Business valuation checklist: the documents you need

What to gather, in one sentence

Three years of numbers, how revenue breaks down, what the company owes and what the owners take out. That is enough for a first valuation. Everything else is proof, and it is requested later, once there is a serious buyer.

Before sending any file, ask for a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). At Meu Equity it is signed before any figure changes hands. Audited statements are not required: we work with what the company has and flag what a buyer will question.

The checklist

The table separates what is essential for a first estimate from what comes later, in due diligence (the buyer’s verification before signing).

Document	Why it matters	When
Income statement and balance sheet, last 3 years and year to date	Basis for earnings, margin and debt	First estimate
Monthly trial balances	Show seasonality and the last 12 months of results	First estimate
Revenue by client and by product or service	Client concentration and where the margin really comes from	First estimate
Loans, financing and tax installment plans	Net debt, which is subtracted from the value to shareholders	First estimate
Payroll and owner withdrawals (salary, dividends)	Adjust earnings to the real cost of the people running the business	First estimate
Key contracts with clients and suppliers	Prove recurring revenue and terms; reveal change of control clauses	Due diligence
Leases	Term, rent and whether the property belongs to an owner	Due diligence
Articles of association, amendments and shareholders’ agreement	Who can sell, preemptive rights, restrictions	Due diligence
List of assets and real estate	What is included in the sale and what stays with the owners	Due diligence
Lawsuits and contingencies (labor, tax, civil)	Risks that become discounts, holdbacks or indemnities	Due diligence
Licenses, permits, registrations and certificates	Required to operate; without them the deal stalls	Due diligence

Your accountant already holds most of the first group. Ask for the statements and trial balances as spreadsheets, not only as PDFs, because the analysis rebuilds the numbers month by month.

Essential for a first estimate

Financial statements. The income statement and balance sheet for the last three closed fiscal years and for the current year to the latest month. In Brazil, the income statement is the DRE (Demonstração do Resultado do Exercício). Three years show the trend; the current year shows where the business stands now. If several legal entities operate as one business, bring all of them.

Revenue breakdown. How much each client represents, and how much each product or service line sells and earns. A buyer first checks whether any one client weighs too much, because that is risk and lowers the multiple.

Debt. Bank loans, financing, leasing, tax installment plans (common in Brazil, where they are called parcelamentos) and anything overdue. This is the bridge between enterprise value and what actually reaches the shareholders.

People and owners. Payroll with roles and salaries, and what each owner takes out as salary or dividends. If an owner works in the business without a market salary, earnings look higher than they would with a hired manager, and that needs an adjustment.

With these items you can calculate adjusted EBITDA and reach a value range. For a first figure before gathering the paperwork, use the business valuation calculator and read how much your business is worth and how it is calculated.

What comes later, in due diligence

Contracts, corporate documents, property, lawsuits and licenses rarely move the number in a first valuation, but they move the negotiation. This is where a buyer finds reasons to ask for a discount, hold back part of the price or demand guarantees. Having them organized in advance shortens due diligence and avoids surprises halfway through a sale. See the steps in how to sell my business.

When personal and business expenses are mixed

It is common, and it does not prevent a valuation. A family car, travel, relatives on the health plan, an employee who works at the owner’s home: list each item with its yearly amount and period. Each line becomes an adjustment and is added back to earnings, because a buyer will not carry that cost.

The same works in reverse: rent below market on a building owned by a partner, an owner without a salary, one-off income or expenses. All of it goes into the bridge from reported profit to adjusted EBITDA. In the sample valuation report, the adjusted EBITDA chapter shows that bridge item by item, using a fictional company.

What does not work is leaving those expenses hidden. The buyer finds them in due diligence and from then on doubts every other number.

Confidentiality before you send anything

Financial documents reveal a great deal: margins, clients, salaries. Send them only after an NDA is signed, and prefer a folder with controlled access over email attachments. If you are talking to a potential buyer, especially a competitor, share aggregated figures first and keep client-level detail until there is a written offer.

How long it takes after you hand them over

Usually two to four weeks after the documents arrive, depending on the size of the company and how organized the numbers are. Missing documents do not stop the work from starting; they delay the conclusion.

Meu Equity receives these documents under a signed NDA and carries out the business valuation with every assumption explained.