Methodology
Not a black box. Every figure traces back to an input.
Most indicative valuations assert a number. SME Baseline shows the bridge — size band, industry modifier, quality-score positioning, hard caps, earnings-to-price — and grades every adjustment by how it was reached.
Size band
Revenue and earnings place the business in a size band, since multiples and buyer behaviour shift materially between a $400k owner-operator and a $4m business with a management layer.
Industry modifier
A modifier drawn from the benchmark database adjusts for the industry the business sits in. Where the industry prior is thin, the report says so and the range widens to reflect it.
Quality-score positioning
Owner dependence, customer concentration, contract terms, and record quality are scored and used to position the business within its size band and industry range — not applied as a single blanket discount.
Hard caps
Certain conditions — a single customer over a concentration threshold, no lease reviewed, materially stale records — cap the range outright rather than being averaged away by other inputs.
Earnings-to-price bridge
The final step shows the arithmetic from normalised earnings to the price range in full — every adjustment listed, so the number is reconstructable, not just stated.
Evidence-graded, not asserted
Every adjustment is tagged by how it was reached.
In the workspace and on the report itself, each add-back and adjustment carries a tag showing whether it's documented against the financials or resting on the owner's word. Nothing is presented with more certainty than it actually has.
model_v2.4 · form_v1.8
Versioned and reproducible
Every report stamps the model and form version it was built on. Two reports built months apart, on the same version, use exactly the same method — nothing drifts silently underneath a client's number.
5+ records minimum
A permanent benchmark database
Every accepted case writes a de-identified, versioned record back into the benchmark. No cell is ever shown, or used to inform a modifier, with fewer than five contributing records behind it.
Run it against a real client and see the bridge yourself.
Set up a client — the full working is shown at every step, not just the final range.
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