Independent buy-side valuations for purchasers of an NDIS provider

That is a decision for you with your lawyer and accountant, and the registration rules shape it. The Commission states that a registration is linked to a single ABN and cannot be moved to another, so buying the assets into your own entity means holding or obtaining your own registration and passing the relevant audit before you can deliver supports that require it. Buying the shares keeps the entity, its ABN and its registration in place, subject to notifying the Commission, its assessment of whether the new business and staff are suitable and, in some cases, a condition audit. You also take on the entity's history, accrued entitlements and any award or claiming exposure. The valuation states value under each route so the trade-offs can be compared on the same basis.

It is the vendor's case rather than an independent conclusion. An information memorandum is prepared by or for the vendor, and its adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) often assumes the owner keeps working unpaid, that rosters and travel were costed as claimed, and that the prices earned in the history still apply. HPNA reprices the history to the pricing schedule in force at the valuation date, charges a market salary for the owner's work, removes unclaimable and rejected revenue, and tests the labour cost against the award. The maintainable earnings that survive that process are the figure the valuation capitalises. What you offer is a commercial decision for you with your advisers. See business valuation versus business appraisal.

Start with the public record and then ask for what it does not show. The Commission records enforcement action in Part 2 of the NDIS Provider Register, covering banning orders, compliance notices, enforceable undertakings and suspension or revocation of registration, with a separate infringement notice list. Warning letters are not published, so the valuation also asks for the certificate of registration and its conditions, the most recent audit reports and corrective actions, the reportable incident and complaints registers, restrictive practice reports, worker screening records and any NDIA payment review. Open corrective actions are costed; a published action against the entity or its key personnel goes to whether the earnings continue at all.

They choose. The Commission states that on a change of ownership participants and their supporters must be informed, that participants must not be automatically moved to the new owner, and that they need to be able to find a new provider if they want. Service agreements are typically terminable on notice, and funding follows the participant, so what you are buying is a set of relationships and the systems that hold them. The valuation measures how concentrated those relationships are, whether they deal with the organisation or with the vendor personally, and what a paid transition would need to look like to hold them. See participant and referral concentration.

No. A valuation is an opinion of value at a date on the evidence available, prepared for the purchaser and independent of the outcome. Due diligence is the verification exercise your lawyers and accountants run on contracts, tax, employment and compliance. The two work together: the valuation identifies where the earnings are exposed, quantifies the adjustments the evidence supports and lists the questions diligence should still answer, and diligence findings that change the facts can change the conclusion. What the report cannot do is tell you whether to proceed. That is a commercial and legal decision for you with your advisers.

They affect the forecast and the risk, and how far depends on the target's service mix. The National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 20 August 2026 and takes effect in stages: tighter unscheduled plan reassessment rules from 27 August 2026, budget resets for social, economic and community participation supports and improved daily living skills supports from 1 October 2026, a 90-day claiming window from 1 December 2026, no rollover of unspent funds from 1 February 2027, new framework planning from 1 April 2027, expanded mandatory registration and NDIA provider enrolment from 1 July 2027, a plan management panel from 1 October 2027 and commissioned support coordination from 1 July 2028. HPNA states which of these it has assumed and how, so the effect is visible in the number.

That is the lender's decision. Lenders set their own valuation requirements, may have panels of valuers they instruct directly, and may ask for a report addressed to them on their own terms. An HPNA valuation is prepared for its stated purpose and addressed to the party that engaged it, which for this page is the purchaser. Where finance is part of the transaction, confirm the lender's requirements early so the scope can be set with them in mind. HPNA holds every report it signs to the APES 225 guidelines, and the fee is fixed by the revenue of the business being valued and published in full.

Then part of what is being sold may not transfer. Goodwill is the value of the business above its identifiable net assets, and it has sources: documented participant relationships, referral sources, a screened and stable workforce and working systems. It can also rest on the owner personally. Where the vendor holds the support coordinator relationships, builds every roster and manages every incident, the earnings depend on a person who is leaving, and a purchaser will either discount that goodwill or require a paid transition long enough to move the relationships across. The valuation measures that dependence and states the assumption it makes about it.