Acquisition & exit advisory
Support for business buyers, sellers, searchers, and owner-operators who need valuation, financing, normalized earnings, working capital, tax structure, and transaction risk translated into plain decisions.
A good deal process does not start with the multiple. It starts with what is being bought or sold, whether the earnings are real, and what risks transfer at closing.
Review the business model, customer concentration, owner dependency, revenue quality, working capital, contracts, lease risk, staff, tax filings, and hidden liabilities before conditions are waived.
Read the financial due diligence guideNormalize EBITDA or SDE by adjusting owner compensation, personal expenses, non-recurring items, related-party transactions, accounting timing issues, and market-rate replacement costs.
Calculate normal working capital, test AR collectability, inventory quality, AP pressure, accrued liabilities, seasonality, and the closing adjustment that often becomes a deal dispute.
Build the lender case, sources and uses, debt capacity, DSCR, collateral view, covenant sensitivity, seller financing, earn-out logic, and 100-day cash plan.
Compare asset sale versus share sale, inherited liabilities, GST/HST, CCA, purchase price allocation, LCGE implications, holdbacks, indemnities, and after-tax proceeds.
Clean up financial reporting, support add-backs, document recurring revenue, reduce owner dependency, prepare management explanations, and build buyer trust before going to market.
The seller's reported profit is rarely the exact number a buyer should capitalize. The work is to bridge accounting income to sustainable earning power that can survive buyer, lender, and tax scrutiny.
Use tax returns, financial statements, management accounts, bank statements, and the general ledger to reconcile what was reported to what actually happened.
Normalize owner salary, unpaid family labour, personal expenses, one-time revenue, one-time costs, non-market rent, non-core income, and accounting anomalies.
Enterprise value should reflect normalized EBITDA or SDE, net debt, cash, working capital, required replacement management, and the risk of the forecast.
The first question is not whether the business looked busy during a visit. It is whether the customers, staff, lease, systems, margins, and cash flow continue when the current owner leaves.
Before you waive conditions, review where the deal could break: earnings quality, working capital, owner dependency, lease renewal, tax exposure, staff retention, and financing capacity.
Buyers may not dislike the business. They may simply not trust the numbers. Exit preparation reduces that discount by making the financial story easier to verify.
The strongest sale process makes the buyer's diligence easier, not harder. Clean numbers, defensible adjustments, and a credible transition plan can protect both price and certainty of close.
Read the Exit Readiness GuideUse a focused review before signing an LOI, waiving diligence, approaching lenders, or taking the business to market.
A practical review of normalized earnings, working capital, financing, tax structure, deal risks, and the questions that should be answered before the next step.
Request a Review