CBI case studies

CBI · Put your knowledge to work in context.

The Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) is a designation conferred by the International Business Brokers Association (IBBA), which describes it as "a prestigious designation of the IBBA that identifies an experienced and dedicated business broker." The IBBA positions the CBI as a marker for buyers and sellers, stating that the designation identifies "individuals who have met our highest standards for education, ethics and professionalism." This makes the credential most relevant to working business brokers and intermediary specialists who already handle transactions and want an externally recognizable signal of experience, rather than to complete newcomers, who are better served first by introductory brokerage resources and IBBA membership benefits. Because the credential is built around education, ethics, and professionalism, the knowledge it tests sits at the intersection of transaction practice and conduct: how intermediaries market and sell businesses, how they represent clients honestly, and how they maintain professional standing. The CBI case studies are 5 cases and about 5,454 words.

The Finder's Fee: Paying an Unlicensed Referral Source

Marcus Rendell, a CPA and wealth advisor, has referred six business owners to you over the past eighteen months. Three of those referrals closed, generating 186,000 in gross commissions.

1,007 words, about 5 min 2

The HVAC Recast: When the Seller's Number and Your Number Are $2.5 Million Apart

Your listing presentation for a 22-year-old residential HVAC company has to reconcile two very different numbers. The founder reports trailing-twelve-month revenue of 3.1 million and 'seller's discretionary earnings' of 840,000.

1,109 words, about 6 min 3

The Landscaping Account Nobody Was Supposed to Mention

You represent the owner of a 40-employee commercial landscaping company listed at $3.6 million. During a two-hour site visit, the seller mentions over coffee that his largest client - a property management firm representing 38% of trailing revenue - told him last week it will consolidate vendors and will not renew when its contract expires in five months.

1,074 words, about 5 min 4

The Medical Billing Engagement You Are Not Qualified to Run

You are a Certified Business Intermediary whose practice is almost entirely Main Street restaurants, retail, and auto repair shops with transaction values between 250,000 and 1.2 million. A long-time client, a physician, asks you to handle the sale of a 60% controlling interest in a medical billing company: 12 million in revenue, 140 employees, an ESOP holding the remaining 40%, an open CMS compliance audit covering 2019–2021 claims, and a strategic buyer that insists on a stock purchase with full representations and warranties and a 2 million escrow.

1,109 words, about 6 min 5

The $100,000 Deposit and the Expired Tail Clause

You are the listing and selling broker on a 1.35 million asset sale of a machine shop. The buyer deposited 100,000 earnest money at signing; per the purchase agreement the funds were wired into your brokerage's general operating account, because your firm does not maintain a separate trust account.

1,155 words, about 6 min