A four-pronged approach to understanding the data.Gathering data is a key element of a business valuation analysis--and you must assemble V enough to analyze your subject company from all sides. Client data. Once you've you've Contraction of you have. you've you have you've have gathered the audits, the tax returns, the business descriptions and marketing materials, you will realize--with apologies to Joni Mitchell--that "you've looked at the company from both sides now and you really don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. the company at all." To really understand it, you have to look at it in the context of its environment--the competition, the economy and the industry. The economy. To understand the company's environment, a business valuation analyst might start by gathering and analyzing data on local and national economic conditions. The National Economic Review (www.mercercapital.com/products/NER.html) gives an overview, written specifically for valuation analysts, of the major factors affecting the economy. Regional federal reserve banks (www.federalreserve.gov/otherfrb.htm) publish articles on economic conditions within their districts. City newspapers (http://newslink.org) and business journals (www.bizjournals.com) often publish stories on local economic conditions, particularly at yearend. Competition. Industry conditions and competition also significantly influence value. Trade associations can provide operating ratios Operating Ratio A ratio that shows the efficiency of management by comparing operating expense to net sales: , industry studies and trends. First Research (www.firstresearch.com) produces detailed, independent industry analysis reports. To look at the competition, use one of the Dunn & Bradstreet databases (www.dnb.com). Market transactions. Finally, depending on your particular valuation engagement, you also may need to review guideline guideline Medtalk A series of recommendations by a body of experts in a particular discipline. See Cancer screening guidelines, Cardiac profile guidelines, Gatekeeper guidelines, Harvard guidelines, Transfusion guidelines. public companies or guideline transactions for the market approach. Yahoo Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com) is a good starting place for data on publicly traded companies publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. and Pratt's Stats (www.bvmarketdata.com) offers data on more than 8,000 private company transactions. --Eva Lang Lang language LANG Louisiana Army National Guard Lang Langobardian (linguistics) LANG Los Angeles Newspaper Guild , CPA/ABV, ASA Asa (ā`sə), in the Bible, king of Judah, son and successor of Abijah. He was a good king, zealous in his extirpation of idols. When Baasha of Israel took Ramah (a few miles N of Jerusalem), Asa bought the help of Benhadad of Damascus and , executive director, Financial Consulting Group, Germantown, Tenn. |
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