Once you’ve built up a successful business, you’ll want to see a healthy return on this investment.

But in today’s turbulent business environment, a once stable and profitable company can quickly decline and fail to grow, losing the hard-won value you’ve built up.

If you’re a mature owner looking to retire in the near future, or an ambitious entrepreneur who’s planning to exit and start your next business idea, this loss of value is seriously bad news!

The key is to spot the potential threats to your business value, and to ensure you’re doing everything you can to keep your business viable, relevant and profitable.

Five potential threats that are damaging your business value

The value and equity that’s locked up in your successful business is your nest egg. It’s the asset that will power your future retirement, buy your family that new home, or the unrealised capital that will allow you to invest, begin new enterprises or fund your lifestyle.

So if the value in your business drops, this can fundamentally undermine your future plans and leave you without the capital to take these next steps.

Here are five key threats that may be decreasing the value of your business:

A reliance on the founder that limits growth potential

A modern business should be systemised and scalable. If you, as the founder, are still integral to your everyday operations, this blocks innovation and limits the potential growth of the business.

Outdated equipment or technology

If you’re using outdated equipment, technology or software, this can reduce your overall operational efficiency, increase your running costs and make your business less competitive in the marketplace.

Failure to keep pace with the market

Markets change quickly! The emergence of disruptive competitors, innovative new products or changes in customer behaviour can leave you lagging behind your competitors (and losing sales and revenue as a result).

Negative reputation or brand awareness

Poor customer satisfaction scores, or bad behaviour by your employees or top team, can quickly dent your reputation as a company. Negative reputation can damage your brand, deter customers from engaging with you and, subsequently, reduce the company’s value.

Poor financial health as a business

Potential buyers want to see that your business is financially viable. A high debt-to-equity ratio can make a business more vulnerable to economic downturns, and poor cashflow will hinder your ability to invest in growth, pay bills and meet your financial obligations (all red flags for investors and potential buyers).

Talk to us about stabilising the value of your company

The business value of your company isn’t static. For the business to maintain value, it needs to keep up with a changing market, adopt new technologies and make solid plans for growth. We can help you review your potential value and come up with a business strategy and tactical approach that keeps your company relevant and valuable well into the future.

Over the years, we’ve grown into one of the leading accountants in York, expanding our range of accounting services whilst staying true to our core values and our force for good ethos. If you would like to earn more, keep more of your hard-earned profits and enjoy the life you want then book a discovery call with Donald Inglis.