Valuation of small and medium-sized enterprises

You’re planning an acquisition, or perhaps you want to sell your business. You might be looking to find out what kind of settlement a departing partner is set to receive, or maybe you need to make arrangements because someone has died and you need to determine the compulsory share of the inheritance. Perhaps you need reliable planning calculations for legal reasons or for your bank, or maybe you are a judge and need an estimate of a company’s value before you render a decision.

A business valuation is needed in all these cases. There’s a good reason these services are viewed as the core competency in business administration. Determining a valuation requires in-depth market insight, solid knowledge of accounting and taxes, and comprehensive expertise in investment and financing. Specific legal requirements, case law and standards also need to be taken into account. Only if all these many different aspects are considered – and thanks to their access to the relevant databases – can our specialists determine your company’s value appropriately.

In many cases, small and medium-sized enterprises have less developed planning and reporting structures. The owner-entrepreneur relationship may also be a special one. Our experts have relevant experience in the field, so they pay particular attention to these individual aspects.

After more than 15 years, our expertise in this specific consulting segment extends to hundreds of business valuations, from small crafts enterprises to international corporate groups. Our activities have covered a diverse range of industries, and the reasons and scopes of work were just as varied.

Diverging interests among the parties always harbour potential for conflict, which is why courts are also among our regular customers. From the local court to higher regional court level, many courts trust in the referrals they receive from Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Wirtschaftsprüferkammer (Chamber of Public Accountants) and their experiences with ADKL. After all, our expertise and independence speak for themselves. That’s especially true since our executive Ulrich Kühnen has been appointed to serve as a publicly appointed expert on business valuations by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Cologne.

Our services include:

• Detailed expert opinions on the valuation of a business or segment
• Company value estimates
• Preparing or performing plausibility checks on planning calculations
• Answering evidential questions regarding company or segment values in civil or family/inheritance law court proceedings