SUCCEEDING IN YOUR BUSINESS: When a Business Has 'Two Sets Of Books'
by Cliff Ennico
"My spouse and I have been looking to buy a business for some time. We've found a good local business with a great location and lots of existing customers.
"The seller wants us to pay one-and-one-half times his gross sales last year, which our accountant says is a fair price. The seller has also agreed to let us pay him 40 percent of the purchase price over the next five years, which we think is also a good deal.
"The problem is that the seller told us he carries two sets of books -- 'one for the government, the other for real' -- and that he wants us to pay one-and-one-half times his gross sales as reported on his 'private' set of books, which naturally shows much higher gross sales.
Related Articles
Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.
We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.
Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. Subscriptions are available for $4.95 a month or 34.95 a year that provide subscribers with exclusive access to more than 20 stories per week on upcoming elections, consumer confidence, and issues that affect us all. For those who are really into the numbers, Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and a full history of our data.
To learn more about our methodology, click here.
