What are the advantages and disadvantages of business valuation?

Answer 1

As a business owner, or someone looking to purchase a business, a valuation is incredibly, well, "valuable". Everything else in our lives seems to have a price, but so often small business owners have no idea how much their businesses are worth. A good business valuation can be useful in tracking the success of a business over time, securing a loan, dealing with investors, satisfying an owners curiousity, and is a necesity if you are looking to sell or aquire a business. The disadvantages are obvious, in that the valuation is purely theoretical, and a business is only worth what someone will pay for it. I had my business valued by EZaluate.com and found the valuation to be extremely precise and wound up selling for only $3000 more than they said the business was worth. It's all about finding the right valuator, and ensuring that they use the right method. The Discounted Cash Flow method is most accurate, and widely used on Wall Street.