Fast business valuation with honest timelines — what rush genuinely buys, and what no fee can compress.

An urgent business valuation costs the standard fixed fee plus a 30% rush loading — $1,943.50 + GST for an Essential report in around 5–7 business days instead of 10–14, for straightforward single-entity matters with a complete document set. Comprehensive rush engagements run $5,193.50 + GST in roughly 10–14 days and suit related-party or lodgement-facing positions. Essential is not suited to contested matters, family law proceedings or ATO-disputed valuations — those need at least a Comprehensive report, and often a Defensible Valuation File. Rush is confirmed only when your documents are complete and a valuer has capacity, and analysis itself — reading financial statements, normalising earnings, testing comparable evidence — cannot be compressed the way scheduling and drafting can; treat any 24-hour full-report offer with that in mind.

The rush option, stated plainly

Rush turnaround adds a fixed 30% to the base fee of any tier — for example, $1,943.50 + GST instead of $1,495 + GST for an Essential report — set at engagement like every Prismi fee and never contingent on the outcome. What it buys is priority: your file moves to the front of the queue, analysis and drafting run in parallel where the work allows, and senior review is scheduled ahead of standard engagements. Two conditions apply before we confirm a rush engagement: your document set must be complete on day one, and a valuer with the right experience must have capacity. If either condition fails, we tell you before you commit — a rush fee on a file that cannot actually move faster is money wasted. Fee structures and standard timelines vary firm to firm; ask any firm you're comparing for their specific timeline and fee before you decide.

• ·Essential — $1,943.50 + GST with rush (base $1,495 + GST): typically 5–7 business days instead of 10–14
• ·Comprehensive — $5,193.50 + GST with rush (base $3,995 + GST): typically 10–14 business days instead of 15–25
• ·Defensible Valuation File — $11,693.50 + GST with rush (base $8,995 + GST): typically 20–25 business days instead of 25–35; large evidence files compress less
• ·Valuation Range & Scenario Review — rush is rarely available; the scenario work is sequential by nature, so timing is agreed case by case

What a '24-hour valuation' can and can't include

Some parts of a valuation genuinely compress under pressure: queue position, scheduling, report drafting and the administrative gaps between stages. Rush pays for exactly those. What cannot compress in the same way is the analysis that makes a report defensible — reading three to five years of financial statements, normalising earnings and testing add-backs, researching comparable transactions and market multiples, and cross-checking the conclusion against the evidence. A market valuation prepared to IVS 104 and APES 225 standards documents its methodology, evidence and reasoning; that documentation is the product, and it takes the time it takes. If a deadline genuinely allows only 24 hours, ask exactly what will be delivered in that window: which methodology was applied, what evidence was reviewed, and whether it comes with the analysis and documentation those standards call for, or a fast-generated estimate without them. The two are priced and used differently — a fixed-fee, evidence-led Essential report on standard turnaround still takes 10–14 business days for that reason.

Common urgent triggers, and what is realistic for each

Most urgent business valuation requests trace to one of five triggers: a contract deadline, an ATO deadline, a lender or refinance deadline, a settlement date, or deal momentum — and each has a different realistic timeline. Note this is general information, not tax advice — confirm response windows and lodgement deadlines with your accountant or the ATO directly.

• ·Contract or deal deadline — a heads of agreement with a valuation condition usually allows two to three weeks; a rush Essential or Comprehensive fits if documents are ready the day you engage
• ·ATO deadline — objection and amended-assessment response windows generally allow enough time for a Comprehensive report on rush, and often a Defensible Valuation File. Engage the day the notice arrives, not the week the response is due. Confirm your specific deadline with your accountant or the ATO — this is not tax advice
• ·Lender or refinance deadline — credit teams usually want the report before formal approval; a rush Essential in around 5–7 business days meets most refinance timetables
• ·Settlement date — work backwards: your accountant or lawyer needs time to use the report, not just receive it. Deduct at least a week from settlement before comparing against the turnarounds above
• ·Deal momentum — when a buyer or investor is engaged and cooling is the risk, a defensible number a week later beats an indefensible one tomorrow; momentum built on a figure that collapses in due diligence is worse than none

The fastest lever costs nothing: arrive with documents ready

The single largest source of delay in most valuations is not analysis — it is waiting for documents. Financial statements still with the accountant, a missing depreciation schedule, an add-back claimed without evidence: each round trip costs days, and no rush fee recovers them. Having the full document set assembled before you engage routinely saves more time than the 30% loading buys. Work through the business valuation document checklist (/resources/business-valuation-document-checklist) before you call — if you can produce everything on it on day one, a standard Essential engagement may land inside your deadline with no rush fee at all. And if the deadline comes with a budget constraint, the same preparation is the first lever in reducing the cost of a business valuation (/insights/how-to-reduce-the-cost-of-a-business-valuation).

The honest trade-off: what rush does not change

Rush changes the schedule, not the scope. A rush Essential report is still an Essential report: a single methodology, suited to straightforward single-entity trading businesses where the stakes are commercial rather than contested. It does not become a dispute-grade file because it arrived quickly. If your deadline attaches to a matter with ATO review risk, family law proceedings, a shareholder dispute or marginal small business CGT concession eligibility, an Essential report — rushed or not — is the wrong tool, and we will say so at enquiry. The uncomfortable truth about urgency is that delivering the wrong tier fast is usually worse than delivering the right tier a week later, because a report that fails under scrutiny has to be redone from the start, on a shorter deadline than you began with. Every rush engagement still carries the full framework: senior-reviewer sign-off, independence statement, and working file retained 10 years. Those are not steps we compress for anyone.

Which tier for an urgent matter

For contract, lender and refinance deadlines on a straightforward single-entity business with no dispute in the background, a rush Essential ($1,943.50 + GST, typically 5–7 business days) is usually sufficient. It is not the right choice for contested, family law or ATO-disputed matters at any turnaround speed. For related-party transactions, restructures and positions your accountant will lodge against, a rush Comprehensive ($5,193.50 + GST, typically 10–14 business days) buys dual-methodology support that a single-method report cannot offer. Where the ATO is already involved or concession eligibility is marginal, the Defensible Valuation File is the floor — typically 20–25 business days on rush, so engage early rather than fast. If you are unsure, send us the deadline and the trigger: we will tell you honestly whether the timeline is achievable, and at which tier, before any fee is agreed. For the stage-by-stage mechanics of where the days actually go, see how long a business valuation takes (/insights/how-long-does-a-business-valuation-take).