Analysing, Planning and Valuing Private Firms

Corporate finance plays a vital role in every business as it pertains to an array of financing and investment decisions. Where most corporate finance books provide tools for public companies, this book presents new approaches and methods for planning and valuing private firms. Chapters discuss how typical valuation methods may not be perfectly adaptable to private firms and their investment decisions: in particular showing how the widely used Capital Asset Pricing Model cannot be precisely applied for the estimation of cost of equity for private companies, and the limitations of market multiples which may not match individual company features.

The book suggests new ways of financial forecasting that can be better tailored to private businesses, such as by exploiting the concept of financial breakeven based on debt serviceability that departs from the more traditionally used concept of the revenue-cost breakeven. Topics including financial planning, working capital management, the cost of capital, and valuation methods are all covered. This book will be of interest to consultants, analysts and accountants working in private firms, as well as academics and students who are interested in an empirical assessment of the role of corporate finance in private businesses versus larger public companies.