Customer Deposits: Unearned Revenue When selling a business with a significant amount of customers who pre-pay a deposit prior to receiving goods or services, it is imperative to accurately define and fairly allocate the customer deposits at closing. Customer deposits are considered a current liability or unearned revenue (held in cash on the balance sheet), … Read more
Buying A Franchise A franchise is a business model where a franchisor grants a franchisee the right to use its trademark, brand, and operational systems within a prescribed territory for a set period of time (usually ten year terms). In exchange, the franchisee must follow the franchisor’s reporting obligations, business plan, and payment requirements including … Read more
What is A Circle of Competence? Famed investors Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger long ago popularized the mental model of staying within one’s circle of competence as an investment strategy. Staying within one’s circle of competence refers to investing only within areas where one has earned knowledge, skills, and expertise while avoiding investing in areas … Read more
Staff Retention Critical After Closing A key component of a company’s intangible assets or goodwill is its employment relationships with its employees and independent contractors. For many businesses – especially in service-related industries – having a trained group of staff members is essential to acquiring customers, keeping customers, and ultimately generating profits. When it comes … Read more
Red Flags A Warning Sign Potential buyers of businesses often look for red flags, or warning signs concerning the characteristics of a given business for sale. While virtually every business has negative traits, a red flag indicates a significant and unusual risk that a business may not perform up to the buyer’s expectations after the … Read more
Credibility Key When Selling Businesses In order to establish credibility when selling a business, the business owner – and by extension their business broker – must be trusted and believed by the buyer. By becoming a believable and credible source of information, it is also possible for a business broker to convince a buyer that … Read more
Debt Assumption in Business Sales Corporate debt is borrowed money on a long term basis that is used to serve a financial need that can not otherwise be met. This differs from a company’s accounts payable (A/P) which represents short term liabilities owed by a company for products or services purchased on credit. Long term … Read more
Heuristics May Lead to Cognitive Bias For decades, economists assumed that when making decisions people always act rationally – or within a logical and predictable decision making framework that maximizes their own economic self interests. This assumption changed beginning in the 1970s when psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky reshaped our understanding of human nature … Read more
Redevelopment Clauses Impair Leasehold Rights A valuable asset of many businesses – particularly in retail-related industries – is its leasehold right or the right of a commercial tenant to temporarily occupy leased premises. A business with a secure long term lease allows a buyer enough time in which it may obtain an attractive return on … Read more
“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.” – Albert Einstein Ask Seller Prepared Questions When purchasing … Read more