The ultimate business valuation software. Includes all common valuation methods and generates a comprehensive report that can be fully customized.
Business Valuation Software Features
Valuation ultimate is the most fully featured valuation software on the market. Review the full list of features below. The software is not a toy or a superficial black box, it’s a full workspace for business valuers to do their best valuation work.
Multiple Business Entities
A single valuation job can include multiple entities in the client group. The equity structure for each entity can be entered so that the equity values flow between the entities and to individual shareholders. The equity structure can handle multiple equity classes and holdings that are beneficially and non-beneficially (in trust) held. Minority discounts can be applied to specific holdings if desired.
Comprehensive Built-In Reports
Each valuation job comes with many reports out of the box including written long-form descriptive reports, financial analysis reports, detailed calculation reports and charts. Comments can be added to reports as inline paragraphs or footnotes. Reports can be used as is, amended or created from scratch. Report bundles can be designed and published as a single combined report for the client or downloaded for internal use. Custom reports can even be saved as templates for use on future jobs.
All Common Valuation Methods Included
The following valuation methods are included out of the box:
- Capitalisation of Future Maintainable Earnings (CFME)
- Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)
- Summation of Net Asset Values
- Unadjusted Net Assets
- Comparable Transaction
- Guideline Publicly-Traded Comparable
- Rule of Thumb
- Custom Method
All methods have sensible default settings but can be customised in various ways. All methods can value the core business and the equity value of the entity. The equity value can then be attributed to the equity holders with or without minority discounts.
Custom Charts
A custom chart builder is included in every job. Line or bar charts can be made from any data available for the entity or valuation scenario. Custom charts can even be made from data entered manually in a custom table. Custom charts can be added to any report, included as their own report or exported as an image to be used outside the software.
Complex Equity Structures
The equity structure for each entity can be entered so that the equity values flow between the entities and to individual shareholders. The equity structure can handle multiple equity classes and holdings that are beneficially and non-beneficially (in trust) held. Minority discounts can be applied to specific holdings if desired.
Business Valuation Questionnaires
Use a built-in questionnaire template or create your own. The question answer types can be text, multiple choice or file uploads. Share the questionnaire in the client portal and the client can answer the questions and upload supporting documents at their own pace. Multiple stakeholders can answer the same questions with each of their answers timestamped. You can even decide whether each stakeholder can see the other stakeholder’s answers. Any uploaded documents can be included in the published valuation report. Multiple questionnaires can be created in the course of a single job as more questions arise or if different stakeholders are asked different questions. Quick questions can be added on the fly from any part of the valuation software and can be notified to one or more stakeholders when ready to be answered. If the clients are not tech savvy you can export the questionnaires and email or post them instead.
Validation Checks
With the press of a button Valuation Ultimate will run a series of tests inspecting key aspects of the structure and the fine detail of the valuation job for possible errors and suggested areas of improvement. A detailed report is displayed showing fails, suggestions and passes at the job, entity and scenario levels. Each entity and each scenario will have their own checks done. If potential fails or suggestions are flagged the accompanying message will provide detail on why the issue was triggered and how to rectify it. This feature is an important part of any valuation job workflow especially for users who are new to the software or if they are inexperienced in valuations generally.
Manager Review Points
Review points can be added from any part of the job. Review points are for internal purposes and are great tool if the valuation is being done by a team. A common use-case is for the manager to make review points when reviewing the work of junior valuers or contractors. The juniors or contractors then read the review points, make the required changes and complete the task. Review points are also great for a sole valuer to make notes on things to come back to.
Multiple Valuation Scenarios
Each business entity can be valued using multiple valuation scenarios. The scenarios can be any combination of the available valuation methods and can include the same method more than once. If there is more than one scenario a weighted average is applied to calculate the weighted average business and equity values. A scenario can be cloned to a new scenario and key variables can be changed to compare the effect of the changes.
Custom Reports
One the best features of Valuation Ultimate is the ability to create and modify custom reports. Custom reports can be created from scratch, loaded from a firm template or cloned from a built-in report. Custom reports can have the following types of content:
- Subtitles
- Paragraphs and Subparagraphs
- Embedded Custom Tables
- Images
- Charts
- PDF’s
- Embedded Other Reports
The custom reports aim to eliminate the need to use Microsoft Word or other word processors to prepare a comprehensive valuation report.
Custom Tables
Create a custom table from scratch or import one from a csv. Custom tables act like a spreadsheet and can include cell references and common formulas such as sum, mean, mode, median, min, max and round. The cell values in the custom tables can then be referred to from various valuation methods to calculate a key variable and the tables themselves can be included in any report. The format and style of custom tables can be modified in various ways to suit your needs and can even be exported to be used outside the software.
3-Way Forecast Module
Forecasts can be generated at the valuation scenario level so you can value the business using alternat forecast assumptions if you wish. Forecasts always include the P&L, balance sheet and cash flows. You can generate forecasts automatically using a past period and setting various assumptions. Forecasts can even be made based on normalised past periods. You also have the option to import or manually input forecasts if they have been provided by the client or prepared in excel or forecasting software. Forecasts are also used to extrapolate part-years into full-year equivalents where needed by the valuation method. Every forecast automatically generates a comprehensive forecast report that shows all assumptions and comments made by the valuer.
Attribute Equity Values to People
Equity values from entities across the job can be traced and attributed to one or more people. This is perfect for family law valuations where the key question is the value attributed to the husband and/or wife. You can also attribute specific loans on an entity’s balance sheet as a loan to/from a particular person. You can then automatically run a comprehensive report outlining the equity and debt interests of the relevant people. This is a very impressive summary to provide to the lawyers.
Client Portal
Clients (or more broadly referred to as stakeholders, which can include accountants, lawyers and other stakeholders) can be provided with access to the client portal to answer questions, upload documents and access published reports such as the final valuation report and any amended reports. Clients and stakeholders can only see the client portal section and cannot view the main parts of the valuation software. Each logon to the client portal is timestamped. Portal access is protected by two-factor authentication. If the stakeholder (such as a lawyer) is invited into multiple jobs they can see the portals of each job with their single login.
Valuation Checklists
Checklists are designed to guide the valuation users through the key steps of preparing a business valuation report. Use a built-in checklist or create one or more firm templates to re-use. Multiple checklists can be created, which can be useful if the firm has a different process for valuing businesses in different industries. Checklists are also a great accountability and training tool for inexperienced valuers working with a manager. Each checklist item can be checked off by the user (with an automatic timestamp) and comments can optionally be added for further detail.
Unlimited Users
A valuation firm can have any number of firm members. Firm members are typically employees or contractors of the valuation firm. A firm administrator can modify the access of each firm member to limit their visibility to certain jobs and to control who can create new jobs. A firm can have one or more administrators who have full access rights.