Assets vs. Liabilities – What’s The Difference

Posted on February 6, 2020December 20, 2019 by Administrator

Assets vs. Liabilities – What’s The Difference

If you are a business owner, as 2020 approaches you might find yourself reevaluating your business financials. It’s important that you recognize that your business, no matter how big or small it is, is made up of both assets and liabilities. Each item plays an important part in how much your business is worth as a whole. If you are not familiar with neither assets nor liabilities, we want to help you understand what each of them are, and how they make up your business’ worth. Once you understand your assets and liabilities you might begin to see that they can affect what decisions you make and how you run your business as well. So, let’s dive into assets and liabilities so we can understand the difference.

Assets

Let’s begin with your company assets. An asset is a broad term that covers a lot of ground. An asset is something that is owned by a company or business that provides value to them. Assets come in many different ways, both tangible and intangible as well as fixed versus current! In the world of tangible assets, this term refers to more of the physical items that provide value to your company this, for example, this could include something such as technology, real estate, or company vehicles that people drive. Within tangible assets you also have both your fixed and current asset. A fixed asset is something that cannot be quickly liquidated to cash. Whereas a Current asset would be considered something that can be quickly liquidated into cash for your business. Then there also is intangible assets which refer to something obviously intangible or “less” tangible, this could be something such as an idea, patent, or copyright. If you are interested or curious to dive deeper into the world of assets, take a look at our blog where we explain the difference between fixed and current assets here

Liabilities

Now looking at your business’ liabilities. The word liability can seem a little bit scary and just like an asset covers a lot of ground, but actually a liability is a pretty simple concept. Generally speaking, a company’s liability is any thing that they responsible for or are “tied down” with – let us explain further. When a business has an obligation to another business, person, or service, that would be considered a liability. This could be anything from a payment, to a service, to an event. Liabilities are broken into current (short-term) or non-current (long-term) liabilities. A short-term liability is something an obligation that will be completed in less than 12 months. This often includes accounts payable, and other smaller debts that might incur on behalf of the business. A long-term or non-current liability is an obligation that will take more than 12 months to finish. This would include something such as a mortgage or in some cases, although less common, post-employee benefits. A liability also can be alternatively defined as something that costs more money than is worth. This would be more in the case of machinery or equipment. If you have a very old piece of equipment that you are continually spending money on to fix or keep going, eventually that item will no longer be considered an asset and will turn more over into a liability for your business.

Now that you have a good understanding of what both assets and liabilities are, it may be easier to see how they are different. An asset is any thing or item that adds value to your business, where a liability is something that is going to take away value from your business. Looking at the two it is much easier to see how they work together and how every business has both assets and liabilities both! Now you can maybe understand and see a little bit better how each part of your business is either an asset or a liability. If you are interested in learning more about your company’s assets, contact us today! Miedema Asset Management Group is happy to meet with you and help in any way that we can. To see a full list of our services – click here.

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What is the Difference Between a Dissolution and a Liquidation?

Posted on January 22, 2020December 20, 2019 by Administrator

What is the Difference Between a Dissolution and a Liquidation?

The different processes of closing a business

One question that we often receive when helping businesses sell off their assets is if they are participating in a dissolution or a liquidation. Many times, these two words are used interchangeably as they both indicate the closing of a company, however there is a very important distinction between these two words. Simply put, a dissolution is a (typically) voluntary legal closure of a business while a liquidation involves the selling of a company’s assets in order to pay creditors.

What is a Dissolution?

A company is dissolved when it has served its purpose and will not be started again. This often occurs when the head of a company retires, or simply when it is decided that the organization is no longer needed. The dissolution itself is the legal closure of the business, filling out the paperwork necessary to end the company and alert the government that they do not exist for tax purposes. A company is able to dissolve if:

1. It hasn’t traded or sold off any stock in the last 3 months.

2. It hasn’t changed names in the last 3 months.

3. It isn’t threatened with liquidation and has no agreements in place with creditors, such as a ‘company voluntary arrangement’ (CVA), which is a legally binding agreement that lets a company freeze its unsecured debts and repay them with future profits.

*regulations noted from The Formations Company

Of course, a company must also wrap up any loose ends and pay any creditors before they officially close.

Dissolutions are typically seen in a more positive light than liquidations. Most of the time, a company is dissolved by the voluntary choice of the director, while liquidations are often necessary closures to pay debts to creditors.

So What is a Liquidation?

A liquidation is the selling of company assets to pay debts owed to creditors before a company is closed either out of necessity or choice. Most liquidations are not voluntary, and often occur when a business is not able to continue profitably and/or owes debts to multiple creditors. They are forced to shut down but must first pay back their investors. There are several types of liquidations that a company may participate in:

Members’ Voluntary Liquidation – a company decides to liquidate their assets of their own choosing in order to have more liquid assets for future business endeavors. This type of liquidation is often used in the dissolution process, as anyone voluntarily closing their business will need to liquidate their assets.

Creditors’ Voluntary liquidation – this occurs when the director or head of the company realizes that they will not be able to pay creditors and choses to liquidate company assts of their own accord. They will work with their shareholders, creditors and a liquidator throughout the process.

Compulsory Liquidation – creditors force a company to liquidate its assets in order to pay the debts owed to the creditors. These liquidations are often regulated by a court.

Liquidations can be a hard process to go through, but we hope that we can make it easier for you. Contact us today if you have further questions about dissolutions and liquidations, or if you are interested in liquidating your items with us!

4 Steps to Make Business Asset Liquidation a Breeze

Posted on January 9, 2020December 20, 2019 by Administrator

4 Steps to Make Business Asset Liquidation a Breeze

How to get started with a liquidation

Okay okay, we know what you’re thinking – “liquidations, a breeze? Who are they kidding?” We know that an asset liquidation can be an extremely trying and stressful time, but we wanted to share a few things you can do to make the process easier. We know the process is difficult, closing your company legally is enough of a hassle, but we want to make sure that you recover the most money possible from your assets in order to pay back yourself and your creditors. The tips below will help you get a handle over all that you have to do and will give you a good place to start – which can sometimes be the hardest part.

1.Know what you want to sell

Depending on your industry it might be hard for you to determine exactly what you want to try and liquidate. There are three main types of assets that you will want to consider:

First, take a look at any inventory you have. Inventory refers to any finished goods that would be able to be directly sold to your customers. For example, a clothing store would consider inventory any shirts, pants, dresses and jackets on the rack or sitting in the back inventory.

Second, assess assets that are used in the production of inventory or other goods. This would include most machinery and heavy equipment that is used during the specific production process. An example would be the machines in a tool and die shop, or construction equipment used on a job site.

Third, consider assets that are valuable to your business but aren’t necessarily used in the production of final goods or services. For pretty much every company this will be your office furniture. Your furniture isn’t actually used to produce profits like other assets do. After all, your employees are much more productive sitting at desks, but your company would probably still profit if all your employees sat on the floor. You just wouldn’t have very happy employees.

After categorizing your items go through and make a comprehensive list of everything you plan on liquidating. Organize your list by types of equipment, rooms of your building, or whatever other way makes sense for your company.

2.Create descriptions and assign values

Once you’ve decided what you will be liquidating, write out descriptions for each asset and assign a dollar value to it. Including descriptions of each item with its past use and maintenance will give a buyer a better understanding of the working condition of each item and the care it received. You will also want to assign each item a dollar value. This can be done by consulting depreciation amounts on your balance sheet, ballparking estimates, or by hiring a professional appraiser. An appraiser will be able to tell you exactly what you should receive for each of your assets and will especially help with any heavy machinery and equipment.

3.Consider who you want to sell to

Heading into a liquidation you will want to make sure that you know who would be interested in purchasing your items. Again, this will vary depending on your industry. If you are in retail, your normal customers would probably love to buy up your inventory for a marked down price. If you are a tool and die shop, consider other shops in the area that may be interested in purchasing your equipment. Contact others who are in your relative area and industry to see if they would want to buy your assets.

4.Decide how you want to sell your assets

Again, this will depend on your industry. If you are in retail, your current customers would probably love to buy up your inventory in a mark down sale. Simply drop your prices and open your doors and people are sure to come flooding in. If you have larger items to sell that the general public most likely won’t be interested in, consider contacting an auction house or asset management company (like us) to help you sell off your property. Not only will it make your life easier, but the professionals will have their own experience to help make your sale the most successful it can be. Whether you choose a mark down sale, a general open house sale, or an auction, make sure that you inform the proper people. You want to make sure the people who would be willing to pay the most for your items know about your sale!

All in all, we hope that these tips have helped you get started in your business liquidation process. If we could emphasize anything else, we would highly recommend using a professional liquidation or asset management service. They will know what they are doing and will be able to guide you through everything. Afterall, they do this every day and will be able to bring you the most money possible from your liquidation.

Have further questions about liquidating your business?

What Should Your Company Consider an Asset?

Posted on December 27, 2019January 14, 2020 by Administrator

What Should Your Company Consider an Asset?

Navigating the world of tangible assets

When you step back and take a look at your company (whether for a business liquidation or simply to gain a better understanding of your company’s worth) it can be difficult to determine exactly what you should consider an asset. Depending on how long you have had some of your inventory, property, equipment and machinery it can be hard to determine how much it is still worth. We want to make sure that your company is being valued for what it is truly worth, as well as help you determine assets that you might not have considered before! Whether you’re asking yourself “what is an asset?” or “how do I know how much my depreciated assets are worth?” we hope to be able to help.

So What is an Asset?

According to Investopedia:

"An Asset is anything of value or a resource of value that can be converted into cash"

You most likely already knew that. However, there is much more to it than just that. Assets can be broken up into multiple categories in order to better determine their worth, liquidation capabilities and depreciation after initial purchase. Check out our info graphic to compare the two types of tangible assets:

How do I know what my assets are worth?

After you have determined what assets you have, you will want to know what they are worth. It may be hard for you to determine the value of one of your assets especially if it is currently in use. You may have bought it a while ago and it’s still working great but on the other hand it could have been sitting in storage for the past five years after being upgraded. Appraisers are great for helping you fully understand the value and worth behind your property – regardless if you plan on selling or not. Our sister company Miedema Appraisals provides professional appraisals in order to make sure you know the full value of your items (feel free to contact them here). You should also be able to determine the current value based off of the price you originally paid and the depreciation rate for the item. If you do not have that information available, you can shop around to see what similar pieces of used equipment are selling for and make a judgement call off of that. Having a proper estimate for what your assets are worth is extremely important when trying to expand or liquidate your business.

We want to make sure that you treat everything that your company owns as an asset so that you can profit the most from what you already have! Now that we’ve answered the question “what is an asset” and given you a few ideas in order to determine the value of your assets you should be good to go! If you need more help evaluating your assets or would like to sell through one of our auctions, please let us know! We would be more than happy to set up a time to talk with you – just contact us here!

Check our our Sealed-Bid auctions!

Posted on August 28, 2018December 5, 2019 by Miedema Admin

Check our our Sealed-Bid auctions!

We have many great Sealed-Bid auctions for sale right now on 1800asset.com. You can view the Sealed-Bid sales by clicking here or by clicking one of these upcoming sales:

Select Propane & Fuel, Inc. All Assets

Complete Malt House Equipment Package

Joe Louis Arena Interior Metals and Infrastructure assets

15 Million $ Kitchen Cabinet Inventory Sealed Bid Auction

We will have more sealed bid auctions coming up in the future, but for now it would be in your best interest to look at our general upcoming auctions on our sister auction company’s site here. Are you interested in selling your own assets through a sealed bid auction? Contact us today! We would love to talk with you about the advantages of selling your unneeded inventory, machinery and equipment in an auction.

Looking to hold a standard live or online auction for your assets? We can work with you on that as well! Auctions are a fantastic was for you to sell your unwanted assets. The main advantage that most sellers are aware of when selling their assets in an auction is that they will most likely be able to receive higher funds than in a traditional sale. This is mainly because our loyal bidders (who will see your auction and will jump at the chance to participate) will bid against each other, pushing the bidding higher and higher, bringing you a better sale. Contact us today for more information.

Interested in buying equipment or heavy machinery through one of our auctions? Click here to browse a few of our upcoming online auctions! Buying equipment at an auction is often the best way to upgrade your assets. You pay less than you would buying the equipment new from a dealership, and often can get a great deal because you are the one dictating the price that you are willing to pay! Happy bidding!

RECORD PRICE: 2017 John Deere S680 Combine with 4 Sep. Hours Sold $360K on Wayland, MI Auction

Posted on August 17, 2018January 21, 2020 by Miedema Admin

Miedema Auctioneering, Inc. recently sold a 2017 John Deere S680 4WD combine with 4 sep. hours, never been in the field. It sold for record price of $360,000 on a Wayland, MI auction. Highest auction price ever for a combine sold without heads. Nice Work Team!

You can view the auction details here

Machinery Pete Article on the Event

We love having the opportunity to sell fantastic items such as this combine. And – it doesn’t hurt when they bring in as amazing as a price as this! If you have assets that you want to sell off, consider partnering with us here at Miedema Asset Management Group. Auctions are a fantastic way for you to sell off unneeded property and they can often bring in a higher selling price than a traditional sale. We take care to sell your assets in the most effective way possible – we even have separate sister companies that specialize in different industries. From construction equipment and agricultural equipment to boats, cars, semi trucks and guns, we have a way to sell your items. An additional great thing about our sister companies is that they all have loyal bidder pools that are always on the lookout for assets in that particular industry – so you know you will have a lot of interested buyers looking at your items. We do all the work for you in the auction process. You simply give us your assets and all of the information you have about them (including maintenance reports, titles and documentation, any manuals or handbooks you might have etc.) and we take it from there. You won’t have to deal with negotiating prices with a buyer – you won’t even have to talk with a buyer at all! We do a lot with auctions, however we also offer direct sales as well. You can check them out here.

Looking to buy? You’ve come to the right place! Auctions are a fun way to purchase new equipment, and because you dictate the bidding process, you get to negotiate the price you want! You won’t have to deal with a buyer and if you are participating in one of our online auctions you can purchase equipment right from your couch! Contact us if you have any questions, and click here to view some of our upcoming auctions.

Buy Iconic Joe Louis Arena Seats

Posted on May 2, 2018December 5, 2019 by Miedema Admin

Buy Iconic Joe Louis Arena Seats

Purchase your historic Joe Louis Arena seats TODAY! Detroit Fans have the opportunity to own a piece of history starting today!

Tuesday, May 1st:
Season Ticket holders get first opportunity to purchase seats.

Saturday, May 12th:
General Public gets to purchase remaining seats.

*All seats must be purchased through www.TheJoeSeats.com*

Seats will be sold in minimum sets of 2 or more – and will start at $150 per seat. Please check the website for pricing, availability and terms.

*Have questions? Contact Brennen Lubbers at 313.733.0304 or brennen@1800lastbid.com

We love having the opportunity to auction off interesting items like this! We have sold a lot of interesting items over the course of our time in the auction industry. Check out this blog from our sister company that highlights some of our favorites!

Do you have an interesting or famous item that you would like to sell? Or really, any assets that you would like to sell? Consider partnering with us and selling them in an auction! Auctions are a great way to get a higher price for your items than you would likely be able to receive in a typical sale. As bidders go back and forth for the chance to win your items, they push the price higher and higher – making your payoff even greater! Contact us today to see how we will be able to manage your assets to bring you the highest profits possible.

Looking to buy other interesting items? Check out the upcoming live and online auctions on our sister sites. Auctions are a great way to invest in quality used items, as you are able to dictate the prices yourselves! Because of this, you can be sure that you are getting assets for a fair value. Contact us if you have any questions about our company or concerning our bidding process!

Thank you Miedema Auctioneering, Inc.

Posted on April 27, 2018February 4, 2020 by Miedema Admin

Thank you Miedema Auctioneering, Inc.

“Thank you, Sid Miedema and all of the Miedema Auctioneering, Inc. team. Thank you for your help on all the problems we faced on my property. The ones we knew about and those we did not. Your ability to solve these issues promptly and to advertise to the right people made this auction a success. I had a lot of doubt about how I should sell my property, and I’m very grateful that you’re the ones that handled this. I can’t thank you enough for all the work you and every one put into my auction, the professional manner in which the auction was held, and above all getting me the best price for my land.”

Thank you.
Brian K. Payne

View this auction’s details

We are always so happy when our clients are fully satisfied with the work that they have received from us. We want to do our job well to serve others to the best of our abilities. That is a big part of our mission as a company and we love knowing that our customers think we are doing a good job.

Are you interested in working with us? We specialize in managing physical assets such as equipment and machinery but do a lot more than that! Check out our full services page to learn about what we do. Looking to hold an auction? The majority of our other sister companies are live and online auction companies. Auctions are a fantastic way to sell your equipment because they allow you to quickly and easily liquidate unneeded assets. Auctions have a specific deadline so you know exactly when your machinery will be sold, and you will get a fantastic price for your assets. Your equipment is exposed to our loyal pool of bidders who are ready to compete to buy your property. The competitive nature of an auction is exactly what drives the price up higher than what you would receive from a more traditional sale. Not to mention you won’t have to go through the hassle of negotiating with your buyer! You can just sit back and let us do the work – from the initial cataloging process to all the marketing for your auction we will take care of everything!

Have you checked out 1800lastbid.com mobile site recently?

Posted on March 20, 2018July 11, 2019 by Miedema Admin

We would like to encourage customers who downloaded the 1800lastbid app (from Apple or Google store) to check out our mobile site instead. 1800lastbid mobile app will be phased out and retired within the next 90 days. The app will be removed from the Apple and Google stores. Retiring the app will not affect the full or mobile sites for 1800lastbid.com.

1800lastbid.com is a complete listing of all upcoming auctions hosted on Online-AuctionSoftware.com, Inc. (OAS) auction system. The mobile site offers features and functions that are not available from the app such as account preferences, online payments, credit card management, etc.

1800lastbid.com is still your one stop auction source.

1800lastbid.com full & mobile site will continue to be supported and enhanced!

For quick access, add your favorite auction sites to the home screen of your device by following the steps below:

Apple

Open Safari (default internet browser on Apple products)
Launch website (such as 1800lastbid.com, bid.repocast.com, etc.)
Click the “share” button (on the bottom, just above the home button, square with up arrow)
Scroll through options and select “Add to Home Screen”
The icon will appear on devices home screen (it may not be on the first page, user may need to check other pages)

Android

Open Google Chrome (typical default browser on Android)
Launch website (such as 1800lastbid.com, bid.repocast.com, etc.)
Click the “settings or overflow” option in upper right corner (represented by 3 dots or a gear, depending on version)
Select Add to Home Screen

*Note: there are many different versions of Android devices and alternate browsers installed. Add to Home Screen option would be within the settings of the browser.

Welcome to Direct Sales

Posted on November 17, 2016February 4, 2020 by Administrator

Welcome to Direct Sales

Did you know that we offer private sales for entire companies, groups of assets, and or specific individual assets? Ranging from construction, industrial and trucks and trailers, we have an array of items to choose from through our Direct Sales platform.

One of the groupings we currently have within our direct sales is a grouping of (5) 2009 Kenworth W 900’s located at our Wayland, Michigan facility. To find out more about this group of trucks visit our website at 1800asset.com or follow this link: 2009 Kenworth W 900

Direct sales with Miedema Asset Management Group

The majority of our direct sales occur through sealed bid and turn-key auctions. These auctions are slightly different than the traditional auction that you would read about. A turn-key auction symbolizes that you can essentially turn the key to the front door of the company and find it fully operational. This is a great way to both buy or sell a company. It’s attractive to sellers because they don’t have to go through the hassle of selling off individual items to different buyers. Buyers like it because they can start operations right off the bat without having to deal with setting up the company and replacing parts.

A sealed bid auction means that all interested parties must submit their bid and then the seller will pick the highest offer. Unlike a traditional auction, bidders aren’t able to see what their peers are bidding, nor do they have the opportunity to counter bid. This forces a buyer to truly decide how much they value the property – not just base their bid off of what they think someone else values it at. If you are interested in working with us to sell off your assets, please contact us here.

Looking to buy? Check out some of our upcoming direct sales by clicking here.