Benchmarking for Private Companies
Benchmarking compares a private company with a matched set of private operating companies in the same industry and revenue range. FMV's benchmarking report has nine sections, including industry multiples from private company transactions, and is rebuilt every quarter.
Computed from connected booksFairMarketValue
Harbor Ridge Mechanical, LLC
At a glance
- Basis
- Peer sets drawn from private-company financial statements, matched by NAICS code and revenue band
- Prepared by
- The FMV platform, from the company's connected books
- Deliverable
- Online report that updates with the books
- Used by
- Banks and lenders, accounting firms, business owners
- Delivered to
- The client's FMV account and the ordering bank or firm
When it is used
- A lender wants to know whether a borrower's margins and leverage are typical for its size, not for a public company forty times larger.
- An accounting firm is preparing an advisory meeting and needs to show a client where it trails its peers.
- An owner is planning for a sale and wants to know which operating metrics a buyer will question.
What it includes
- Scorecard: each ratio against the peer median
- Distribution: where the company sits across the peer range
- Decomposition and value drivers
- Industry multiples: transaction multiples from private company transactions
- Industry conditions, scale effects, and revenue productivity
- Cost of capital against current SBA loan pricing
- Peer set rebuilt every quarter
Last updated October 24, 2026
Who uses it
Standards and sources
- Private-company financial statements
- Peer set construction and ratio medians
- U.S. Census County Business Patterns and Economic Census
- Industry scale and establishment data
- BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
- Revenue and wage productivity
- SBA 7(a) loan data
- Current cost of debt by industry
Documents we need
- The report is computed from the company's connected accounting system or financial statements uploaded to their FMV Vault.
How it works
Connect
The company connects QuickBooks Online or Xero, or enters financials by hand.
Standardize
Accounts map to a standard chart of accounts, with a source note on every line.
Compute
The platform runs the analysis against FMV's private-company data and current market inputs.
Refresh
Results update when the books change. Peer sets are rebuilt each quarter.
FMV benchmarking report questions
What is private company benchmarking?
Private company benchmarking compares a company's financial ratios with those of private companies in the same industry and revenue range. FairMarketValue (FMV) matches peers by six-digit NAICS code and revenue band, then shows where the company sits on margins, leverage, working capital, and growth.
Where do FMV's benchmarking peer companies come from?
FMV's benchmarking peers come from financial statements of more than 450,000 U.S. private companies. Peers are matched to the subject by six-digit NAICS code and revenue band, and public companies are shown separately rather than mixed into the private peer set.
Why benchmark against private companies instead of public companies?
Public companies are typically many times larger than the private businesses banks and accounting firms serve, with different cost structures and access to capital. A private peer set of similar size gives a realistic view of whether a company's margins and leverage are typical, which is why FMV keeps public comparisons separate.
What does an FMV benchmarking report include?
An FMV benchmarking report has nine sections: scorecard, distribution, decomposition, industry multiples, value drivers, industry conditions, position by scale, revenue productivity, and cost of capital. Industry multiples come from private company transactions in the same industry.
How often is an FMV benchmarking report updated?
The peer set behind an FMV benchmarking report is rebuilt every quarter, and the company's own figures update whenever its connected books change.
Is benchmarking included with lender valuations?
Yes. Every FMV lender valuation includes a peer benchmarking snapshot at no extra cost: a one-page comparison of the borrower against private peers from FMV's database of 450,000+ private companies, sent separately so it stays out of the underwriting file. A full benchmarking report is available on any borrower.
How is an FMV benchmarking report priced?
Pricing for an FMV benchmarking report depends on the number of companies covered and how often results are needed. FMV quotes it for each bank portfolio or firm client book.
Trust and reliability
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 audits are underway. Our security program is documented in the FMV Trust Center.
See it on a real company
We will walk through it on a sample company or one of your clients.