Why two years
Buyers price risk. They read three years of accounts, and every question they have to ask becomes a lower price, money held back at completion, or a promise you have to sign. Two years gives you one clean year to show them, and a second to prove it was not a one off.
Year one: make the numbers hold
Monthly management accounts that agree with the audited accounts. One off costs named and explained. A normal level of working capital you can show month by month. If one customer is more than a fifth of revenue, a plan to change that, or a contract that makes it safe.
“Every question a buyer has to ask is a discount they get to argue for.” Eleanor Hart, Managing Partner
Year two: make the business transferable
A buyer pays for a business, not for its owner. That means a second line of managers who run the week without you, key contracts reviewed with your lawyers for change of control clauses, and property and intellectual property owned by the company, not by you.
What can wait
Talk of price, and any approach to buyers, can wait until the last six months. Starting either early sets an expectation you then have to defend, and buyers remember the first number they heard.
