To find out what makes a business attractive to a prospective

There are many reasons for declining values of small, privately

Just when you thought you’ve made all the cuts you can make,

If you plan to retire within the next five years, this series is

Business valuations — or business appraisals — are an important

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Properly written buy-sell agreements are essential to the smooth transaction of any deal involving mergers and acquisitions. So why are most written so poorly, if at all? If the agreement in any way favors one party over the other, is based on an unreliable calculation method or excludes any pertinent information, the seller can find themselves in court. So how do you avoid litigation? What steps should you take to ensure that your buy-sell agreement is as iron-clad as possible? Those are just some of the questions we ask Michael Blake, CFA and director of Valuation Services at Habif, Arogeti & Wynne LLP in Atlanta, on this edition of “Deal Talk.”

In this episode, we talked to Mary Kay Liston who was named President of Five Star Painting when the Dwyer Group acquired it in 2015. Working with a team of talented franchise consultants, the company realized double-digit growth each year. Mary Kay’s career in franchising began in 2003 when she joined the Valpak Direct Marketing Systems. During her six years there, Mary Kay led the company’s largest operation and turned it from having a negative cash flow to a highly profitable entity. In just her second year as General Manager in Los Angeles she and her team of 100 associates received the coveted Chairman’s Cup, Valpak’s highest award for sales and operations excellence. She cultivated relationships with franchisees to foster best practices across the network.

Having tight financial records sounds like a no-brainer, but do you know how often a business appraiser, CPA or business attorney finds errors or omissions or just evidence of generally poor bookkeeping that could actually kill an M&A deal? Oftentimes owners are completely oblivious. T.J. Liles-Tims, a certified valuations analyst and co-founder of BVFF Partners LCC in Oklahoma City, talks about the importance of having properly prepared financial statements and working with someone who can help you uncover issues that could negatively impact the valuation of your company.