Timing Your Veterinary Practice Valuation Matters
A veterinary practice valuation is an essential tool for making informed decisions about the future of your practice. Whether you’re preparing to sell, planning for ownership changes, or looking to improve your practice’s operations, a valuation provides critical insights into its current worth and areas for potential growth. By conducting a valuation three to five years before a sale, you can establish a solid foundation for strategic planning, maximize value, and ensure smoother transitions. Here’s when and why getting a veterinary practice valuation is crucial to your success.
When to Get a Veterinary Practice Valuation
Preparing to Sell Your Practice
It is advisable to have a valuation done three to five years before you plan to sell your practice. A valuation sets a baseline for your practice value and illuminates areas that need attention. With one of our exceptionally accurate valuations, advanced planning, and the advice of an experienced Simmons advisor, you can make adjustments over time that will boost your practice’s total value before putting it on the market.
Practice Management and Planning
Another rapidly expanding use for practice appraisals is a foundation for veterinary practice management and various strategic planning programs. Because a practice appraisal assesses the risks and profitability of the veterinary practice, the practice appraisal is recognized as a superior management tool. It is an integral component of several management-related programs such as:
- Exit strategy planning
- Monitoring the efficiency of long-range planning programs
- Measuring the veterinary practice’s ability to create value
Practice Ownership Changes
The practice appraisal is a detailed process that establishes a value for a practice at a specific point in time. The practice appraisal is an important and highly informative initial step for any type of transfer of ownership, such as:
- Veterinary practice sale transactions
- Associate buy-ins
- Partnership buy-ins
- Merging two practices
Other Situations
While performing veterinary practice appraisals for transaction purposes remains the primary reason for appraisals, there are other non-asset transferring reasons which require a practice appraisal, such as:
- Tax court disputes
- Legal procedures—marital dissolution, partnership disputes, etc.
