Acquisition Underwriting Model

Know whether the deal works before you spend your exclusivity window finding out.

This is the model used to underwrite small business acquisitions: a complete, formula-linked Excel workbook that takes a seller's reported financials and answers the three questions that decide a deal. What does the business actually earn once you normalize it. Will it clear a lender's debt service test at your offer price. And what do your equity returns look like if you buy it.

WHAT'S INSIDE

Nine linked tabs. You type in one of them.

Inputs — every assumption you control, in one place

SDE Bridge — reported net income to SDE to adjusted EBITDA, after a market-rate manager salary

Sources and Uses — how the deal funds, with SBA compliance checks built in

Debt Schedule — SBA 7(a) amortization and correct full-standby seller note treatment

Projections — five-year revenue, earnings and cash flow

DSCR — the lender test, year by year, with the maximum price your cash flow supports

Returns — equity IRR, MOIC and first-year cash-on-cash

Summary — one page you can put in front of a lender

WHY THIS ISN'T A GENERIC SPREADSHEET

Most acquisition templates ignore the rules that actually kill deals. This one encodes them.

It calculates the 10% minimum equity injection on total project cost, which SOP 50 10 8 restored and which cannot be waived on a change of ownership. It credits a seller note toward that injection only when the note is on full standby for the life of the loan, and caps that credit at half the injection — the rule that ends most "zero down" structures. It tiers the SBA guaranty fee correctly across the $150,000 and $700,000 thresholds. Then it runs three pass/fail tests and tells you the maximum price the deal supports versus what you offered.

WHO IT'S FOR

Self-funded searchers, ETA buyers and independent sponsors acquiring businesses from roughly $500K to $5M in purchase price, financed with an SBA 7(a) loan.

WHAT IT ISN'T

A financial model, not advice. Not a quality of earnings report, not a certified valuation, not tax or legal counsel. Rates and program rules current as of November 2026 — confirm them with your lender.

FORMAT

Excel (.xlsx). Instant download. Arrives pre-loaded with a fully worked example deal so you can see finished output before you replace it with your own.