How to Value a Small Business: The Three Approaches, and What Buyers Actually Pay
The asset, market and income approaches, what published multiples really measure, and when an SBA lender requires a formal valuation.
Exit planning
Exit planning for business owners
The median small business sold through BizBuySell in the second quarter of 2026 went for $349,250. Most of what is written about exits is aimed at companies a hundred times that size.
These guides work from published deal data, the tax code and the SBA's lending rules, and say who to bring in at each step. When that step arrives, theCPA directory lists firms by state, and consulting covers preparing a larger business for sale.
How to Sell a Small Business: The Process, the Paperwork and the Tax Rules
The sequence from clean books to closing, the SBA financing rules a buyer faces, and how the IRS taxes the sale of a business.
Business Exit Strategies and Options: The Five Routes Out of an Owner-Operated Company
The five realistic exits for an owner-operated business: third-party sale, owner buyout, family succession, ESOP and liquidation, and who each one fits.
Creating a Successful Exit Strategy: The Six Decisions, in the Order They Have to Be Made
An exit strategy is six decisions: the date, the number, the books, owner dependence, the route and the team. What each one takes, and in what order.
Exit Planning Checklist: What to Do Three Years Out, and in What Order
A sequenced exit planning checklist from three years out to closing, with the reason for each step and the published rule or IRS form behind it.
Exit Planning Financial Considerations: Price, Tax and What You Keep
What sets the sale price, what a buyer adjusts in your numbers, how the proceeds are taxed, and what is left after debt and fees.
Exit Planning Legal Considerations: The Documents and Who Prepares Them
What each document in a business sale does, who drafts it, and the 2024 Supreme Court ruling that changed redemption-funded buy-sell agreements.
Exit Planning for Retirement: Timing, Tax and the Rules That Changed
Holding a business longer does not lower your capital gains rate. What actually decides the tax, the timing and what reaches your family.
Exit Planning for Partnerships: Buy-Sell Agreements, Funding and Buyouts
Leaving a partnership or multi-owner LLC: what a buy-sell agreement has to settle, what Connelly changed about funding it, and how buyouts get financed.
Exit Planning for Family Owned Businesses: Gifting, Selling and the 2026 Rules
Passing a business to family in 2026: the $15,000,000 exclusion that did not sunset, how a gifted business is valued, and when a sale beats a gift.
Exit Planning Examples: What the Deal Data Says a Sale Looks Like
Worked examples from published deal data: the median small-business sale, an SBA 7(a) structure, the Form 8594 allocation and installment rules.
Exit Planning Consultant: What They Do and Which Credentials Count
What an exit planning consultant does, what CEPA, ABV, CVA, ASA and CBA require, and which of them an SBA lender will accept on a valuation.