Business Valuation Financial Records Checklist for Canadian Owners
A clear financial-records checklist for owners preparing for a business valuation, shareholder discussion, financing review or sale, based on CRA and BDC guidance.
Quick answer
What Calgary business owners should know
- Start by confirming the valuation purpose, valuation date, ownership interest and requested level of report before collecting documents.
- A useful package connects multi-year financial statements to tax filings, source records, asset schedules, debt, ownership records and current interim results.
- Reconciliations and explanations are as important as the documents because they show how reported totals relate to the underlying business activity.
- Keep a controlled request list and data-room index so every version, outstanding item and response can be tracked.
Define the request before building the file
Collecting every document in the company is not the same as preparing a useful valuation file. Ask the valuator or transaction lead to confirm the valuation date, entity, shares or assets in scope, purpose, users, reporting period and requested format. A lender's preliminary review may not require the same evidence as a shareholder dispute or tax-driven reorganization. The request should also identify whether consolidated, divisional, location-level or product-level information is needed.
Create one document index with a consistent naming convention, owner and status for each item. Use a secure sharing location with access limited to the people who need it. Do not overwrite prior versions. Mark draft, management-prepared and externally issued information accurately, and keep questions beside the related document rather than in disconnected email threads.
Core financial and operating records
CRA valuation guidance says a regional valuation officer may request a balance sheet with supporting schedules, fixed-asset appraisals, up to five recent fiscal periods of financial statements, ownership information, buy-sell agreements, prior offers, contracts and leases, and details about the business and industry. BDC also notes that a bank commonly asks for several years of statements, interim results, projections, a prior tax return, non-recurring expenses, planned investments and information about management.
The exact list should come from the professional leading the assignment, but the following package is a practical starting point for a Canadian private business.
| Record group | Documents to prepare | Quality check before sharing |
|---|---|---|
| Historical reporting | Annual financial statements and trial balances for the requested periods | Tie opening to closing balances and explain restatements or accounting-policy changes |
| Current performance | Latest monthly or quarterly results and prior-period comparison | Reconcile through the most recent closed month and label incomplete periods |
| Tax | Corporate returns, notices, sales-tax and payroll account information | Explain assessments, disputes, arrears, elections and amounts that differ from the ledger |
| Working capital | Aged receivables, aged payables, inventory and customer deposits | Identify stale, disputed, related-party, slow-moving and non-recurring balances |
| Assets and debt | Fixed-asset register, leases, loans, security, appraisals and capital plans | Separate book value, tax value and external appraised value; confirm ownership |
| Ownership and agreements | Share register, articles, shareholder or partnership agreements and options | Use current signed documents and identify the exact interest being considered |
| Operations | Sales by customer or service, margins, headcount, contracts, pipeline and forecasts | Reconcile operating reports to the ledger and document forecast assumptions |
Reconcile, explain and protect the evidence
Before delivery, reconcile the general ledger to every material subledger and external statement. Cash should agree to completed bank reconciliations; receivables and payables should agree to aged lists; payroll should agree to payroll records and remittances; GST/HST should agree to returns; debt should agree to lender statements; and fixed assets should agree to acquisition and disposal records. List unresolved differences rather than forcing an unsupported adjustment.
Prepare a separate normalization schedule for proposed owner, related-party, unusual or one-time adjustments. State the amount, period, account, reason and supporting document. Do not remove expenses simply because the owner considers them optional, and do not present a forecast as if it were a historical result. A valuator decides whether an adjustment is appropriate for the valuation purpose.
- What can HBT do if the books are not ready for a valuation request?
HBT can help reconcile the ledgers, organize source records, prepare requested schedules and identify gaps. HBT Accounting provides accounting, financial-record preparation and tax support. Formal business valuations, legal opinions and transaction documents may require a Chartered Business Valuator and lawyer.
Review HBT's bookkeeping support
Practical checklist
- Maintain a document index, request log and unresolved-questions list.
- Use secure access and remove personal information that is not necessary for the assignment.
- Label drafts, forecasts, internal reports and unaudited schedules accurately.
- Retain the original accounting data and source documents behind every shared schedule.
Official sources
This guide was prepared from the official sources below. Open them to verify the current rule and review exceptions relevant to your situation.
