Andrew Rogerson's Blog, page 58

Business Appraisals with Fred Hall

Fred Hall, CEO of Amador Appraisals and Acquisitions, joined me on Money 2.0 to discuss the complexities of business appraisals. Fred specializes in business valuations for SBA loans, IRS valuations, divorce, and minority share owner appraisals.

Fred discusses the wide gap in what a business appears to be worth between business owners vs. business buyers. He says often a business owner will place a great deal of value on the specialization of their business, however Fred says that this trait simply does not translate into attracting buyers. He says buyers have more options than sellers and can compare businesses and industries when considering where to invest. Fred notes that it is not uncommon for him to be see a buyer looking at a grocery store franchise one week, only to end up buying an X-ray technician company the next.

Fred briefly notes the lengthy process involved in obtaining a CBA (Certified Business Appraiser) accreditation, which he underwent via the Institute of Business Appraisers. He goes on to discuss the numerous types of business valuations that exist, pointing out that they often can result in quite significant different dollar amounts.

Fred outlines the complexities involved with minority interest valuations. He says these come to play with the owner of business wants to gift shares of the company to family or in cases where the owner dies. He says the key difficulty in selling a minority share interest is that it is hard to attract buyers to a company where a shareholder has virtually no control over the company. Fred says every situation is very unique.

There is also some discussion on how few business owners set up a Buy/Sell Agreement. Both Fred and I share our experiences with client business owners who have failed to take this step. We agree that Buy/Sell Agreements are extremely important to setup prior to taking on or starting a business between 2 or more people. It is much like a marriage prenuptial agreement. Buy/Sell Agreements allow partners to make decisions on how best to protect interested parties prior to an emergency situation or emotional breakdowns in partnerships that can occur when a partner dies or there is a divorce between partners.

If you would like to hear my conversation with Fred Hall, please click here.

Business appraisals with Fred Hall

Fred Hall, CEO of Amador Appraisals and Acquisitions, joined me on Money 2.0 to discuss the complexities of business appraisals. Fred specializes in business valuations for SBA loans, IRS valuations, divorce, and minority share owner appraisals.

Fred discusses the wide gap in what a business appears to be worth between business owners vs. business buyers. He says often a business owner will place a great deal of value on the specialization of their business, however Fred says that this trait simply does not translate into attracting buyers. He says buyers have more options than sellers and can compare businesses and industries when considering where to invest. Fred notes that it is not uncommon for him to be see a buyer looking at a grocery store franchise one week, only to end up buying an X-ray technician company the next.

Fred briefly notes the lengthy process involved in obtaining a CBA (Certified Business Appraiser) accreditation, which he underwent via the Institute of Business Appraisers. He goes on to discuss the numerous types of business valuations that exist, pointing out that they often can result in quite significant different dollar amounts.

Fred outlines the complexities involved with minority interest valuations. He says these come to play with the owner of business wants to gift shares of the company to family or in cases where the owner dies. He says the key difficulty in selling a minority share interest is that it is hard to attract buyers to a company where a shareholder has virtually no control over the company. Fred says every situation is very unique.

There is also some discussion on how few business owners set up a Buy/Sell Agreement. Both Fred and I share our experiences with client business owners who have failed to take this step. We agree that Buy/Sell Agreements are extremely important to setup prior to taking on or starting a business between 2 or more people. It is much like a marriage prenuptial agreement. Buy/Sell Agreements allow partners to make decisions on how best to protect interested parties prior to an emergency situation or emotional breakdowns in partnerships that can occur when a partner dies or there is a divorce between partners.

If you would like to hear my conversation with Fred Hall, please click here.

How a franchise consultant helps franchise buyer

How a franchise consultants helps franchise buyer

Do you need help to buy the right franchise

Tamara Dorris is one busy lady. Most mornings after a session of yoga she is a Sacramento residential real estate agent writing and negotiating offers for houses. In the afternoon and evening she teaches marketing and communication at Sacramento State University. Once a week she prepares and presents a talk radio show and is an author of fiction books. She also loves to talk and drink wine.

Tamara is a keen student of neuroscience and neuropsychology. She describes neuroscience and neuropsychology as believing that the starting point for all human action only takes place after an idea originates in our subconscious and eventually becomes so strong, it leads to action. This makes perfect sense to me as the starting point for all entrepreneurs or business owners, that is, the idea of taking the risk to own and operate a business starts in the subconscious, gains and builds and gnaws at you until you either stare it down and move on or embrace the idea and ‘give it a go.

As I can tell by the phone calls and meetings I have, most potential entrepreneurs are not sure where to start. Recently I received a call from a husband and wife, Graeme and Bronwyn. Graeme works in technology and includes contract work for a CA State government agency. Graeme was told by his boss that their current contract was renewed but now only for 12 months and that at any time it could be cancelled and he would no longer have a job. Job security is important to Graeme as he has children to support through college and so the possibility of losing his job really bothers him to the point that he decides to own and operate his own business and therefore achieve his own job security.

As a result of the above, Graeme started to look online about owning a business but he really wasn’t sure where to start; which is how he found me and gave me a call.

For me, that was real easy. So Graeme made the right choice I explained he had three choices. Start a new business from scratch, buy an existing business or buy the rights to a local franchise. If this is where you are at, to help you decide you and provide some information you are welcome to read the following document Business ownership – what are my options.

Can I buy a franchise on my own?

After we talked and resolved his initial reasons for the call, he asked to meet with me so he could ask some more questions.  I invited him to bring his wife, Bronwyn, which he wasn’t sure about as he thought he would be the one owning and operating the franchise and Bronwyn was supporting his decision, but I said buying a franchise was a huge decision and he agreed all major family decisions should be made with Bronwyn and so we met and had a long conversation over coffee.

If you would like more information about buying a franchise, please click this link Buy a franchise or you may like to buy a copy of my book – Successfully buy your franchise.

Why use a consultant to help buy a franchise?

If you are looking to buy a franchise there are consultants available to help you. They can save you wasting a large amount of time and getting frustrated as they have access to information such as which franchises are available in each local area, what the costs of the different franchise concepts, what types of franchises are available, what franchises are available in the many different industries and so much more. One of the best reasons I like helping as a franchise consultant is that I get to be a sounding board so the franchise buyers make the right decision.

My strengths as a franchise consultant?

I enjoy helping franchise buyers through what can be a demanding and challenging process. I bring some unique differences than most other franchise consultants. These differences include the following.

I have owned and operated 5 businesses; two in my native Australia and three in California.I’m currently a member of a franchise; Murphy Business and Financial Corporation which is the largest US brokerage and franchise company in the US and Canada.As part of my franchise, I have access to over 300 active and different franchise models so this provides a great cross-section of choices.My skill set not only includes helping someone buy a franchise but I am involved in other areas of business ownership such as buying and selling a business, business valuations, equipment appraisals and SBA lending.I have written four books on business ownership including Successfully buy your franchise which is available not only from my website but also Amazon and most other book retailers.Diverse resources to help with tax, finance including SBA loans and / or using your retirement money and more.I don’t just sell franchises but also help people buy and sell a business, business valuations and equipment appraisals. This gives me a totally different perspective as I am in the trenches constantly talking with business owners and their problems and in fact, helping them with their solutions.

If you are thinking of buying a franchise and have questions or are not sure where to start, please give me a call on 916 570-2674 or send an email to Andrew Rogerson. I’m happy to help you and can point you in the right direction to find the answers you need.

Do You Need Help Buy Right Franchise

Tamara Dorris is one busy lady. Most mornings after a session of yoga she is a Sacramento residential real estate agent writing and negotiating offers for houses. In the afternoon and evening she teaches marketing and communication at Sacramento State University. Once a week she prepares and presents a talk radio show and is an author of fiction books. She also loves to talk and drink wine.

Tamara is a keen student of neuroscience and neuropsychology. She describes neuroscience and neuropsychology as believing that the starting point for all human action only takes place after an idea originates in our subconscious and eventually becomes so strong, it leads to action. This makes perfect sense to me as the starting point for all entrepreneurs or business owners, that is, the idea of taking the risk to own and operate a business starts in the subconscious, gains and builds and gnaws at you until you either stare it down and move on or embrace the idea and ‘give it a go.

As I can tell by the phone calls and meetings I have, most potential entrepreneurs are not sure where to start. Recently I received a call from a husband and wife, Graeme and Bronwyn. Graeme works in technology and includes contract work for a CA State government agency. Graeme was told by his boss that their current contract was renewed but now only for 12 months and that at any time it could be cancelled and he would no longer have a job. Job security is important to Graeme as he has children to support through college and so the possibility of losing his job really bothers him to the point that he decides to own and operate his own business and therefore achieve his own job security.

As a result of the above, Graeme started to look online about owning a business but he really wasn’t sure where to start; which is how he found me and gave me a call.

For me, that was real easy. So Graeme made the right choice I explained he had three choices. Start a new business from scratch, buy an existing business or buy the rights to a local franchise. If this is where you are at, to help you decide you and provide some information you are welcome to read the following document Business ownership – what are my options.

Can I buy a franchise on my own?

After we talked and resolved his initial reasons for the call, he asked to meet with me so he could ask some more questions.  I invited him to bring his wife, Bronwyn, which he wasn’t sure about as he thought he would be the one owning and operating the franchise and Bronwyn was supporting his decision, but I said buying a franchise was a huge decision and he agreed all major family decisions should be made with Bronwyn and so we met and had a long conversation over coffee.

If you would like more information about buying a franchise, please click this link Buy a franchise or you may like to buy a copy of my book – Successfully buy your franchise.

Why use a consultant to help buy a franchise?

If you are looking to buy a franchise there are consultants available to help you. They can save you wasting a large amount of time and getting frustrated as they have access to information such as which franchises are available in each local area, what the costs of the different franchise concepts, what types of franchises are available, what franchises are available in the many different industries and so much more. One of the best reasons I like helping as a franchise consultant is that I get to be a sounding board so the franchise buyers make the right decision.

My strengths as a franchise consultant?

I enjoy helping franchise buyers through what can be a demanding and challenging process. I bring some unique differences than most other franchise consultants. These differences include the following.

I have owned and operated 5 businesses; two in my native Australia and three in California.I’m currently a member of a franchise; Murphy Business and Financial Corporation which is the largest US brokerage and franchise company in the US and Canada.As part of my franchise, I have access to over 300 active and different franchise models so this provides a great cross-section of choices.My skill set not only includes helping someone buy a franchise but I am involved in other areas of business ownership such as buying and selling a business, business valuations, equipment appraisals and SBA lending.I have written four books on business ownership including Successfully buy your franchise which is available not only from my website but also Amazon and most other book retailers.Diverse resources to help with tax, finance including SBA loans and / or using your retirement money and more.I don’t just sell franchises but also help people buy and sell a business, business valuations and equipment appraisals. This gives me a totally different perspective as I am in the trenches constantly talking with business owners and their problems and in fact, helping them with their solutions.

If you are thinking of buying a franchise and have questions or are not sure where to start, please give me a call on 916 570-2674 or send an email to Andrew Rogerson. I’m happy to help you and can point you in the right direction to find the answers you need.

Do you need help to buy the right franchise?

Tamara Dorris is one busy lady. Most mornings after a session of yoga she is a Sacramento residential real estate agent writing and negotiating offers for houses. In the afternoon and evening she teaches marketing and communication at Sacramento State University. Once a week she prepares and presents a talk radio show and is an author of fiction books. She also loves to talk and drink wine.

Tamara is a keen student of neuroscience and neuropsychology. She describes neuroscience and neuropsychology as believing that the starting point for all human action only takes place after an idea originates in our subconscious and eventually becomes so strong, it leads to action. This makes perfect sense to me as the starting point for all entrepreneurs or business owners, that is, the idea of taking the risk to own and operate a business starts in the subconscious, gains and builds and gnaws at you until you either stare it down and move on or embrace the idea and ‘give it a go.’

As I can tell by the phone calls and meetings I have, most potential entrepreneurs are not sure where to start. Recently I received a call from a husband and wife, Graeme and Bronwyn. Graeme works in technology and includes contract work for a CA State government agency. Graeme was told by his boss that their current contract was renewed but now only for 12 months and that at any time it could be cancelled and he would no longer have a job. Job security is important to Graeme as he has children to support through college and so the possibility of losing his job really bothers him to the point that he decides to own and operate his own business and therefore achieve his own job security.

As a result of the above, Graeme started to look online about owning a business but he really wasn’t sure where to start; which is how he found me and gave me a call.

For me, that was real easy. So Graeme made the right choice I explained he had three choices. Start a new business from scratch, buy an existing business or buy the rights to a local franchise. If this is where you are at, to help you decide you and provide some information you are welcome to read the following document Business ownership – what are my options.

Can I buy a franchise on my own?

After we talked and resolved his initial reasons for the call, he asked to meet with me so he could ask some more questions.  I invited him to bring his wife, Bronwyn, which he wasn’t sure about as he thought he would be the one owning and operating the franchise and Bronwyn was supporting his decision, but I said buying a franchise was a huge decision and he agreed all major family decisions should be made with Bronwyn and so we met and had a long conversation over coffee.

If you would like more information about buying a franchise, please click this link Buy a franchise or you may like to buy a copy of my book – Successfully buy your franchise.

Why use a consultant to help buy a franchise?

If you are looking to buy a franchise there are consultants available to help you. They can save you wasting a large amount of time and getting frustrated as they have access to information such as which franchises are available in each local area, what the costs of the different franchise concepts, what types of franchises are available, what franchises are available in the many different industries and so much more. One of the best reasons I like helping as a franchise consultant is that I get to be a sounding board so the franchise buyers make the right decision.

My strengths as a franchise consultant?

I enjoy helping franchise buyers through what can be a demanding and challenging process. I bring some unique differences than most other franchise consultants. These differences include the following.

I have owned and operated 5 businesses; two in my native Australia and three in California.I’m currently a member of a franchise; Murphy Business and Financial Corporation which is the largest US brokerage and franchise company in the US and Canada.As part of my franchise, I have access to over 300 active and different franchise models so this provides a great cross-section of choices.My skill set not only includes helping someone buy a franchise but I am involved in other areas of business ownership such as buying and selling a business, business valuations, equipment appraisals and SBA lending.I have written four books on business ownership including Successfully buy your franchise which is available not only from my website but also Amazon and most other book retailers.Diverse resources to help with tax, finance including SBA loans and / or using your retirement money and more.I don’t just sell franchises but also help people buy and sell a business, business valuations and equipment appraisals. This gives me a totally different perspective as I am in the trenches constantly talking with business owners and their problems and in fact, helping them with their solutions.

If you are thinking of buying a franchise and have questions or are not sure where to start, please give me a call on 916 570-2674 or send an email to Andrew Rogerson. I’m happy to help you and can point you in the right direction to find the answers you need.

9 steps to successfully buy a franchise

Different types of franchise concepts are continuously evolving. Just recently when looking I was able to total over 300 franchise concepts available in over 37 different industry categories. The range of industries is enormous and includes advertising and marketing, automotive, Business 2 Business, car rental, child related, dry cleaning and laundry, food and restaurants, green and eco-friendly, home based, home services, management and training, pet, real estate, repair and restoration and more.

Buying a franchise provides one great benefit and that is being able to use a repeatable process so you can determine what you want from your franchise investment and thereby get it right.

I was recently working with a franchise buyer and he had five criteria for the franchise he was looking for in order for it to be right and when we met and continued to work together he said they were not negotiable.

The first of his five criteria was that the opportunity had to be home based. His wife was in poor health and so he did not want to have to leave the house to go to work. The second criteria was that he had a maximum amount he wanted to invest and that was $60,000. The third criteria was that he didn’t want a franchise with a brick and mortar location as this meant incurring the cost and ongoing responsibility of a lease. The fourth criteria was that he didn’t want employees who had to be hired and receive a W2. That is, he did want the ability to have staff work the business but he wanted them to be independent contractors or 1099’s so he was not exposed to employer taxes, workers comp and other employer costs. The fifth and final of his criteria was that he only wanted a franchise with a 5 year franchise agreement. His thinking was that if he didn’t enjoy being in the franchise after 5 years he could leave the franchise and have no ongoing franchise responsibility.

When we first started looking at franchise opportunities we were able to find some franchises that met his criteria. However, after persevering and continuing to look, what seemed like a daunting task to find the perfect franchise, we found a Care Patrol franchise that was exactly what he wanted.

When you are looking for the right franchise to buy, don’t be afraid to create a wish list of what’s important to you. As you explore the options available to you, use the following 9 point process so you are consistent with the approach you take and don’t inadvertently miss an opportunity that would work for you. These suggestions are in some sort of order as I’ll explain.

1. Franchise territory

The first option to check is the franchise territory. If you are not planning to relocate to a new city, make sure the franchise territory you want is available. If not, stop and look at other alternatives or see if there is a solution as you need to have the right franchise territory as if you can’t get it, spending more time on the franchise opportunity may be a waste of time.

2. Franchisor litigation

The Franchise Disclosure Document or FDD requires the franchisor to disclose what legal actions have occurred between the franchisor and their franchisees. The amount and type of litigation can show how well the franchisor works with his franchisees.

3. Franchisor Management

This is a good item to review early in the process. You are looking to understand the management background of the franchisors as well as their key executives and support personnel. Their direct and indirect knowledge of their particular industry is critical as is their business and franchise experience. The franchisor should be a natural leader in their industry and have a cross section of skills and experience to ensure the success of the franchise.

4. Franchisee Fees

Your decision to buy a franchise is an investment, that is, you want to see the return you get on your purchase or investment in the franchise model. Just like any investment, you need to review and understand the various fees including royalties, ad fund fees and any other fees such as meetings and/or conventions. If you like a particular industry with different franchises to choose from, do a fee comparison so this information is part of the final decision making process.

5. Franchisor Training Programs

One of the primary reasons to buy a franchise is for the initial and then just as importantly, ongoing franchise training. After all, if you had all the skills and knowledge there may be little reason to buy the franchise in the first place. The franchisor training should be comprehensive and thorough. When you do your franchise validation calls to other franchisees, ask their opinion.

6. Is the franchise growing?

It’s very easy to see if the number of franchisees is declining, holding steady or increasing. A steady growth of franchises means the franchise is healthy. This information can be found in table 20 of the FDD. Read this carefully as there is lots of good information.

7. Item 19

The franchisor has the option of completing Item 19 of the FDD. A lot of franchise buyers are uncomfortable if there is no information as they don’t know how to evaluate the success of the franchise system. If there is no information in Item 19 it is a question to ask the franchisor and then based on the answer, decide whether to continue or not. Just because there is no Item 19 there are other criteria to consider, for example, the number of franchise units that have been sold. Additionally, when you are doing your validations you can ask the current franchisees how well they are doing. If they say they cannot provide any financial information, you have your answer.

8. Financial Statements

The financial statements of the franchisor provide a lot of good information about the health of the franchise. If the franchise is more than three years old, there should be a three years of audited financial statements available for you to read as the franchise buyer. When you get this information, look for a steady stream of revenue from franchise royalties. If you see initial franchise fees as a major part of the revenue then it’s time to ask more questions to understand the performance of the franchise.

9. Required Suppliers and Rebates

An item to look for is whether the franchisor requires the franchisee to make specific purchases from specific vendors. If this is the case, understand the percent of purchases from the franchisor and other vendors and suppliers from the specific vendor and then see if the franchisor receives any rebates.

Owning and operating a franchise is not the right fit for every business owner. What some find attractive others can find too restrictive. However, to make sure owning and operating a franchise is right for you, use a consistent and repeatable process so when you compare you are, as they say, comparing apples with apples.

If you would like more information about buying a franchise please visit my webpage Buy a franchise or buy a copy of my book – Successfully buy your franchise.

For more immediate help with buying a franchise, send an email to Andrew Rogerson or give me a call on 916 570-2674.

Why sell a business?

The successful sale of a business requires both a motivated seller and a motivated buyer.  Part of that requirement includes the seller disclosing all details of the business to the buyer and often requires the buyer making disclosures to satisfy the seller.

The motivation that starts the process for the business to change hands generally starts with the seller.  That is, the seller gets to a point where they believe they no longer have the interest, skills, time, money, enthusiasm, patience or energy to get out of bed each morning and head to their business.

A lot of business owners are also curious about selling their business but not sure it is the direction they wish to go.  Many times they think they are and so step out to see if there is a buyer willing to buy their business but are not ready to ‘close the sale’ because they simply are not ready to sell.

In 2011 I put together a valuation for a business owner that had a really nice niche business selling something he was very passionate about.  He’d reached an age where he thought he was ready to retire and letting go of the hassles of running his business.  However, he was unable to move forward and sell the business as he wasn’t sure how he would spend his time once he sold.  For that reason, the seller was unable to close a deal when it came along because he simply had not got that worked out.

Conversely, I spent 11 months working with a business buyer to take over a family business that had passed through three generations and there was no fourth generation with an interest.  The business had been led by one family member for 42 years and he had supported and provided an income to his two brothers and three of his cousins and all their children.  He knew he wanted to retire but he also knew he wanted to ease into it and so one of his conditions of sale was that he be allowed to work part-time in the business for 12 months before officially retiring and use that time to meet with all the suppliers and main customers that had been part of his business and world.  The buyer was very pleased as this provided the buyer with access to all the knowledge and many years of experience and so it was a win for the buyer and just as importantly, a win for the seller.

If you are thinking of selling your business what is your ‘why?’ That is, why are you selling your business and do you have the answers that make sense to you? For example,

Will you get to keep enough money after you sell and pay all your taxes and fees?If you plan to retire, will the sale bring enough money to fund the rest of your life and your life style?The business has been a talking point with family, friends and provided recognition in your local community. How will this affect your social life?What will happen to your employees and will they be taken care of as well?How will a new owner treat your loyal customers?Probably the most important reason of all to answer. Owning and taking care of the business has been a reason for you to get out of bed each morning. What will be your new reason?

Owning and operating a business brings tremendous challenges and rewards. Making sure there is something positive and satisfying to move to will be the difference between being willing to sell or not, or as I like to ask “What’s the ‘why’ you are selling your business?

Once the ‘why’ is clear, the next step for most business sellers is to know what their business is worth and so I do a business valuation. A lot of business sellers also want to know how much they get to keep after paying their taxes so for those people I organize a tax structuring report.

Are you thinking about selling your business and know your ‘why’? Would you like to know the value of your business? If you would like more information please visit my webpage Business valuation. For more immediate help you are welcome to send an email to Andrew Rogerson or give me a call on 916 570-2674.

Do you need a Business Survival Kit?

Do you need a business survival kit? Suze Orman, the personal finance guru on TV has a great saying. “People first, money and then things.” That makes perfect sense to me but what about if you own a business. I guess her saying may therefore be “People first, your business, money and then things.”

That too works but I was recently at a monthly meeting of the Turnaround Management Association (which helps business owners either turn around a distressed business from closing their doors or just as interestingly, help business owners manage too much growth that’s too fast.) One of the CPA’s in attendance, Ramona Farrell of Ueltzen and Co. spoke about an approach written to help business owners from losing their business or practice if the owner becomes very ill or is dealing with a personal issue and as a result is unable to own and manage the business and therefore is at a high risk of closing it down.

Last month I received calls from two different business owners. Both were from a member of the family and they were totally unrelated. The first call was from the wife of a doctor. She was phoning as she needed to urgently sell her husband’s pediatric practice that he owned and operated for 40+ years as he had just passed away. The second phone call was from a son and he was in the same situation. His father had a psychiatric practice and had just passed away so the need was urgent to find a buyer and a new owner.

In both cases they wanted to know the value of the practice and how quickly it could be sold. If only life was that simple.

The bad news for these business owners comes at many levels. In a lot of cases, the business is losing value and losing value immediately because the stable hands on management is no longer in place. Customers, clients or patients are calling to schedule meetings or consultations but no one is available and so have to go somewhere else. Bills are either not being paid or are paid very slowly, employees are extremely nervous as they do not want to step into the management role because they lack the experience, confidence and/or training and are looking for another job as they can see the business is no longer viable and so it goes on.

Because of all these deficits and more, the response is to find a buyer and let them deal with all the problems. That’s simple enough but it takes time to find the right buyer and if you can find the right buyer, they will only offer a bargain price as they will be risk averse to paying too much for many reasons. These reasons include their investment is more at risk as they don’t know how many customers/clients have been lost, they may receive little to no training, can they get a lease that helps them stabilize the business, can they get a loan if they can’t pay cash for the business and more.

With these challenges and more, it is a very difficult situation for those left owning and operating the business. However, there is an alternative and that’s to have a plan in place before anything negative happens. This is the focus of a book called “Practice Continuation Agreements: A practice survival kit” written by John Eads. Although the book is written primarily for the accounting industry, there is no reason its core ideas can’t be applied to any service industry where the owner may unexpectedly find they are unable to work in their business and keep it going.

The book is only 78 pages long and talks about basic preparation to protect the business, placing a value on the business, identifying potential successors, putting together a legal agreement, how to agree on payment methods and putting processes in place if there is a need to execute the agreement.

If you would like to know more, you can download a copy by clicking the following link to get a copy of Practice Continuation Agreements: A practice survival kit.

If you would like more information about valuing a business or practice, please visit my webpage Business valuation.

Accurate Bookkeeping Enhances Business Success

Accurate bookkeeping enhances business success. There are too many things to do when you first start a business or become the new owner of an existing business. One of the simplest and most important things to ignore though is tracking and recording the sales and expenses of the business.

My observation is that there are two reasons why this critical piece of owning and operating a business gets ignored. The first reason is that a lot of business owners simply don’t enjoy the task of recording and tracking all sales. It seems obvious. The money comes in, gets put into the bank on a daily or semi daily basis as a deposit. Each month or whenever the owner chooses, they can go online and see the deposits including the bank balance. As checks are written they are recorded in the check book and so the information is readily available if and when needed. Besides, a tax return only has to be filed once a year and as it’s a long way off from being needed, it can be looked at closer to that date.

The second reason is that not all business owners have the skills to do the book-keeping accurately. Making the right entries in the right boxes, handling the debits and credits, the refunds and right journal entries and then reconciling the bank statement requires and takes a lot of time.

Regardless of the reason, one of the most important tasks to help your business be successful is accurate and up to date financial statements. Good software with good people who know how to use it is readily available. But what’s most important of all, is that within this financial data is good information to help you better own and operate your business. Information such as knowing your top 20% of your customers so you can thank them, where you are buying all your products and services from so you can negotiate better terms including volume discounts, how much interest you are paying on any bank loans so you can negotiate better terms with another bank, if your rent is being paid on time and so it goes on.

There are many things to learn and put in place when you own and operate your own business. As we are human, we tend to work from habits. Get the right habit in place when you first start and it will be a great investment in the success of your business as poor financial records is one of the top reasons most businesses fail.

If you would like more information about selling a business, buying a business, buying a franchise or a related service such as valuing a business, please visit my webpage Services and choose from the drop down menu the information you would like. For more immediate help, you are welcome to send an email to Andrew Rogerson or give me a call on 916 570-2674.