Texas-wide · Valuation
Who provides business valuation services for Texas companies considering a sale?
The four kinds of valuation providers Texas owners use before a sale, what each delivers, and how to match the right one to your purpose.
By Michael D. Rubin, CEO & Founder · September 2026 · 940 words
Four kinds of providers value Texas companies before a sale: CPA firms, credentialed business appraisers, M&A advisory firms such as MDR & Associates, and online calculators. They answer different questions. An owner considering a sale usually needs to know what buyers will actually pay, and that is a market question more than an accounting one.
Choosing the wrong kind of valuation is a common and expensive mistake. A number built for a tax return or an estate plan can sit far from what a competitive sale produces, in either direction. Here is how to match the provider to the purpose.
The providers side by side
| Provider | What you get | Best used for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPA firm | A valuation built from your financial statements, often alongside tax or estate work | Tax planning, gifting, partner or divorce matters | May not reflect how buyers in your industry price companies today |
| Credentialed appraiser | A formal written report prepared under recognized appraisal standards | Cases where a third party must rely on the number: lenders, courts, partners, estates | Cost and time; the standard of value may differ from what a competitive sale produces |
| M&A advisory firm | An opinion of value: a low-to-high range of the likely sale price, based on current buyer behavior | Deciding whether and when to sell, and with what expectations | Ask whether the firm has actually closed sales of companies like yours |
| Online calculator | A rough figure from a handful of inputs | Curiosity and a first sense of scale | Cannot see add-backs, concentration, owner dependence or deal terms |
Why a sale valuation is a different exercise
Most formal valuations use a defined standard, typically fair market value: the price a hypothetical willing buyer and willing seller would agree on, with neither under pressure. That is the right tool when a court or a tax authority will review it. A sale is not hypothetical. Real buyers compete, some can pay more than others because they gain something a purely financial buyer cannot, and the terms of each offer, such as how much is cash at closing and how much is deferred, change what you actually keep.
An M&A advisor's opinion of value starts from the same financials but asks a different question: given who is buying companies like yours right now and what they are paying, what range should you expect if the company is marketed properly? For a Texas company with $3 million to $100 million in annual revenue, that range is most often three to seven times adjusted EBITDA. EBITDA means earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization; adjusted means recast to remove the owner's personal and one-time expenses. The long read what is my business worth explains the drivers in detail.
Questions to ask any valuation provider
- What standard of value are you using, and why is it the right one for a sale?
- How many companies in my industry and size range have you valued, and how many of those have you seen sell?
- Will you recast my financials and show me each adjustment?
- Which factors put my company at the high or the low end of the range?
- Who will see my information, and will you sign a confidentiality agreement first?
- What does it cost, and is the fee tied to anything else I would have to buy?
What a useful result looks like
Whichever provider you use, the result should be something you can act on. For a sale, that means a range rather than a single point, a written recast showing each adjustment and the evidence behind it, a clear statement of which factors helped and which hurt, and an explanation of how the range compares with what buyers pay for similar companies. If you receive only a number with no reasoning, you cannot defend it to a buyer and you cannot improve it.
A good result is also honest about what it cannot know. No valuation predicts exactly what a particular buyer will offer. A competitive process can land above the range when a buyer sees special value in your company, and below it when due diligence turns up problems nobody mentioned to the valuer. Treat the range as a well-founded expectation, not a promise.
When you need both kinds
Some owners need a formal valuation and a market opinion. A company with several shareholders may want a formal report so everyone accepts the same baseline, while the owner-operator wants to know what a buyer will really pay. An owner planning to gift shares to children before a sale will need a formal valuation for that transfer, with the approach decided by the CPA and estate attorney, and a market view for the sale itself. Using one for the other's job is where problems start.
If the valuation shows a gap between what the company is worth today and what you need from it, the gap is usually closed with 12 to 24 months of preparation rather than with a friendlier appraiser. That is the work of pre-exit consulting.
How MDR & Associates handles valuation
MDR & Associates is a Texas sell-side M&A firm, founded in 2008, with more than 250 closed transactions behind its opinions of value. After reviewing three years of financials and meeting with you, we give you a free, confidential low-to-high range. If you need a formal third-party valuation, we provide it as a separate service with its own price, described on our business valuation page. If you later decide to sell, the same team runs the sale itself. Most owners start with the free online valuation snapshot and move to a full opinion of value when they want the complete picture.
Where this fitsBusiness valuation in Texas →