CEPA Skills

Business Exit Planning, Value Acceleration & Succession

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The Apex CEPA Skill delivers structured exit planning and value acceleration analysis for Canadian SME owners, designed for use by CEPA advisors, CPA firms, and CBV valuators managing succession mandates. The skill scores exit readiness across five dimensions, builds a prioritized value acceleration roadmap with quantified enterprise value impact per initiative, classifies the likely buyer universe by tier and transaction multiple, and — when US revenue exposure is present — runs a full seven-step CUSMA revenue audit embedded directly within the exit planning workflow. All outputs require review by a licensed CEPA advisor before delivery to any business owner client.

Readiness.

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Exit Readiness Score (0–100) The skill scores the business on five equally weighted dimensions: financial readiness (normalized EBITDA trend, working capital, financial reporting quality), business transferability (customer concentration, key-person dependency, documented processes), personal readiness (owner's post-exit identity, financial independence threshold, successor identified), legal and structural readiness (estate freeze status, shareholder agreement, IP ownership), and market readiness (sector M&A activity, buyer universe depth, CUSMA compliance status). Each dimension is scored 0–20 with a one-sentence rationale, producing an overall readiness tier: sale-ready (70–100), value acceleration required (50–69), significant gaps (30–49), or foundational restructuring needed (0–29).

Value Acceleration Roadmap For businesses scoring below 70, the skill produces a prioritized roadmap ranking the top three high-impact value acceleration initiatives by enterprise value uplift per dollar invested per month — not by ease or owner preference. For each initiative it outputs the description, estimated EBITDA impact in dollars, estimated EV impact at the applicable sector multiple, timeline, and the responsible party across the professional advisory team. It automatically cross-refers to the CPA Skill when tax structure gaps are identified, to the CBV Skill when the valuation is more than 18 months old, and to the Commercial Lending Skill when succession financing is required.

Buyer Universe Analysis The skill classifies the likely buyer pool across three tiers: US and Canadian strategic acquirers (5.0–8.0× EBITDA, requiring CUSMA compliance documentation, ISO/AS9100 certifications, and customer contract transferability), lower mid-market private equity and search funds (4.0–6.0×, requiring $1M+ EBITDA and owner equity rollover availability), and financial and family buyers including individual acquirers and family offices (3.5–5.0×, requiring BDC-financing-ready structure and vendor take-back availability). For any business with US revenue exceeding 10% of total, CUSMA compliance status is flagged as a buyer qualification factor.

CUSMA Revenue Audit (embedded) When US revenue or US-sourced input exposure is identified, the skill runs a full seven-step CUSMA workflow: revenue mapping against tariff risk, HS code classification audit, PSRO assessment, RVC calculation, steel and aluminum 70% test, tariff exposure quantification across recoverable and structural categories, and certification of origin build. Recovered tariffs are modelled as normalized EBITDA add-backs and their EV impact is calculated at the applicable sector multiple.

Who this skill is for: CEPA-designated exit planning advisors, CPA firms providing succession planning services, and CBV valuators identifying exit planning gaps on client files. Not sold directly to business owners.