Category: Business Tips

What should you actually check before buying a private business?
 
Every buyer knows to look at the financials. Far fewer check the tax accounts, the employee entitlements that transfer automatically under Ontario law, the contracts that die on a change of ownership, or the litigation history of the seller.
 
The difference between a smooth closing and an expensive surprise is usually a checklist item someone skipped.
 
This piece gives you the due diligence checklist we work from: the documents to demand, the registries to search, and the questions that catch the problems sellers hope you won’t ask about.

The seller’s revenue looks great. But do you know where it actually comes from?

A business with a hundred small customers and a business with three big ones can show the same top line and carry completely different risk. If the biggest customer is 40% of revenue and has no contract, you’re not buying a business, you’re buying a relationship you’ve never met.

Reading a target’s customer segments is one of the fastest ways to spot a deal that looks better than it is.

This guide shows you what to pull apart: concentration, contracts, churn, and the customers who might walk the day the old owner does.

How do you know what a business is actually worth before you sign for it?

The honest answer: you don’t, until someone qualified takes the financials apart. The seller’s asking price is a negotiating position. The real number lives in the books.

That’s what a business valuation is for. But commissioning one isn’t as simple as hiring the first accountant who says yes, because what you ask for determines what you get, and the wrong scope can cost you real money for a report that doesn’t answer your question.

Before you sign a valuation engagement in Toronto, read this guide. We’ll cover who does this work, what to ask for, and how to make sure the report you pay for is the one your deal actually needs.