Business Valuation Calculator Spreadsheet: Australian Small Business Edition
A business valuation spreadsheet for Australian small business does one job: it takes the profit and loss statement a seller hands you (or that you've built yourself) and turns it into a number you can actually use in a negotiation.
Most business valuations in Australia for sub-$5M businesses are done on a multiple of SDE (seller's discretionary earnings) or EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation). The method isn't complicated. The tricky bit is knowing which expenses to add back, which multiple applies to the industry you're looking at, and how to adjust that multiple for the specific risks in front of you.
This worksheet walks through all of it. Fill in your numbers, follow the steps, and you'll end up with a valuation range — not a single magic number, because anyone who gives you a single magic number without a range is guessing.
Why most buyers get the valuation wrong
The number sellers put in their listing is the number their accountant or broker told them, which is often the number that makes the business look most attractive. Sometimes that's accurate. Often it isn't (this is not a criticism of sellers — they're doing what anyone would do).
I've looked at dozens of business listings where the stated EBITDA was $300K and the real normalised figure — after you strip out the owner's four-wheel-drive running through the business, the rent paid to a related party at above-market rates, and a one-off insurance payout — was closer to $180K. At a 2.5x multiple, that's a $300K difference in what the business is actually worth. Worth doing the maths yourself before you table an offer.
The process of adjusting stated profit to reflect real ongoing earnings is called normalisation. It's covered in detail in the EBITDA normalisation checklist. This worksheet is the companion piece — it takes normalised earnings and converts them into a valuation range.
The two methods you need to know
SDE (Seller's Discretionary Earnings) is used for smaller businesses where the owner actively works in the business. It adds the owner's salary back to profit, because a new buyer paying themselves market rate would be the same cost — you want to see earnings before that distortion.
EBITDA is used for larger businesses with a management layer — where the owner doesn't do the installs or answer the phones themselves. It doesn't add back owner's salary because the business genuinely needs a paid manager.
For most blue-collar businesses under $3M revenue with a hands-on owner, you're working with SDE.
Which industries this covers
This worksheet is calibrated for Australian trades and service businesses: plumbing, electrical, HVAC, cleaning, landscaping, pest control, painting, roofing, concrete, and similar. Different industries carry different multiples — the industry multiples cheat sheet lists current ranges for each category.
For context on industry-specific valuations, read how to value a small business in Australia, or the industry-specific guides for plumbing and air conditioning businesses.
This is Module 4 of the Playbook — valuation and pricing is where deals are won or lost before you even sit down at the table.
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