A computer-implemented engine for generating a verified business valuation, over a network, comprising:
- a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon computer executable instructions which, when executed on a processor, implement a graphical user interface that prompts a valuation requester to input company information comprising at least general company information, company financial information, company presence information, material changes to the company, and at least one item of certified information;
- a network port that receives at least a portion of the prompted-for company information from a user terminal on which said graphical user interface is presented;
- wherein the executable instructions when executed on the processor further implement:
- a verification engine communicatively connected to said network port, and comprising a plurality of rules to verify, responsively to the receipt of the company information, at least one portion of the company information by comparing the received information with original company information obtained automatically from at least one third party information source;
- a valuation engine having a plurality of rules and that calculates, in accordance with the plurality of rules, an original valuation of the company using the company information received from the user terminal and the original information related to the company from the third party locations, wherein the valuation includes at least a low, middle and high valuation of the company;
- a reporting engine operative to deliver the original valuation in a report to the valuation requester;
- a monitoring engine comprising at least one rule defining at least one element of the information related to the company from the third party locations which, in the event the element changes in accordance with the rule, indicates a need for an updated business valuation, wherein the monitoring engine is operative to monitor the third party locations for information related to the company that has changed in accordance with the at least one rule, and to obtain the changed information related to the company as updated company information related to the company;
- and
- a notification engine operative to notify the valuation requester of the changed information related to the company and to provide to the valuation requester an updated valuation report calculated using the changed information;
- wherein calculating the original and updated valuations includes:
- calculating a multiple-year-weighted average of at least one of revenue, pretax income, and inventory;
- determining a valuation multiplier based on at least one of a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code, a projected revenue growth, and a long term earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (ebitda) margin;
- calculating a seller's discretionary earnings (SDE) value as at least a sum of year-weighted averages of pretax income, salary, benefits, interest expenses, and costs, and adjusting for inflation;
- adjusting the SDE based on year-over-year pre-tax income growth and year-over-year revenue growth;
- and
- calculating a valuation of the company based on a product of the SDE and the valuation multiplier, adjusted based on at least one of recurring revenue as a percentage of total revenue, a number of patents owned, and a percentage of sales from a select number of top customers of the company.