How Interest Rates Affect Australian Business Valuations

Interest rates have a direct and measurable impact on business valuations in Australia because they influence discount rates, capitalisation rates, buyer required returns, and ultimately the multiples paid for profits and revenue. When the cash rate rises, valuation calculations generally become more conservative, as investors and lenders demand a higher return for taking risk. When […]

Owner’s Add-Backs and Normalisation in Australian SME Valuations

Owner’s add-backs and normalisation adjustments are central to any rigorous business valuation of an Australian SME. They determine whether reported earnings reflect the true maintainable earnings of the business, which in turn affects EBITDA multiples, SDE calculations, discounted cash flow outcomes, and ultimately the price a buyer or lender may treat as fair market value. […]

APES 225: What the Valuation Standard Means for Business Owners

APES 225 is the professional standard that shapes how Australian valuers deliver valuation services, and it matters because business owners, buyers, lenders, accountants, and courts rely on those valuations to make material decisions. For privately held businesses, the standard helps distinguish between a full valuation engagement, a limited scope valuation engagement, and a calculation engagement, […]

Future Maintainable Earnings: How to Normalise SME Profits

Future maintainable earnings (FME) is the starting point for most private business valuation assignments in Australia. It is the valuer’s estimate of the earnings a normalised business can reasonably sustain going forward, after removing unusual, non-recurring, and owner-specific items from historical results. For SME owners, understanding how profits are normalised is critical because the value […]

The Capitalisation of Future Maintainable Earnings (FME) Method

The capitalisation of Future Maintainable Earnings (FME) is one of the most widely used business valuation methods for Australian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In simple terms, it converts the earnings a business is expected to maintain into a value by applying an appropriate capitalisation multiple, which reflects risk, growth prospects, and the sustainability of […]

Childcare Property vs Operating Business: How to Value Each

When a childcare centre owns its freehold property and also operates the childcare business, the two assets often have very different valuation drivers, risk profiles, and buyer markets. For Australian business owners, lenders, accountants, and prospective purchasers, it is essential to separate the value of the underlying property from the value of the operating business, […]