How do you value your business?

What is due diligence?

Should you buy a business that is in trouble?

This pocket guide provides succinct and readable answers to these and other questions on buying and selling a business. You don't need an MBA to understand the fundamentals, just a sound working knowledge of business principles.

Award-winning chartered accountant and business consultant Hugh Williams provides a personal overview of the financial considerations and business judgements to be made.

About the Author

The author, Hugh Williams, was educated at Eton and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1970. He started his own practice H M Williams Chartered Accountants in 1973 and their clients range from individuals to multi-million-pound organisations. He has held positions on the committee of the Tax Faculty of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and has also addressed the Tax Faculty Conference on tax practice management.

• Why are you going into business?
• The four purposes of a business
• Why are you buying a business rather than setting one up from scratch?
• Finding and approaching a business
• Who is advising you?
• Should you buy a business in trouble?
• What sort of business structure?
• What are you buying? 
• How to value a business
• What is due diligence?
• Ways of paying for the business
• The required legal documents
• The tax implications on buying a business 
• Making sure that the business doesn’t die the day you take it over 
• Setting out properly so that you can sell the business 
• Planning your sale 
• Who is advising you over the sale?
• Valuing your business
• Finding a buyer
• The tax implications on selling a business