Certified Business Valuation in Utah: When You Need One — and When a Free Valuation Is Enough

Utah business owners ask us for "a valuation" every week — but there are really two different products, and paying for the wrong one wastes money while using the free one where a certified report is required can sink a loan, a settlement, or a tax filing. Here's how to know which one your situation actually calls for.

The two kinds of valuation

A broker opinion of value (BOV) tells you what your business would likely sell for on the open market. It's based on real comparable sales and seller's discretionary earnings, and it's the right tool when you're deciding whether to sell, setting an asking price, or just want to know your number. We provide these free and confidentially to Utah owners.

A certified business valuation is a formal, defensible appraisal prepared to professional standards, with documented methodology — income, market, and asset approaches — and a written report designed to hold up under scrutiny from a lender, a court, the IRS, or an opposing attorney. It's a paid engagement, because what you're buying is independence and defensibility, not just a number.

When Utah owners need the certified version

• SBA financing. On larger 7(a) acquisition loans, lenders are required to obtain an independent business valuation from a qualified source — the buyer's bank won't close without it, and a valuation the deal parties prepared themselves doesn't count.

• Divorce. Utah courts treat a business as marital property, and dividing it requires a defensible value both sides' attorneys can fight over. An informal estimate gets torn apart; a certified report is evidence.

• Partnership buyouts and disputes. When one partner buys out another, a neutral certified valuation is what keeps the deal — and the relationship — from ending up in litigation.

• Estate and gift tax planning. Transferring ownership to family or a trust means the IRS may examine the claimed value. A documented, standards-based appraisal is your defense.

• Litigation and shareholder matters. Damage claims, dissenting shareholders, and buy-sell agreement triggers all call for a valuation that survives cross-examination.

What about equipment-heavy businesses?

Construction, manufacturing, trucking, and landscaping companies often need a second document alongside the business valuation: a USPAP-compliant machinery and equipment appraisal. SBA lenders require it when equipment secures the loan, and it's accepted by attorneys and the IRS. We provide these across Utah.

How to choose — the 30-second version

If the number is for you — deciding whether to sell, pricing a listing, planning an exit — start with the free valuation. If the number is for someone else — a bank, a judge, the IRS, a partner's attorney — you need the certified version. And if you're not sure, tell us the situation and we'll tell you honestly which one it calls for; we sell both, so we have no reason to upsell you into the wrong one. Our track record of closed Utah transactions is the same market data your valuation draws on.

Call 385-985-7216 or contact us — every conversation is confidential.