How to Prepare Your Business for Sale: A 24-Month Plan for Australian Owners

If you want to sell your business in the next two years, the work that decides how the sale goes starts well before a broker lists it. Most guides on how to prepare a business for sale stop at the paperwork: three years of financials, a valuation, a lawyer. Those matter. But the thing buyers ask first is simpler and harder: will this business keep running when you leave?

This guide gives you a month by month plan to prepare your business for sale over 24 months, with a shorter version if you only have six to twelve. It covers the financial and legal steps, and it goes deep on the part most owners leave too late: taking the business off your shoulders so a buyer can step into it.

Key takeaways

• Start 12 to 24 months out. Operational changes need time to show up in how the business runs and in its numbers.
• Buyers pay for earnings they can keep. Anything that only happens because you are there is risk they will price in.
• Fix owner dependency first. It is the most common problem in owner-led businesses and the slowest to fix.
• Document how the business actually runs, then automate the routine work. Do it in that order.
• Get your accountant, lawyer and broker involved early. Your job before they start is to make the operating business ready.

Why preparing your business for sale matters now

A lot of Australian owners are heading towards the same decision at the same time. NAB Private Wealth’s research found nearly half of SME owners are over 50, 22% are within five years of retirement age, and two thirds have no documented wealth transfer strategy (NAB, Beyond the Business, May 2025).

Buyers are active too. Pitcher Partners’ 2026 Dealmakers study found succession planning is the top driver of mid-market deals in Australia, cited by 42% of respondents (Pitcher Partners, Dealmakers 2026). So there will be more businesses for sale, and buyers can afford to be choosy. The ones that sell well are the ones that look easy to take over.

What buyers actually look at

Your broker and accountant will value the business on its earnings. Before a buyer commits to that number, they test how safe those earnings are. In practice they look at six things:

What they check	The question behind it
Owner dependency	How much of the work, the decisions and the customer relationships route through you?
Systems and SOPs	Is the way work gets done written down and actually used?
Automation	Does routine work happen on its own, or does someone have to remember it?
Management visibility	Can someone see sales, cash, pipeline and jobs without asking you?
Key people	What happens if one or two staff leave after settlement?
Transferability	Are the accounts, logins, software, data and contracts in the business’s name?

Weakness in any of these does not stop a sale. It usually shows up as fewer interested buyers, a longer handover, more of the price paid as an earn-out, or terms that suit the buyer more than you. You can score your business on these six areas in about four minutes with the free Saleability Score.

The 24-month plan to prepare your business for sale

Twenty four months is a comfortable runway. It gives you time to fix things properly and then let the business run that way for long enough that a buyer can see it works. Here is how to use it.

Months 24 to 18: decide, assess and assemble your team

• Get clear on your goals. What do you need from the sale? A clean exit, a staged handover, staying on part time? This shapes everything after it.
• Talk to your accountant early. Ask about structure, tax, and whether the small business CGT concessions could apply to you. The rules are detailed and timing can matter.
• Get an honest picture of the operation. Track every time someone needs you for two weeks: questions, approvals, customers who only talk to you, reports only you build. Most owners find the same 15 to 25 things on repeat.
• Get an indicative valuation from a broker or valuer so you know the starting point.

Months 18 to 12: take the business off your shoulders

This is the most important stretch, and the one most owners skip. For each thing on your dependency list, decide whether to delete it, document it, delegate it or automate it. Our step by step guide on how to reduce owner dependency walks through this in detail. The short version:

• Delete approvals and reports nobody uses.
• Document anything someone else could do with clear instructions. Record yourself doing it once and turn it into an SOP.
• Delegate decisions that follow clear rules. Write the rules and set a dollar limit.
• Automate anything that happens on a trigger: quote follow-up, reminders, data entry, weekly reports.
• Move customer relationships to the business. Introduce a second contact on every key account and put every conversation in the CRM, not your phone.

Months 12 to 6: systemise, automate and make the numbers visible

• Connect your systems. CRM, job management, accounting and documents should pass information to each other instead of relying on people to re-type it.
• Automate routine work. Enquiry response, quote follow-up, booking reminders, invoice processing and overdue account reminders are usually the fastest wins.
• Build a management dashboard. Sales, cash, pipeline and jobs in one view that updates itself. If you build the weekly numbers by hand, you are a dependency.
• Reduce key person risk. Get the knowledge out of your one or two key staff and into documents. Consider retention arrangements for people a buyer will need.
• Clean up the financials. Separate personal and business expenses, and keep reporting consistent from month to month.

Months 6 to 0: prove it and prepare for due diligence

• Take real time off. Two weeks with no phone, then four. The best evidence a business runs without you is that it did. Fix whatever breaks.
• Build an operations register. Every software account, domain, login, supplier account and key contract, who owns it and how access is handed over. Move anything in your personal name into the business.
• Assemble the operational documents a buyer will ask for: SOPs, org chart, role descriptions, key processes, customer and supplier lists, and the reporting history.
• Appoint your broker or adviser and let them take it to market.

Only have 6 to 12 months?

You can still make a real difference with a focused sprint. Prioritise in this order:

1. The owner dependencies a buyer will notice in the first conversation, especially customer relationships.
2. Documentation of the five processes that would break first if you disappeared.
3. The operations register: accounts, logins and contracts in the business’s name.
4. A basic dashboard so the numbers exist without you.
5. Financial records, with your accountant.

Be realistic about time. Changes made in the last few months are harder for a buyer to trust than ones the business has run on for a year, so expect more of the conversation to be about handover and transition terms.

Where AI fits when you prepare a business for sale

AI does not make your business worth more on its own, and you should be wary of anyone who says it does. What it does well is make the preparation work much faster and cheaper than it used to be:

• Turning recorded walkthroughs and meeting notes into draft SOPs.
• Building a searchable knowledge base so staff stop asking you.
• Reading invoices and documents so admin stops depending on one person.
• Writing weekly management summaries from data your systems already hold.

The rule is to fix the process first and automate it second. Automating a messy process just makes the mess faster, and a buyer will still find it.

Common mistakes owners make

• Starting with the broker. The broker sells the business you have. If it depends on you, that is what they are selling.
• Treating documentation as a folder. SOPs nobody uses do not convince anyone. Buyers ask staff how things are done.
• Keeping key relationships personal. If your top customers only know you, the buyer is buying a risk.
• Leaving accounts in your name. Domains, software, phone numbers and supplier accounts in a personal name slow down settlement.
• Chasing a headline multiple. The terms often matter as much as the price. A cleaner business usually negotiates better terms.

FAQ

How long does it take to prepare a business for sale?

Ideally 12 to 24 months. Financial and legal preparation can be done faster, but reducing owner dependency and proving the business runs without you takes time. Many exit advisers suggest starting even earlier if you can.

What documents do I need to sell my business?

Typically three years of financial statements and tax returns, key contracts and leases, employee agreements, asset and stock lists, and intellectual property records. Buyers increasingly also ask for operational documents: SOPs, an org chart, process descriptions and a register of systems and accounts.

Does owner dependency reduce the sale price?

It often affects the deal. A business that relies heavily on its owner is riskier for a buyer, which can mean fewer buyers, more of the price tied to an earn-out, or a longer required handover. Your broker can tell you how it applies in your sector.

Should I systemise my business before selling?

Yes. Documented processes, automated routine work and visible reporting make a business easier to understand, easier to take over and easier to run in the first year after settlement. They also make your own last two years easier.

Conclusion

Preparing your business for sale is two jobs. One is financial and legal, and your accountant and lawyer lead it. The other is operational: making the business run without you so a buyer can step in. That second job takes longest and is the one most owners start too late.

If you are planning to sell in the next 6 to 24 months, start by finding out where the business depends on you. Take the free Saleability Score, or see how our Buyer-Ready Program documents, automates and hands over the work that still runs through you.