accounting

In the late 90's, everyone wanted to use astronomical capitalization rates to value a business, claiming they were warranted by the high total returns from small cap stocks during that period. Horn said no, don't do it. This is a temporary phenomenon, a blip in time. Look at the market historically, as a whole, from 1929 until today. If you commit to deals based on those cap rates, you'll be sorry. Well, guess what? He was right and everyone else was wrong. We all got killed by following the herd.

There are a lot of books in print about this subject, and I've examined most of them. Most seem to be poorly-written knock-offs of Horn's work, to which they have added their own unfortunate personal notions about value, so I'd counsel you to stick with Horn's book - it's probably the best, most stable advice you can get on business value.

This is a great book. There are a lot of books on this subject, but the others I've seen don't fill the bill. I don't have a lot of time to waste with books that are poorly organized and written, even if the author is a real authority. "Unlocking the Value of Your Business" is not only authoritative and complete, it's easy to use and understand. I wish more books were written this well. The author certainly has a flair for conveying information effectively and efficiently.

First I have to say what I HATED about this book. The head of every paragraph and a lot of highlighted sections were in a cursive font which I really had to struggle to read. I almost did not read it at all. And it's too bad because there is a lot of good information in there. I am not sure there is anything that isn't covered in "The Upstart Guide to Buying, Valuing and Selling Your Business", and at the high price I am really struggling about whether to keep this book. If you are really planning to sell your business, it is probably worth it. It does cover many valuation techniques and situations.