Preparing your advice practice for sale

Start with the files

Incomplete suitability documentation is the most common reason a price gets chipped after heads of terms. It is also the most fixable, given time. A buyer discounts what they cannot verify.

Get the reviews back on cycle

If your proposition promises an annual review, the file should show one. Where it does not, either do the reviews or change the proposition — a promise you are not keeping is a liability, not an asset.

Reduce what depends on you

Introduce a second adviser to your largest relationships. Move client contact into the firm's systems rather than your inbox and your head. This takes the longest, so start it first.

Tidy the recurring income

Move legacy commission arrangements onto documented adviser charges where you can. Clear up any clients paying for a service they are not receiving.

Deal with the past business

Get the defined-benefit file review done before a buyer asks. Knowing the number is worth more than hoping nobody looks.

Then talk to buyers

A firm that has done the four things above is a materially different asset from the same firm twelve months earlier, and the price reflects it.