Published: April 2026
Knowing what your business is worth is not just for people planning to sell. Valuations are required for bringing in partners or investors, resolving shareholder disputes, Family Court proceedings, estate and succession planning, ATO compliance (capital gains calculations, market value determinations), employee share scheme setup, and insurance purposes. The cost ranges from $2,000 for a desktop estimate to $80,000 or more for expert witness reports in litigation. The single biggest factor determining where you land in that range is the quality of your financial records.
This guide covers what each level of valuation costs, what drives the price up, and how investing in clean financials before commissioning a valuation is one of the highest-ROI decisions a business owner can make. For a quick estimate before engaging a valuer, try our what's my business worth calculator or our business valuation estimator.
Different scenarios require different levels of valuation rigour.
Sale or exit: if you are selling your business, a comprehensive independent valuation gives you a defensible basis for your asking price and helps you negotiate from a position of knowledge rather than hope. Read our guide on 20 mistakes to avoid when selling before you get to this point.
Bringing in a partner or investor: both parties need to agree on value. A formal valuation removes emotion from the conversation and provides an objective basis for equity allocation.
Shareholder dispute: when co-owners disagree, an independent valuation is often the only way to resolve the impasse. Courts generally require a comprehensive valuation from a qualified valuer.
Family Court proceedings: in divorce, business assets must be valued for property settlement. Family Court valuations carry specific requirements and higher evidentiary standards. A desktop estimate will not suffice.
Estate and succession planning: knowing the value of the business allows for equitable estate planning, particularly where some beneficiaries are involved in the business and others are not.
ATO compliance: market value determinations are required for CGT events (transferring shares, changing entity structures), and the ATO can challenge valuations that appear unreasonable.
ESOP or share scheme setup: employee share schemes require a defensible market valuation to set the exercise price and comply with tax rules.
What you get: a rough estimate based on your financial statements, industry multiples, and limited analysis. Typically 5 to 15 pages. Turnaround: 1 to 2 weeks.
What you do not get: anything defensible in court, to the ATO, or to a serious buyer. A desktop valuation is useful for internal planning purposes only.
Worked example: A physiotherapy practice owner in Adelaide wants a rough sense of value before deciding whether to sell. Desktop valuation costs $3,500 and provides a range of $650,000 to $850,000 based on 2 times seller's discretionary earnings (SDE). This gives the owner enough information to decide whether pursuing a sale is worthwhile, without committing to a full engagement.
What you get: a detailed 3 to 5 year analysis, normalisation of earnings, multiple methodologies applied (discounted cashflow, capitalisation of future maintainable earnings, asset-based approach), a formal report of 40 to 100 pages suitable for court, ATO, or serious buyers. Turnaround: 4 to 8 weeks.
Worked example: A Sydney-based software company preparing for sale. Revenue $8 million, 35 employees, IP assets, two offshore contractors. Comprehensive valuation: $22,000 covering DCF analysis, SaaS metrics benchmarking (ARR, churn, LTV/CAC), customer concentration risk assessment, and IP valuation. The report provides a defensible range of $18 million to $24 million, with specific assumptions that a buyer's advisors can test and verify.
Required when the valuation will be tested in court. Family Court property settlements, shareholder oppression claims, and ATO objections all require expert-standard valuations with detailed methodology, sensitivity analysis, and the ability for the valuer to defend their position under cross-examination. The higher cost reflects the additional rigour, the preparation of supplementary reports responding to the opposing party's expert, and court attendance.
The single biggest cost driver is the state of your financial records. A valuer working with clean, audited, 3-year financial statements can move quickly and confidently. A valuer working with un-reconciled Xero files, missing records, and inconsistent reporting spends additional hours (billed to you) reconstructing the financial picture before the valuation work can begin.
Worked example of the cost impact: The same $8 million software company, but with 3 years of un-reconciled Xero files, no documented revenue recognition policy, and the founder's salary set at $80,000 (well below market rate of $200,000). The valuer needs an additional 40 hours of analysis at $350 per hour ($14,000) just to normalise the accounts before the valuation work begins. Total valuation cost: $36,000 instead of $22,000. A $14,000 premium entirely caused by messy books.
Other cost drivers include multiple entities requiring separate analysis, significant intangible assets (brand, IP, customer relationships) needing specialist valuation, international operations with transfer pricing considerations, complex ownership structures (trusts holding shares in companies, cross-holdings), and disputed valuations requiring a higher evidence standard. See our finance due diligence guide for what buyers and investors scrutinise most heavily.
Before commissioning a formal valuation, you can get a rough sense of value using industry-standard multiples. These are guides only, and formal valuations consider many factors beyond a simple multiple.
Professional services (law, consulting, accounting): 1 to 3 times SDE. Trades and construction: 1.5 to 3 times SDE. Retail and hospitality: 1.5 to 2.5 times SDE. Technology and SaaS: 3 to 8 times ARR (annual recurring revenue). Healthcare practices (GP, physio, dental): 2 to 4 times SDE. Manufacturing: 3 to 6 times EBITDA.
SDE (seller's discretionary earnings) is net profit plus the owner's salary and benefits plus any personal expenses run through the business. EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) is the standard metric for larger businesses where the owner is not the primary operator. ARR (annual recurring revenue) is the standard metric for SaaS businesses where growth rate and retention matter more than current profitability.
Our business valuation estimator applies these multiples to your specific numbers, and our profit margin calculator helps you understand your current margins relative to industry benchmarks.
Clean books do not just reduce the valuation fee. They directly increase the valuation outcome.
A valuer assessing a business with clean, well-documented, 3-year financials applies lower risk discounts. They can see the trends clearly, verify the data quickly, and have confidence in the numbers they are working with. A valuer working with messy records applies higher risk discounts because they cannot be confident in the underlying data. Higher risk discounts mean a lower valuation.
Worked example: A business valued at 3 times EBITDA with $500,000 EBITDA equals $1.5 million. But the valuer applies a 20 per cent risk discount for unreliable financials, dropping the value to $1.2 million. That is $300,000 lost because of messy books. Investing $20,000 to $30,000 in cleaning up 3 years of financials before commissioning the valuation would have preserved that $300,000, a 10 to 15 times return on the cleanup cost.
Check your current financial health with our P&L health score and balance sheet health score tools, or take our exit readiness scorecard to see how prepared your business is for a valuation.
If you are planning to commission a valuation in the next 6 to 12 months, these steps will reduce both the cost and the time required.
Get 3 years of financial statements cleaned and reconciled. Every unresolved item in your accounts adds time to the valuation process. Normalise your owner salary to market rate. If you are paying yourself $80,000 and a replacement would cost $180,000, the valuer needs to adjust for this, but it is cleaner if the adjustment is already documented. Document all add-backs and owner adjustments (personal expenses, one-off costs, related-party transactions). Prepare a customer or revenue concentration analysis showing how much revenue comes from your top 5 and top 10 clients. Have a clear explanation for any unusual items (one-off legal costs, insurance claims, COVID impacts). Prepare a cashflow forecast for the next 12 to 24 months using our cash flow forecast calculator.
For more on what buyers look for, read our guide to reading your P&L and understand how to present your numbers in the best light while remaining accurate.
Any time the value of your business is being relied upon for a legal, financial, or regulatory purpose: selling the business, bringing in investors, Family Court, shareholder disputes, estate planning, CGT events, or ESOP setup. For internal planning and curiosity, a desktop valuation or our online estimator is sufficient.
For internal purposes, yes. For court, ATO disputes, or sale negotiations, you generally need an independent valuer who holds the appropriate qualifications (typically CVA, Certified Valuation Analyst, or equivalent). Your accountant may be able to recommend a qualified valuer or may hold the relevant credentials themselves.
Desktop valuations: 1 to 2 weeks. Comprehensive independent valuations: 4 to 8 weeks. Expert witness valuations: 8 to 16 weeks depending on the complexity and the court timeline. These timeframes assume your financial records are clean and accessible. Messy records can add 2 to 4 weeks to any timeline.
A desktop valuation is a rough estimate based on readily available financial data and industry multiples. It costs $2,000 to $5,000 and is suitable for internal planning only. A comprehensive valuation involves detailed analysis using multiple methodologies, normalisation of earnings, risk assessment, and produces a formal report defensible in court or to a buyer. It costs $10,000 to $30,000 or more and is required for any external-facing purpose.
Generally yes, if the valuation is for a business purpose (sale preparation, partnership restructure, ATO compliance). Valuations commissioned for personal purposes (divorce) may not be deductible against business income. Check with your accountant for your specific circumstances. See our guide on company vs sole trader structures and trust vs company for how entity structure affects valuation treatment.
For most SMEs, a formal valuation every 3 to 5 years is sufficient unless a triggering event occurs (sale, new partner, dispute). In between, using our business valuation estimator annually gives you a reasonable tracking estimate without the cost of a formal engagement.
It depends on the business type. Service businesses with strong recurring revenue are best valued using capitalisation of future maintainable earnings (FME). High-growth tech businesses are better suited to discounted cashflow (DCF). Asset-heavy businesses (manufacturing, property) may be best valued using an asset-based approach. Most comprehensive valuations apply multiple methods and reconcile the results, which is why a qualified valuer is important.
Scale Suite is a Sydney-based provider of outsourced finance and HR services for Australian SMEs. We deliver weekly bookkeeping, payroll, BAS/IAS lodgement, cashflow reporting, management accounts, and strategic fractional CFO oversight as a fully embedded team that works inside your business. Employment Hero Gold Partner, CA-qualified, Xero Certified, and registered BAS Agents. No lock-in contracts and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Learn more at scalesuite.com.au/services/finance
We review and check this guide periodically. At the time of writing (April 2026), all pricing and regulatory information was current. Some details may change over time as ATO requirements and market rates evolve.
Scale Suite is a Sydney-based provider of outsourced finance and HR services for Australian SMEs. We deliver bookkeeping, financial reporting, payroll processing, fractional CFO support, recruitment, employee onboarding, people and culture support, and fractional HR oversight, all as a fully embedded team that works inside your business.
Employment Hero Gold Partner, CA-qualified, and Xero Certified, we replace fragmented finance and HR processes with one responsive, senior-level function at a fraction of the cost of full-time hires. We serve growing businesses across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth, with packages starting from $1,500 per month and no lock-in contracts.
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