Who Business Valuation Software Is For

Six kinds of people open ExitSight, and they need different things from it. An owner wants a number before a conversation. A professional wants work that survives review. Below is what each path looks like, what it costs to do it the traditional way, and where the software stops and judgment begins.

Business owners and founders

most common starting point

You want a number before a conversation — with a broker, a partner buying in, a bank, or your family. The risk is not being wrong by 5%; it is walking in with no basis at all and accepting the first framing offered.

Typical trigger	An unsolicited offer, a partner exit, a bank asking for a value, or retirement three to five years out.
Start in ExitSight at	Getting Started → Financial Statement Recasting, then Earnings Multiple.
Methods usually applied	Multiple of discretionary earnings, market comparables as a check.
What it replaces	A broker’s opinion of value, or a rule-of-thumb multiple from a trade association newsletter.

CPAs and tax advisors

growing the practice

Your clients already ask what the business is worth, and today you refer that work out. The recasting worksheets mirror how you already normalize owner compensation, so the analysis reads as an extension of the engagement rather than a new discipline.

Typical trigger	Succession planning, a gift or estate filing, buy-sell agreement funding, or a client fielding an offer.
Start in ExitSight at	Company Profile → Import Financials, then All Valuation Methods.
Methods usually applied	Capitalized earnings, discounted cash flow, adjusted book value, excess earnings goodwill.
What it replaces	Referring the engagement out, or building a bespoke spreadsheet per client.

Business brokers and M&A intermediaries

pricing a listing

You need a price the seller will sign a listing agreement at and a buyer will still finance. The price justification worksheet is the argument that settles it: whether the cash flow covers debt service at the asking price with a living left over.

Typical trigger	A new listing, a stalled deal, or a buyer’s lender pushing back on price.
Start in ExitSight at	Deal Structuring → Business Price Justification.
Methods usually applied	Market comparables, multiple of discretionary earnings, price justification.
What it replaces	Comp-database printouts with no bridge to this company’s cash flow.

Appraisers and valuation analysts

signed opinions

Your product is a document that survives review. ExitSight’s report structure states the standard and premise of value, shows methods applied and rejected, carries the discount rate build-up, and closes with limiting conditions and a signature page.

Typical trigger	Fair market value opinions for tax, ESOP, financing, or litigation purposes.
Start in ExitSight at	Customize → Report Builder, with your firm letterhead and standard language.
Methods usually applied	All seven, weighted and reconciled with a stated basis for each weight.
What it replaces	A model workbook plus a Word template kept in sync by hand.

Attorneys, mediators and expert witnesses

contested value

In a divorce or a dissenting-shareholder matter the number is argued line by line. What matters is that each adjustment has a basis on the page and that the sensitivity analysis shows how much of the conclusion rests on the contested assumptions.

Typical trigger	Marital dissolution, shareholder oppression, buy-sell disputes, damages calculations.
Start in ExitSight at	Valuation Methods → Business Goodwill, then Sensitivity Analysis.
Methods usually applied	Excess earnings goodwill, capitalized earnings, interest discounts.
What it replaces	An opposing expert’s conclusion you cannot test.

Buyers, searchers and ESOP committees

testing a price

The seller has named a price. The question is whether the business can carry it: debt service at real terms, working capital, and an owner’s salary, with margin for a bad quarter.

Typical trigger	An offering memorandum, an LOI deadline, or SBA underwriting.
Start in ExitSight at	Deal Structuring → Terms & Financing, then Sensitivity Analysis.
Methods usually applied	Discounted cash flow, price justification, market comparables.
What it replaces	The seller’s spreadsheet, taken on faith.

Where the software stops

ExitSight computes; it does not opine. Selecting the standard of value, judging the quality of the comparables, weighting the methods, and signing the conclusion are the appraiser's work. For gift and estate filings, SBA financing, ESOPs, divorce, or shareholder disputes, have a credentialed valuator review and sign the report. Every worksheet is built so that review is quick rather than a rebuild.