Every seller eventually meets the same truth: buyers don’t pay for potential, they pay for evidence. Preparation is how you build that evidence — and it’s worth starting two to three years out, because most of it needs to show up in your trading history to count. Work through the seven areas below; each links to a deeper guide where one exists.
1. Financials: three clean years
The record buyers rely on most. Get to three years of reconciled, ideally accountant-reviewed statements; identify one-off costs as clear add-backs so your true earnings show; separate any personal expenses out of the business; and resolve ATO arrears or disputes. If your accounts are behind, this is job one — everything else is argued from these numbers.
2. Make yourself removable
The single biggest discount buyers apply is for a business that stops when the owner stops. Map what only you do, build a second layer of leadership, and push decisions down until a month of your absence changes nothing. The owner-dependence guide covers this step by step →
3. Strengthen revenue quality
Two moves lift the multiple: make revenue recurring (contracts, retainers, service plans instead of one-off jobs) and make it diversified (no customer so large that losing them re-prices the business). Both take time to show in the record — which is why preparation starts years out, not months. All eight value levers →
4. Get everything in writing
Buyers can’t buy a handshake. Key customer and supplier arrangements go into signed agreements that survive a change of owner; the lease needs enough term (or renewal options) to support the sale; licences and permits must be current and transferable; and the business — not you personally — should own the trademarks, domains and key accounts.
5. Document how the business runs
Processes that live in heads walk out the door at settlement. Write down the way sales, delivery, pricing and hiring actually work — not for bureaucracy, but because documented systems are what make a buyer believe the business is transferable. This also makes the eventual handover faster and cleaner.
6. People: entitlements and key staff
Calculate accrued leave and entitlements now — they’re a settlement adjustment and buyers will check. Make sure employment agreements are current, and think about how key staff are retained through a transition; a buyer’s biggest people-question is whether the team stays.
7. Run your own due diligence
Finally, review the business the way a buyer will — before a buyer does. Work through a seller’s due diligence checklist, fix what you find, and organise the documents into a simple data room. Issues you find cost you time; issues the buyer finds cost you money.
Then: set your timing
With the checklist underway, decide when to go to market — ideally when the numbers are trending up and the preparation is visible in them. Our guides on when to start and the selling process take it from here, and an exit adviser can sequence the work against your target date.
Common questions
Ideally two to three years — long enough for cleaner financials, reduced owner-dependence and better revenue quality to appear in the trading record buyers review. With less runway, prioritise clean books and your own due diligence.
Three years of clean financials, a business that runs without you, recurring and diversified revenue, key contracts and the lease in writing and transferable, documented systems, accurate employee entitlements, and a data room assembled from your own due diligence.
The financials — then how dependent the business is on you, the quality and durability of revenue, and whether contracts and the lease transfer cleanly. Prepare in that order.
This guide is general information only and does not take account of your personal circumstances. It is not financial, tax or legal advice. Speak to a qualified adviser before acting.