The Acquisition MarketPlace®
Software and information for business buyers,
sellers and their advisors.
Streamline the acquisition process. Shorten deal cycles. Improve deal ROI.
Successfully acquiring a business is not an event, it’s a process. The Acquisition MarketPlace is a collection of products and services that help you make insightful decisions and be more productive at each critical step in the acquisition process—from pre-planning your goals and criteria through successful funding, closing and post-deal integration.
- I-Bankers, M&A Advisors, Business Brokers, Accountants, Consultants and Financial Analysts
- Business Buyers: Strategic Buyers, Private Equity and Acquisition-Minded Entrepreneurs
- Business Sellers
- Investors, Lenders and Financial Decision Makers
The Acquisition MarketPlace offers you the tools and information you need to effectively and profitably acquire a business.
- Overview
- DealSense Plus
- Buy-Out Plan
- PDQ Deal Reviewer
- Comparison
- V-Rooms
- Intelligence
- Consulting/Training
Overview
Success-Building Tools for Each Step of the Acquisition Process (From a Business Buyer’s Perspective)
The following chart lists each of the critical steps of the acquisition process and explains how the different Acquisition MarketPlace Resources will enrich, enhance and streamline your business buying experience.
| Step in the Acquisition Process: | Corresponding Acquisition MarketPlace Resources: |
| Formulation of strategy, goals and criteria. | PDQ Deal Reviewer guides you through the steps of setting acquisition criteria and identifying and weighing the relative importance of pre-defined value drivers. |
| Staffing, delegation/limitation of authority and allocation of resources for the M&A “department.” | All of the tools contained MoneySoft’s Acquisition MarketPlace will help to equip your M&A Department—whether it is informal or formal.
Our Virtual Data Room can provide a centralized portal for the dissemination and control of information in a secure fashion inside or outside your organization. Our Select Publications List provides a number of expert-based books on M&A, Valuation, and Corporate Development to stimulate thinking, develop superior strategies and increase your personal knowledge. |
| Development of deal opportunities (deal flow). | The acquisition criteria and ranking of value drivers that is prepared in PDQ Deal Reviewer can be shared with I-Bankers and Intermediaries to help them develop “targeted” deal flow. The same criteria can provide direction to in-house deal cultivation.
MoneySoft can help you develop contact and mailing lists of acquisition candidates that meet your basic criteria for industry, size and geography through an affiliation with infoUSA. Call or email us for a free proposal. |
| Initial screening of presented opportunities (opportunity triage). | Acquisition criteria and the relative importance of value drivers are compared to a target based on limited financial inputs in PDQ Deal Reviewer to screen deals. |
| Detailed analysis, valuation and evaluation of the target company. | Buy-Out Plan and DealSense Plus allow you to adjust and analyze financial statement data, prepare detailed pre-acquisition projections, value the target, and determine price/structure/deal terms that make economic sense based upon Free Cash Flow Return on Investment.
RMA Annual Statement Studies and Integra 5-Year Industry Data provide data for financial statement comparison and benchmarking. Done Deals contains transaction details on almost 7,500 mid-sized transactions for valuation and pricing purposes. Mergerstat Control Premiums & Industry P/Es provide P/E ratios, control premiums, industry composites and thumbnails to support valuation and pricing decisions. BIZCOMPS Small Business Studies provides transaction details for small business valuation and pricing. IBISWorld Reports provide exhaustive industry data and are available through MoneySoft. MoneySoft Analysis & Evaluation Services are available when you need to outsource the analysis prepared by DealSense Plus or Buy-Out Plan. |
| Commencement of post-deal integration planning. | Business plans, tasking assignments, reports, PowerPoint presentations, news articles, research and other information central to the post-acquisition process can be securely stored and administered in a Virtual Data Room to facilitate communication and planning. |
| Presentation of initial bid or offer (i.e., letter of intent). | The deal summary and related analysis prepared in DealSense Plus and Buy-Out Plan provides a starting point preparing a letter of intent or purchase offer. |
| Negotiation of purchase price and deal terms. | As negotiations between buyer and seller unfold, you can use DealSense Plus or Buy-Out Plan to evaluate the economic impact of proposals and counter-proposals in order to negotiate from a position of informed strength. |
| Formal due diligence review. | The analytics contained in DealSense Plus or Buy-Out Plan can be used to develop questions for digging deeper into the performance and position of the target company. Models can also be updated as new data surfaces.
You can organize our Virtual Data Room according to your due diligence checklist and require the target to upload the documents for review by your management team. |
| Negotiation of contracts and documents needed to effectuate a closing. | Our Virtual Data Room provides a centralized and secure repository of draft contracts and documents for easy access by authorized parties and improved version tracking to accelerate communication and workflow.
To the extent that contract negotiation are dependent or influence the “numbers,” the model created in DealSense Plus or Buy-Out Plan can be updated to test the economic viability or ability to comply with the proposed or negotiated terms. |
| Placement of necessary funding. | DealSense Plus or Buy-Out Plan include a variety of funding instruments including Revolvers, Short-Term Notes, Term Debt, Options, Warrants and Equity to create a financial blueprint for the transaction. The built-in Report Builder allows you to create funding proposals. As negotiations with funding sources proceed, the model can be updated to evaluate the impact and feasibility of proposed funding terms and financial benchmarks contained in loan agreements.
Business plans, audio/video clips, PowerPoint presentations, news articles and other due diligence information, along with funding memoranda and related documents can be securely stored and administered in a Virtual Data Room. |
| Approval of the transaction by the appropriate managerial authorities and the board of directors. | DealSense Plus and Buy-Out Plan include on-board Report Builders that prepare board-room quality Acquisition Proposals to inform all-important gatekeepers.
Here again, our Virtual Data Rooms provide a secure and centralized repository of all deal-related documents for access by the appropriate decision makers who may be located anywhere in the world. |
| The closing with attendant payouts and consents. | Our Virtual Data Room streamlines the closing process by providing a secure and centralized location of all transaction contracts, closing documents and related due diligence items. The players can access necessary documents according to their clearance level. |
| Implementation of post-deal integration plan. | The underlying post-acquisition operating assumptions and bottom-line impact developed in DealSense Plus or Buy-Out Plan can be expanded into the foundation for the post-deal integration plan and used to communicate mission critical assumptions/objectives to appropriate team members.
The Virtual Data Room can control the dissemination of information and encourage a timely feedback loop. |
| Post-deal review. | The post-acquisition projections and related assumptions prepared in DealSense Plus or Buy-Out Plan serve as a target and benchmark for evaluating the deal. |
| Re-formulation of strategies, goals and criteria. | Based upon the result of a given acquisition in particular and one’s experience with deals in general, you can use PDQ Deal Reviewer to refine your criteria and acquisition drivers. |
DealSense Plus is the “Swiss Army Knife”
of acquisition valuation and analysis
The “Swiss Army Knife” of acquisition valuation and analysis. DealSense Plus is a disciplined and comprehensive system for analyzing, valuing, pricing and evaluating the ROI of corporate acquisitions and buying a business.
DealSense Plus is a logical, step-by-step guide through the process of financial analysis, business valuation, pricing, structuring and financing acquisitions that make economic sense. At last, you’ll be free from the mind-numbing, time-wasting, living-hell that business writers have appropriately called. . . “Spreadsheet-itis.” You can use the time you save with DealSense Plus to:
- Focus on business-building strategies and value creation instead of hassling with spreadsheets and writing formulas.
- Organize raw business data into actionable analysis and insightful reports for management, the boardroom, funding sources and prospective investors.
- Optimize purchase price, structure, and terms.
- Create a realistic and feasible financial blueprint for an acquisition.
- Respond quickly as new data becomes available through the negotiating, due diligence and financing processes.
- Standardize valuation and acquisition analysis within your organization so team members can more effectively collaborate on the content and implications of the analysis. (Some clients use DealSense Plus to supplement or validate their in-house models.)
You will leverage your time, enhance your knowledge, sharpen your analytical skills and better influence your company’s or clients acquisition activities with DealSense Plus business valuation and deal analysis software.
Buy-Out Plan – Basic Valuation and Analysis for Business Buyers
Buy-Out Plan® is a dealmaking software system for “Main Street” business buyers who want a step-by-step guide through the process of analyzing and valuing a small business like a pro.
Analysis…Valuation…Pricing…Financial Projections…and a Free Report Writer in a single system.
MoneySoft’s Buy-Out Plan is specifically for small and intermediate business buyers and business brokers. This is our entry-level system and includes many of the same analytical, valuation and deal making techniques found in MoneySoft DealSense Plus.
Buy-Out Plan is a time-saving alternative to the hassle of writing and managing spreadsheets. All of the research, theory and formulas have been handled for you. It’s easy to install and you can be up and running in just a few short minutes. Buy-Out Plan streamlines the acquisition analysis process and will guide you through many of the same techniques used by professional business buyers and dealmakers.
Not only that, Buy-Out Plan is a valuable negotiating tool that will help you make a better deal. As you negotiate with the sellers and funding sources, different prices, structures and terms will be proposed. Just enter the new numbers and Buy-Out Plan will calculate the bottom-line impact so you can decide if it’s a good deal or not. Now, you can quickly negotiate from a position of informed strength and craft a deal package that makes economic sense—and that’s the name of the game.
PDQ Deal Reviewer
Buying a business can be your pathway to a rich and rewarding life. Or, it can result in frustration and sleepless nights. It’s a big decision. You want to get it right from the start.
Now, you can get that right start with PDQ Deal Reviewer, a powerful six-step system that will help you
- Clarify your goals and define the parameters of the business that’s right for you.
- Communicate your criteria to Business Brokers and Finders to help search for businesses that match your needs.
- Determine if a specific business is aligned with your acquisition parameters and values.
- Quickly analyze the preliminary financial information of the selling business.
- Estimate future earnings of the business and prepare a “thumbnail” calculation of value.
- Test different purchase price, payment and funding scenarios to see if the business can provide the three cardinal “must haves” of a good deal:
- The business must allow you to earn reasonable salary (if you are going to work in the business),
- The business must generate sufficient cash flow to service any debt you might incur to fund the purchase, and
- The cash flow of the business must provide a return on your investment.
“This system is ideal for those occasions when you need a quick decision prior to entering more vigorous discussions with the seller and performing a time-consuming formal evaluation of a business.”
Comparison Chart – Buy-Out Plan vs. DealSense Plus
Buy-Out Plan® and DealSense Plus® both follow the same track for a solid analysis for wall-to-wall acquisition analysis. The difference is in the depth and scope of the analysis. Both systems help you focus on what’s important-making money and creating shareholder value by purchasing a business. This matrix illustrates the differences and similarities between the two systems:
| Normalize and Insightfully Analyze Historic Financial Statement Data | Buy-Out Plan | DealSense Plus |
| Flexible Chart of Accounts for Financial Statement accommodates up to 10 Years of Data |  |
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| Input & Adjust Interim Financial Statements | |
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| Project “Stub Period” from Interim Statement date until the end of the year | |
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| Presents a full set of normalized (re-cast) Financial Statements including Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Statements of Cash Flows, Retained Earnings, Sources & Uses of Funds, and Summary of Earnings & Cash Flow | |
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| 34 Business Ratios & Summary Common-Size Statements using Normalized Data | |
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| RMA Ratio Comparison using Normalized Financial Data | |
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| RMA Ratio Comparison using Historic Financial Data | |
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| Detail Common-Size Statements using Historic Financial Data | |
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| Integra Information 5-Industry Data Comparison for both Historic and Normalized Data | |
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| DuPont Analysis with Account Detail | |
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| Sustainable Growth Rate with Account Detail | |
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| Z-Score Bankruptcy Predictor with Account Detail | |
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| MoneySoft Proprietary 5-Minute Diagnostic Analysis | |
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| Optional Industry Financial Benchmarking Data | Buy-Out Plan | DealSense Plus |
| Risk Management Association’s (RMA) Annual Statement Studies® | |
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| Integra 5-Year Industry Data | |
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| Financial Projections Based on Current Ownership & Management | Buy-Out Plan | DealSense Plus |
| Detailed Annual Projections for up to 10 Years. | |
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| Detailed MONTHLY Projections | 24 months | |
| Complete Control over each Account Line-Item Assumption | |
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| Projected Fixed Asset Disposals, Purchases and Capital Expenditure Financing | Annual Only | Annual & Monthly |
| Built in error trapping for monthly / annual account balancing | |
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| Tax Reconciliation Worksheet for a more accurate estimate of income tax expense | |
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| Valuation Approaches & Methods | Buy-Out Plan | DealSense Plus |
| The valuation procedures conform to the rigid standards of Practitioners Publishing Company’s (a Thompson Reuters Company) Guide to Business Valuations authored by Shannon P. Pratt, Jay E. Fishman, J. Clifford Griffith, D. Keith Wilson and Stanton L. Meltzer, recognized leaders in the field of business valuation. | |
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| Auto-generates Customizable Fair Market Valuation Report | |
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| Available Number of Valuation Methods | 10 | 29 |
| Control Premiums, Minority Discounts & Marketability Discounts | |
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| Ability to value Preferred Stock and Minority Interest | |
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| Option to apply “Mid-Year” Discounting Convention on DFE and DCF | |
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| Available Discount Rate Methods Include: Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), Build-Up Method and/or Manual Input. | |
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| “Reality Check” of selected value (includes Rule of Thumb) | |
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| Optional Valuation Databases | Buy-Out Plan | DealSense Plus |
| Done Deals®/Completed Middle-Market Transaction Data | |
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| Mergerstat Control Premiums & Industry Price/Earnings Data | |
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| BIZCOMPS® Small Business Valuation Data | |
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| Transaction Pricing, Terms & Structuring | Buy-Out Plan | DealSense Plus |
| Metrics to help with Purchase Pricing include:- Compare 10 multiples based upon asking price and buyer’s proposed price- Premium over market value for asking price and buyer’s proposed price- Valuation Conclusion available as reference | |
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| Structure an Asset or Stock Transaction | |
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| Structure Payments to Seller (Cash at Closing or Deferred) | |
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| Allocate Price based upon Tangible Assets, Non-Compete, and Executory Agreements | |
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| Include Earn-Out or Contingency Payments | |
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| Intangible Asset Allocation (FAS 141) | |
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| Goodwill is automatically calculated in an Asset Purchase | |
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| Estimate Fixed and Variable Transaction Costs (include in Required Funding) | |
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| Determine Cost of Capital and Hurdle Rate | |
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| Return on Investment Metrics Based Upon Pre-Acquisition Projections: | Buy-Out Plan | DealSense Plus |
| Free Cash Flows to Equity and Total Invested Capital | |
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| Net Present Value of Free Cash Flows | |
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| Profitability Index | |
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| Internal Rate of Return with spread over Hurdle Rate | |
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| Payback Period | |
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| Post-Acquisition Projections & Analysis | Buy-Out Plan | DealSense Plus |
| Ability to create Post-Deal Projections that include Income Statements, Balance Sheets, Statements of Cash Flows, Statement of Retained Earnings and Sources & Uses of Funds. | |
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| Detailed MONTHLY Projections | Up to 36 Months | |
| Fixed Asset Disposals and ability to include Capital Expenditures and related Financing in Projected Statements | |
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| Use Buyer Stock as an Acquisition Currency | |
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| Available Funding Options: Revolving Lines of Credit, Short-Term Notes, Long-Term Debt (with Amortization or Direct Reduction Principal, Number of Months to Repay, Interest Rate, Interest and/or Principal Deferral Periods, and Balloon Payments for up to 10 Funding Instruments) | |
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| Issue New Shares or Repurchase Existing Shares | |
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| Amortization tables for each Note Receivable & Payable | |
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| Depreciation schedules for each Fixed Asset account | |
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| Post-Acquisition Business Ratios & Loan Compliance | |
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| DuPont Analysis with account detail | |
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| Z-Score & Sustainable Growth with account detail | |
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| Tax Reconciliation Worksheet | |
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| Review of Investment Returns (Post-Acquisition) | Buy-Out Plan | DealSense Plus |
| Free Cash Flows to Equity and Total Invested Capital | |
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| Net Present Value of Free Cash Flows | |
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| Profitability Index | |
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| Internal Rate of Return with spread over Hurdle Rate | |
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| Payback Period | |
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| Year-to-year Projected Valuation based upon selected Earnings Multiples | |
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| IRR Analysis for up to 10 different Equity Groups based upon exit year and percent ownership | |
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| Projected Cash Flow Summary for Equity Groups | |
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| Available Reports | Buy-Out Plan | DealSense Plus |
| Acquisition Report & Proposal | |
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| Valuation Report incorporating AICPA Statement of Standards for Valuation Services No. 1 | |
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| Number of Printable Supporting Schedules | 98 | 150+ |
Virtual Data Rooms: Your Solution to the Paper Chase
A Virtual data room is an Internet-based, on-demand hosted service designed to speed the completion of financial transactions which may involve hundreds of participants and require the distribution of thousands of pages of documents.
MoneySoft has formed an alliance with Due Diligence Online to offer our clients and customers a Virtual Data Room that provides round-the-clock and round-the-calendar worldwide control and access to mission critical documents. The product, V-Rooms™ is available through MoneySoft and can be bundled with other MoneySoft products to provide a level of value that is not available anywhere else.
Lower Costs and Reduce the Deal Cycle
The advantages of a V-Room workspace are clear:
- A centralized repository of project and transaction documents.
- Controlled access to documents on a need-to-know basis and keep an audit trail of individuals who have accessed a digital item.
- Simultaneously share documents with parties to the transaction (project) and within your organization.
- Worldwide access on a 24×7 basis based upon “user privileges” controlled by you.
- Eliminate the need for faxing, couriers and overnight shipping.
- Eliminate the need for printing and travel.
- Keep track of document versions and changes.
- Eliminate or reduce the need for physical offices or rooms needed to store hard copies of transaction or project documents.
Business Information for Intelligent Valuation and Dealmaking.
In addition to specialized software, MoneySoft provides a suite of information products for financial statement benchmarking, industry microeconomic, and valuation data products:
RMA Annual Statement Studies
RMA Annual Statement Studies™ is the leading, most current source of reliable performance statistics for small and medium-size businesses.
Integra 5-Year Industry Data Report
With this report you can obtain valuable intelligence about industry financial trends that may impact your performance by analyzing five years of historical financial statements, ratios and growth rates.
Industry Growth Outlook Report
The Industry Growth Outlook provide metrics to evaluate a company’s historic sales growth and serves as a reality check when preparing Income Statement Projections and when considering the sustainability of growth. The report contains 5 years of historic and projected growth rates for a selected industry. In addition, the report includes 2 key macro-economic indicators: Gross Domestic Product and Inflation.
Integra Executive Compensation Report
With this database you will have access to officer’s compensation for over 900 industries and 13 sales size ranges.
IBIS World
MoneySoft has entered into an alliance with IBISWorld to provide financial decision makers, I-Bankers, Advisors and Business Valuation Specialists with the same high quality, in-depth industry and market research that is used by America’s largest banks and Fortune 500 firms.
Done Deals
Done Deals – Completed Transactions is the most comprehensive database of completed mid-market merger and acquisition transactions. The database provides hard-to-find details on actual merger and acquisition transactions for private and public mid-market companies.
BIZCOMPS
BIZCOMPS is perfect for the business buyer or valuation analyst that needs comparable sales data on smaller business transactions. The average selling price of these businesses is approximately $257,000 per business.
Mergerstat Industry P/E Ratios and Control Premiums
The Mergerstat Database provides valuation statistics crucial for analysis and decision making. Transactions are divided into 50 industry classifications allowing quick valuation of a company based on industry average P/E ratios, control premiums, industry composites and thumbnails.
Book Store
MoneySoft’s select publications list is a treasure trove of business knowledge that will enrich your business life. These books belong in the library of every serious corporate financial decision maker and their advisors. Many of the books contain principles that have been incorporated in MoneySoft’s analysis, valuation and M&A software systems.
Individualized Training
Personalized online training is available to help you to more fully master the programs’ theory and operation in order to increase your expertise and productivity. Our online training addresses the principles, operation and application of MoneySoft’s analysis, valuation, acquisition and fixed asset depreciation software.
Project-Based Consulting
We can help when you want the depth of analysis provided in our software applications, but don’t have the time or manpower to model the numbers. MoneySoft will work with select clients to input their numbers into the appropriate software application and then work with management to develop assumptions for modeling.
Money-Back Guarantee
Install our products and put them through their paces. If you can honestly say that our products do not save you time and perform exactly as we say they will, simply let us know within 30 days from the date of purchase and we will gladly issue a full refund.
Questions?
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Testimonials
I appreciate the timely responses I have received from your support team and what appears to be special treatment, but when visiting with other users I discover we all receive favored treatments.
— K. E., Intermediary, Dallas, TX
I’m very pleased to say that I highly recommend your software! I encourage all my clients to use it, and am happy to say that they’ve all done just that. I teach Valuation for American Management Association in their four day M&A course where I’m the Course Leader, and demonstrate the software in the classroom. Everyone finds it very easy to use, and likes the many features. It is by far the most comprehensive valuation software out there.
— M. H. M., Chairman and CEO
I-Banker
Deal Sense Plus has been a major component of my business since upgrading from Deal Sense last April. As a sole proprietor I need tools that allow me to develop complex products that are accurate and timely and this product has delivered.
— K. E.
Intermediary, Dallas, TX