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Advisory
Business valuation and due diligence in Ghana
A number you can defend, and the questions you should have asked.
Business valuation for shareholder exits, investor entry, disputes and court processes. Financial and tax due diligence before you buy, invest in or lend to a business. Both built to be challenged, because both will be.
Request a scoping call See what is includedThese two engagements answer the same underlying question from opposite sides. A valuation says what something is worth. Due diligence says whether it is what the seller claims. Both exist because somebody is about to commit money on the strength of information they did not prepare.
What makes a valuation hold
Not length. A valuation report running to eighty pages is usually hiding a thin method behind volume. What survives challenge is a clearly stated basis, a method justified by the facts, evidence for each significant input, and assumptions set out plainly enough that somebody can disagree with a specific one rather than dismissing the whole thing.
The other side will run their own number. The purpose of ours is not to win the argument outright but to put you in a position to defend a figure rather than negotiate from an anchor somebody else set, and to know in advance which assumptions will be attacked.
What due diligence is actually for
Not to re-audit the target. It is to find the things that would change your price or stop the deal. Revenue that will not recur. Working capital that has been managed for the sale. Liabilities that are not on the balance sheet. Tax exposure the seller has not provided for. Customer concentration that survives on one relationship.
The output that matters is not the report, it is the list of things you now know to negotiate about, structure around, or walk away from.
The tax side is where the surprises are
In Ghana, more deals are damaged by tax exposure discovered late than by any other single issue. Withholding tax accumulated at the wrong rate, related party charges without transfer pricing support, exemptions applied without a traceable legal basis, payroll treated informally. None of these appear as liabilities in the accounts, and all of them transfer with a share purchase.
This is why our due diligence covers tax properly rather than as an appendix, and why the tax partner is in the engagement rather than consulted at the end.
International Valuation Standards, the framework we report under
Typical duration, constrained by access rather than by resourcing
Fees quoted phase by phase, so you can stop when you have enough
Scope
Two engagements, frequently commissioned together
Buyers often need both: a view on value, and a check on whether the information behind it is reliable.
Business valuation
A supportable opinion of value for a shareholder exit, an investor entry, a management buy-out, a family settlement or a court process. Method chosen by the facts, inputs evidenced, assumptions stated plainly, and the sensitivities shown so you can see what moves the number.
Valuation for disputes and litigation
Where the number will be contested by another expert or tested in court. Prepared to a standard that anticipates challenge, with the reasoning exposed rather than summarised, and the author available to explain it.
Financial due diligence
Quality of earnings, normalised EBITDA, working capital requirement, debt and debt-like items, revenue concentration and the gap between management accounts and audited reality. Reported as findings with deal implications, not as a data dump.
Tax due diligence
Historic exposure that transfers with a share purchase: withholding tax, payroll, VAT, transfer pricing and the legal basis of any exemption being applied. Quantified where possible, so it can be priced or covered by warranty.
Vendor due diligence and sale readiness
Preparing a business to be examined rather than reacting once it is. Finding the issues before a buyer does, so they can be fixed, disclosed on your terms, or priced in rather than discovered.
Investment appraisal and funding support
Reviewing forecasts against the ledger, testing the assumptions behind a business plan, and preparing the financial information a lender or an investor will require before they will engage seriously.
Process
Phased, so you can stop when you have enough
Both engagements are scoped in phases with a deliverable at the end of each. Sometimes the first phase makes the rest unnecessary, and you should be able to act on that.
Scoping conversation
Half a day, no charge. What decision does this support, who will read it, and what would make it useless. Skipping this step is why most badly scoped engagements fail.
Before the proposalIndependence check
Particularly where you are an audit client. If the work creates a conflict we tell you before you commit rather than halfway through.
Before acceptanceInformation request
A specific list, and access to the people who know how the business actually runs rather than only to those who hold the documents.
Week 1Analysis
Normalisation and method selection for a valuation. Quality of earnings, working capital and tax exposure for due diligence. Findings raised as they emerge rather than saved for the report.
Two to four weeksDraft and challenge
We put the draft to you and invite you to attack it. Better that the weaknesses are found by us than by the other side's adviser.
Week 4 to 5Report and decision meeting
A short written deliverable, then a working session with the people who have to act. The meeting is the point, not the document.
On completionEngagement
Fees, timing and who does the work
Fee basis
Fixed fee per phaseYou commit to the first phase only. Quoted in the proposal, held unless the scope changes.Who does the work
A partner throughoutThis is judgement work. The partner is in the analysis and in the room, not only on the report cover.Timeline
Three to six weeksA focused valuation at the shorter end. Due diligence across financial and tax at the longer end.Sectors
Where we are asked most often
Portfolio valuation, regulatory capital and recapitalisation.
Asset valuation, licence value and working capital under levy pressure.
Normalised earnings, distributor economics and stock valuation.
Revenue quality under IFRS 15, recurring revenue and funding readiness.
NHIS receivable valuation, and practice and facility acquisitions.
Contract accounting, retentions and property holding structures.
Succession, shareholder exits and settlement valuations.
Normalisation of director remuneration and personal expenditure.
Method
Three ways to value a business, and when each applies
The method is chosen by the facts, not by which number the client prefers. A valuation that reaches for the highest-yielding method without justifying it does not survive challenge.
| Approach | When it fits | What attacks it |
|---|---|---|
| Earnings basis | A trading business with sustainable, reasonably predictable profits. The most common basis for an owner-managed company. | The normalisation adjustments and the multiple. Both are judgement and both will be contested. |
| Asset basis | Asset-heavy businesses, property holding companies, and businesses being wound down or sold for their assets. | Whether the asset values are current, and whether liabilities are complete. |
| Market comparison | Where genuinely comparable transactions or listed peers exist. In Ghana the comparable set is often thin. | Comparability. A peer in a different market with different risk is not a comparable. |
Questions
Questions we are asked before the proposal
How is a business valued in Ghana?
Will an investor or a court accept your valuation?
What is normalisation and why does it matter so much?
How long does due diligence take?
What tax issues transfer when we buy shares?
Can you value a business that is losing money?
Can you do due diligence if you audit the target?
Do you also act as a broker or find the buyer?
Next step
Tell us the decision you are trying to make.
Half a day of scoping, no charge, and you will know whether this is work worth commissioning and roughly what it costs.
Also under Advisory
Business strategy and structuring for growth
Which lines to grow and which to retire, whether the group structure still fits, and what has to be true financially for the plan to work. Written as a decision paper the board can act on.
Internal control and process review
A one-off diagnostic for where the same issues keep recurring, where growth has outrun the process, or where something has already gone wrong. We map what actually happens rather than what the policy says.
IFRS implementation and conversion
First-time adoption, conversion between frameworks, or implementing a specific standard that has become material to you. Including the opening balance sheet, the disclosure pack, and training your team so it does not depend on us next year.
Insolvency and restructuring under Act 1015
An options review for a business under pressure, informal restructuring and creditor negotiation, and formal processes under the Corporate Insolvency and Restructuring Act 2020 (Act 1015). The useful time to take advice is earlier than most people take it.