Frequently Asked Questions

How much will a business valuation cost?

We receive many phone calls from small businesses owners who have not previously engaged a professional valuator and are unsure what a valuation report will cost to have prepared. In my experience, valuations are expensive and may not be cost effective for very small businesses who have a “casual” need for one, i.e. in the absence of a prescribed need (such as a court order, or a transaction that will be subject to CRA scrutiny, or a requirement of a shareholders agreement, etc.) to have a formal valuation completed. Hourly rates vary among practitioners. The ultimate cost of services will depend on the size and complexity of your business. As a baseline, I generally advise callers that even the smallest, simplest file where good recordkeeping is present will still cost at least $5,000 plus HST if we are asked to generate a written report on value. Most clients will not fall into the ‘smallest and simplest’ category but I offer it here to help educate the general public who often call us with a misunderstanding that a business valuation (completed by us) is a $500 exercise. Sometimes we are unable to even provide a cost estimate at the onset of a file due to the complexity of the situation.

How long will it take to complete?

The time to complete depends on the state of the company’s financial records and the ease with which we are able to complete our tasks, which is affected by access to appropriate company management and staff as well as the amount of time taken to respond to our requests for information and our follow up queries. Generally speaking, once we have received all the information needed, it takes a few weeks after that to deliver a written work product.

I am a CFO who holds an accounting designation. My auditors/external accountants are advising me to engage an independent CBV to assist me with completing a Purchase Price Allocation (PPA) for a company that we’ve purchased. As an accounting professional, shouldn’t I be able to perform this task on my own to an acceptable level for the auditors?

In short, not usually. If the acquisition is large or complicated enough for your auditors to be requesting that you hire a CBV – you need a CBV. Your auditors are requesting this as they believe it to be necessary for them to satisfy their professional requirements with respect to your financial statements. Purchase price allocation work is fairly specialized even within the CBV community. The extensive guidance that would be needed for non-CBV’s to perform this analysis is not readily available in the marketplace. Performing a purchase price allocation that will satisfy your auditors requires a mix of hands-on experience and technical expertise.

My suggestion would be to work with your auditors, and if they are able to recommend a specific CBV or firm to you, look seriously at their recommendation as it will typically be to a professional or firm with whom they are familiar and that is experienced in preparing PPA valuation reports. The PPA process is time consuming and detail oriented. The report will be reviewed in detail by both your regular audit staff and (typically) the audit firm’s internal valuation staff. There will be queries generated by the audit firm that will need to be addressed both by management and the external CBV.

We provide PPA reports as one of our core services. Please contact us if you have additional questions.

I am involved in a litigation matter (divorce, shareholder dispute, etc.). Can you help me?

We are not accepting any new assignments for valuations for litigation purposes at the present time due to capacity constraints. Please see the Services Offered tab for a description of our core services.

We are proud to be a member of the following professional institutes:

The Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators
The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario

Frequently Asked Questions

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Stewart Business Valuations Inc., an expert in the field of business and securities valuation.