Financial presentation
The business earns. The structure doesn't show it.
The business is producing. But the financials look thin — because of how costs are allocated, how the owner draws salary, how the entity structure interacts with the books. A buyer or a bank sees the numbers and discounts what's actually there.
This is a structure problem, not a performance problem. The performance is real. The question is whether the documentation reflects it.
Why the numbers look wrong
Three structural issues that make a strong business look weak.
Owner salary drawn as a cost above the line
If the owner's remuneration is classified in a way that compresses profit — a buyer adjusts for it, but a bank may not. Presentation matters as much as the number.
Non-recurring costs mixed into recurring expenses
One-off equipment purchases, legal fees, or property costs that sit in the operating expenses distort the margin picture. Add-backs need to be documented and defensible.
Revenue that's real but unverifiable
Cash sales, informally paid contractors, revenue that's technically there but not cleanly documented — all of it creates a gap between what the business produces and what anyone external can verify.
The performance is real. Make sure the story is too.
A discovery call is where we look at the financials honestly and identify what the gap is between what the business produces and what the documentation shows.