Small Business Acquisition (ETA) Underwriting Financial Model — SBA 7(a), SDE & DSCR (Excel + Google Sheets)

The broker hands you an "adjusted EBITDA." Your SBA lender underwrites something else entirely. This model builds the deal the way the bank actually will — so you know whether a small-business acquisition is financeable before you sign the LOI.

It's a 10-sheet Excel workbook (fully Google Sheets-compatible — no macros, no add-ins) built for a self-funded searcher or ETA buyer using an SBA 7(a) loan. Every formula is machine-verified by three independent engines.

What makes it different — the Deal Structure & SBA Financing Engine:

• SDE Add-Back Engine. Seller's Discretionary Earnings is built line by line from the tax return — reported net income + interest + D&A + the owner's full comp + perks + one-time items — then a market-rate operator salary comes back out to get Adjusted EBITDA, the number a lender finances. Inflate the add-backs and the DSCR falls apart, on purpose.
• 3-part capital stack. Your cash equity + a seller note + the SBA 7(a) loan that fills the rest, with the 10% SBA equity-injection rule and the $5M 7(a) cap checked for you.
• The seller-note standby lever. One toggle — full standby or amortizing. Full standby pays no cash, counts toward your injection and keeps the deal bankable at 1.32x DSCR; flip it to amortizing and coverage drops to 1.13x, below the 1.25x floor. This switch is often the difference between financeable and declined.
• The lender's DSCR gate. DSCR = (Adjusted EBITDA − maintenance capex) ÷ total cash debt service, with SBA interest pulled from a real amortisation schedule — computed on the cash flow a bank accepts, after a manager's wage, not the broker's SDE. Plus a debt-yield cross-check.
• 3 business types in one file. A toggle reloads the entry/exit multiple, working-capital peg and maintenance capex for B2B service, distribution/wholesale or e-commerce/agency.

What you get: the 10-sheet workbook, an 18-page PDF user guide (quick start, sheet-by-sheet walkthrough, how to build SDE a lender will accept, how the capital stack and DSCR gate work, the standby lever, and a full FAQ), a sensitivity grid of DSCR across multiple × rate, and a benchmarks sheet with sourced 2025-26 SBA terms, valuation multiples and DSCR ranges.

Honest by design. Returns are leverage-amplified — a ~10% equity check on a 90%-financed deal — and the model says so rather than dressing it up. We deliberately do not headline an IRR: on a single small deal it is hostage to the exit multiple you assume. The robust numbers — DSCR, debt yield, cash-on-cash and the equity multiple — are front and centre, with a sensitivity grid to judge the deal across the multiple and the rate.

Educational planning tool — not financial, investment, tax, lending or legal advice. SBA rules, rates and multiples vary by lender and change over time; add-backs must be documented and accepted by your lender's quality-of-earnings. Verify the seller's tax returns, your SBA term sheet and a quality-of-earnings before relying on any number.