A professional business valuation in Australia typically costs between $2,000 for a desktop indicative report and $30,000 or more for a comprehensive independent valuation on a complex multi-entity business. What you pay depends almost entirely on two things: why you need it, and how complicated your financials are to pick apart.
That second factor — complexity — is the one most owners don’t see coming.
What Type of Valuation Are You Actually Paying For?
There are three tiers of formal valuation in the Australian market, and conflating them is how people end up either overpaying or presenting something to a buyer that won’t hold up to scrutiny.
Desktop or indicative valuation — $2,000 to $5,000. A high-level assessment using publicly available industry benchmarks and the financial information you supply. A qualified adviser applies an earnings multiple to your normalised profit and arrives at a defensible range. Useful for getting your bearings before you commit to a sale process, or for an early conversation with your accountant about timing. It is not something you’d present to a sophisticated trade buyer as the basis for a $5M negotiation — and any buyer worth dealing with will know the difference.
Comprehensive independent valuation — $10,000 to $30,000. Prepared by a Certified Practising Valuer (CPV) or a specialist firm with relevant industry experience. The valuer will interview you, review three to five years of audited financials, examine your EBITDA add-backs, assess the contract book, and formally apply one or more recognised valuation methods. This is what lenders, serious buyers, the ATO, and courts actually take seriously. If you’re selling a business with revenue above $2M, this is the report you need.
Expert witness and litigation valuations — $30,000 to $80,000 or more. Partnership disputes, estate proceedings, contested tax assessments. The report has to withstand cross-examination by opposing counsel — which means the valuer spends considerably more time documenting every assumption and methodology choice. That time is, understandably, not cheap.
Rule of thumb for Australian SME owners: budget $12,000–$20,000 for a comprehensive valuation on a business with $2M–$10M in revenue. Anything structurally unusual — multiple entities, real property in the mix, complex earn-outs — adds to that.
What Drives the Cost Up
Most owners assume the fee scales with revenue. It doesn’t. A $5M turnover business with clean accounts, a single operating entity, and three years of consistent earnings might cost $12,000 to value properly. A $2M business run through four interrelated entities — operating company, property trust, equipment trust, discretionary family trust — with inconsistent add-backs and a director who treats the company account as their personal expense account could cost $25,000 or more.
The main drivers:
Number of entities. Every additional company, trust, or partnership the valuer has to untangle adds time. If your business, property, and equipment are spread across three structures that transact with each other, expect the valuer to be on site longer and billing accordingly.
Complexity of normalised earnings. Adjusting EBITDA across three years of mixed personal and business expenses, one-off capital items, deferred maintenance, and director salary that’s nowhere near market rate is forensic accounting alongside the actual valuation. Valuers price for that time.
Valuation method. An earnings-based multiple is faster than a discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, which requires modelling projected revenue over several years and selecting a defensible discount rate. A DCF takes more information, more documentation, and — inevitably — more billable hours.
Purpose and liability. A report prepared for internal planning carries lower liability for the valuer than one prepared for external use in a business sale or court proceeding. Higher accountability means higher fees; that’s not gouging, it’s appropriate.
When You Actually Need a Formal Valuation
This is where owners make expensive mistakes in both directions — commissioning a $15,000 formal report before they’ve decided whether to sell, or going to market with a figure their accountant mentioned offhandedly over coffee (which, to be clear, is not a valuation).
You genuinely need a formal independent valuation when:
- A buyer or investor requests one and you want it to be credible in a negotiation
- You’re separating from a business partner and need an agreed, arm’s-length basis for the split
- You’re restructuring ownership — bringing in a family member, a management team, or outside investors
- The ATO is involved, particularly for small business CGT concessions, which require defensible valuation evidence
- You’re applying for significant finance and the lender wants the business as security
You probably don’t need a formal report when you’re still in the “I’m thinking about it” phase. For that, an indicative analysis from an experienced corporate adviser — something that takes a conversation rather than a commission — will tell you what you need to know. At Miro Capital, most of that early work is part of the conversation, not an invoice.
Why Your Books Determine as Much as the Valuer Does
I spoke to an owner last year — earthmoving business in the Pilbara, $4.5M revenue, profitable on paper — who had spent $18,000 on two separate valuation reports before calling us. The first report came back inconclusive and wide-ranging. He commissioned a second firm to try again. Same result. He was frustrated, mate, and understandably so.
The problem wasn’t the valuers. His books were a tangle: three years of inconsistent add-backs, company credit card charges that were clearly personal, and a fixed-asset register that didn’t match the equipment actually on his sites. A valuer can only work with what you give them. When the inputs are ambiguous, the report hedges — and a hedged valuation is almost as bad as no valuation when you’re trying to convince a buyer your number is real.
Clean, well-documented accounts reduce both the time a valuer spends and the risk they price into their fee. If you’re planning to sell in the next 12–18 months, the highest-leverage thing you can do right now is talk to your accountant about preparing your business for sale: separating personal from business expenses, normalising add-backs consistently, and getting at least two years of clean financials on record before anyone asks for them.
A valuer working from clean books can complete a formal valuation on a $3M business in 15–20 hours. The same business with tangled accounts might take 35 hours. That’s the difference between a $12,000 report and a $25,000 one — and the books were always the problem, not the valuer.
DIY Industry Multiples vs. a Formal Report
If you want a rough sense of what your business is worth without commissioning a formal report, industry multiples are a reasonable starting point. We cover these in detail in our guide to EBITDA multiples by industry in Australia.
The limitation: multiples are a blunt instrument applied to a specific situation. They tell you that electrical businesses sell at 2.5x–4.5x EBITDA in Australia, for example — but they don’t tell you where your business sits within that range, or whether your EBITDA figure is calculated the way a buyer will calculate it. Two businesses with $1M in earnings can sit at opposite ends of that spread based on customer concentration, contract quality, and owner-dependence.
For a number to put on a buyer’s desk and defend in a negotiation, you need a qualified valuer and a proper report. You should also review what documents are needed for a business valuation early — getting those together before you engage a valuer reduces both the time and the bill.
For a number to help you make decisions about timing and preparation, a good advisory conversation usually does the job without the invoice. Our valuation calculator is a reasonable first step — it won’t replace a formal report, but it’ll orient you on the range before you commit to anything.
When you’re ready to understand what your specific business is actually worth and what it would take to get a buyer to that number, talk to us.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should I pay for a business valuation?
A desktop indicative valuation runs $2,000–$5,000. A comprehensive formal valuation for a sale or legal purpose costs $10,000–$30,000 depending on business complexity. Litigation or expert witness valuations can reach $30,000–$80,000. Most SME owners selling a business in Australia should budget $12,000–$20,000.
How do you calculate the value of a business in Australia?
Most Australian businesses are valued using an earnings multiple — normalised EBITDA multiplied by a factor reflecting size, stability, and industry. Some use asset-based or discounted cash flow methods. A qualified valuer selects the approach appropriate to your business type and the purpose of the report.
How much is a business worth with $1 million in sales?
Revenue alone doesn’t determine value — profit does. A business with $1M in sales and 15% net profit ($150K) might sell for $375K–$600K at 2.5x–4x EBITDA. Margins, recurring revenue, owner-dependence, and industry all shift the multiple significantly.
How do I calculate the valuation of my business?
Start with your normalised EBITDA — earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation, with personal expenses removed. Multiply by the relevant industry multiple. For a defensible figure, engage a Certified Practising Valuer or an experienced corporate advisory firm.
How many times profit is a business worth?
In Australia, most SME businesses sell for 2x to 5x EBITDA. Professional services and healthcare practices often sit at 3x–6x. Hospitality and retail trade at 1.5x–3x. The multiple depends on size, customer concentration, contract stability, and owner-dependence.
What are common valuation mistakes?
Confusing revenue with profit; treating personal expenses as add-backs without documentation; applying a multiple to owner-salary-inflated earnings; and ignoring working capital. The costliest mistake is presenting an unsupported number to a serious buyer before it’s been independently validated.