes market value by reference to a sale between a willing but not anxious buyer and seller, and says the responsibility for a replicable, defensible valuation stays with the taxpayer. A figure used for tax needs reasoning and evidence behind it, not just a formula. See what drives the value of a private business.

Getting a figure you can rely on

A full valuation report from Independent Business Valuation sets out what is being valued, the date, the method, the earnings adjustments, the key assumptions and the reasoning behind them. Every judgement is made, and the report signed, by a suitably qualified business valuer at Valuo.

Delivery time starts once payment and all required information have been received, and pauses while we wait for answers to our questions or your signed representation letter. The fixed fee applies once we confirm the interest, purpose, structure and records fit the fixed-fee scope. Anything outside it is quoted in writing before we start. Fixed fee, confirmed in writing before we start. No hourly billing and no surprises.

If you are asking because of the CGT changes from 1 July 2027, a valuation is not the only option. Some taxpayers may be able to use an apportioning method instead once one is made, and companies are treated differently. Whether you need one is a question for your tax adviser. A valuation as at 30 June 2027 is prepared after that date, once your records to 30 June 2027 are available. You can book your place now.