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Independent review
An independent assessment of how prepared your business is for a future sale, succession or transfer, carried out before brokers or buyers are involved and while there is still time to act on what it finds.
Fixed fee: £995. No success fees. No obligation.
Purpose
Owner-managed businesses are usually built around the people who run them. That is a strength while the owner is there, and a question once the owner is not.
A transaction process tests that question quickly and in public. A readiness review tests it early and in private, so that any problems are yours to solve rather than someone else’s to price.
The purpose is not to persuade you to sell. It is to make sure that when you decide something, you are deciding with an accurate picture.
When it helps
The review is most valuable when there is still time to act on it: typically one to three years before anything happens, or when nothing is planned at all.
Scope
These are sensible areas of enquiry rather than a fixed checklist. The emphasis shifts with the business, and we agree what matters most during the initial discussion.
How much of the business relies on the owner personally: relationships, decisions, technical knowledge and day-to-day involvement.
The depth of the team beneath the owner, and how decisions are made when the owner is not in the room.
Whether the numbers are consistent, timely and straightforward to explain to someone seeing the business for the first time.
How revenue is distributed across customers, sectors and contracts, and how durable that revenue looks.
Whether the way the business works is documented and repeatable, or held informally by a small number of people.
The commercial arrangements a future buyer or successor would expect to review, and any that are missing, informal or out of date.
What would happen to trading, customers and staff if a key person were unavailable for a sustained period.
Whether the records that support the story of the business are organised and available, rather than assembled under pressure.
How readily the business could pass to a buyer, a family member or a management team, and what would need to change first.
The questions a serious buyer or adviser is likely to ask, and how comfortably the business could answer them today.
Within the Aston Finch Value Framework, this review draws most heavily on strategic readiness and financial performance, while considering the business as a whole.
Deliverables
The report is written to be shared with the people you trust: an accountant, a solicitor, a co-owner or a family member. It is yours.
Boundaries
Please note
Where the review identifies a matter of this kind, it says so plainly and explains why it matters, so that it can be dealt with properly rather than discovered later.
Prioritisation
Most reviews of any depth identify more than a business can sensibly act on at once. Listing everything we notice would be easy, and would not be much use to anyone.
So findings are ordered rather than simply recorded. Each one sets out what the issue is, why it matters commercially, how difficult it would be to address and what priority we think it deserves: immediate, within six months, within twelve, or a longer-term matter to keep in view.
The intention is not to give you fewer findings. It is to make it obvious which three or four would make the greatest difference, and in what order.
The fee
Fixed fee
£995
Confidential Exit Readiness Review. One fee, agreed before any work begins.
Arrange an initial discussionWhat the fee includes
Afterwards
Exit and succession are sensitive subjects, often before staff, customers or family have been told anything. Discussions and any information shared with us are treated as confidential and used only for the review. We are glad to sign a confidentiality agreement before you send anything.
After the follow-up discussion, the report is yours and there is nothing further to commit to. Some owners act on the priorities themselves, some involve their accountant or solicitor, and some conclude the time is not right and revisit it later. All of those are reasonable outcomes.
Questions
No. Many owners commission a review because they want to understand their options, not because a sale is planned. The review is just as useful if you decide to keep the business and reduce how much it depends on you.
No. The review is a strategic assessment of readiness, and it does not produce a formal valuation. Where expectations about value are relevant, we discuss them as commercial expectations rather than as valuation advice.
No. Aston Finch does not sell businesses, introduce buyers or act on a transaction. We carry out the review, explain what we find, and step back. If you later decide to appoint a broker or corporate-finance adviser, that is your choice and we take no fee from it.
A proportionate amount: recent financial statements and management information, an outline of how the business is structured and operates, and a sense of the main customers, contracts and commitments. We agree the list with you before the review begins, and we do not ask for material we do not need.
Yes. Discussions and any information you share are treated as confidential and used only for the purpose of the review. We are happy to sign a confidentiality agreement if you would prefer one in place before we begin.
The initial discussion is short. The written review is usually within two to three weeks of receiving the information required. That is an estimate rather than a guarantee, and we confirm the expected timing with you at the outset.
No. Deciding whether to sell is yours to make, and for many owners the answer is not yet. Our role is to set out how ready the business is and what would need to change, so that the decision is an informed one.
Yes. The Confidential Exit Readiness Review is £995. The fee is agreed before any work begins and does not change with the outcome. There are no success fees and no commission on a future sale.
Yes, and it is often sensible. Accountants and solicitors know the business and the history. With your permission we are glad to speak with them, and the written findings are designed to be shared with the advisers you already trust.
No. This is our flagship review and the one most owners begin with, but it is not a gateway to the others. If commercial performance, digital presence or financial performance is what actually concerns you, approach us about that review directly.
A short, confidential discussion is enough to establish whether this review would be useful to you. If it would not be, we will say so.
Fixed fee: £995. No success fees. No obligation.