Business merger and acquisition firms look for candidates with finance degrees and, more increasingly, Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degrees. Acquisition analysis professionals need to bring a solid understanding of how to select acquisition targets, how to read financial statements, property valuation techniques and corporate culture evaluation.

Advanced training through merger & acquisition associations can provide you with much of this information. Consider courses of instruction that will lead to industry certifications such as the Certified Business Appraiser Accreditation (CBA), the Accredited in Business Appraisal Review (ABAR) certification or the Business Valuator Accredited for Litigation (BVAL) certification to enhance your career. Look for training for merger and acquisition analysis in a variety of places.

1. Look for entry-level merger analysis training.

2. Get advanced training and professional development course for analysis services to exceed in your career.

3. Join merger acquisition analysis trade groups that provide members with professional development opportunities.

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Look for online business acquisition analysis training to earn a degree

Whether you are working in the field or are looking for training to get into the mergers and acquisitions industry, you need to start at least with a bachelor's degree in finance or business with an emphasis in finance. An MBA is typically preferred for the better positions. There are a number of online schools that offer respected finance degrees you should explore.

I recommend: Start on your career path in mergers & acquisitions with a finance degree you can obtain online from Colorado Technical University. Penn State has an online program available where you can earn your MBA while you are still working.

Find advanced merger and acquisition training

Whether you want to advance an already successful career or are looking to break into a new business, you need to find advanced training that will provide you with even more credentials such as the Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) or the Merger & Acquisition Master Intermediary (M&AMI) designations.

I recommend: Learn to develop strategic plans for mergers through the executive training program for mergers and acquisitions from Wharton's Aresty Institute of Executive Education. Take professional development courses aimed at executives working in the field from the Harvard Business School. Harvard offers executives from a variety of companies and industries detailed study in corporate restructuring.

Participate in acquisitions analysis groups that offer training for members

Most trade associations offer continuing education and professional development courses for their members. Some groups can guide you to special certification such as the CBA or BVAL designations to help you move into more lucrative positions.

I recommend: Check out the multitude of training seminars and other resources available through the National Association of Certified Valuation Experts. The International Business Brokers Association offers you chances to network with other industry experts while you gain valuable training to earn credentials for your advancement.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Find acquisition analysis services training that includes current updates and information that affects your work, such as new rulings and regulations from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

You've decided that it's time to grow your business and the best way to do that is through a merger and acquisition. Before taking any definitive steps, though, you'll need to do an acquisitions analysis. Only through an M&A analysis can you determine whether a business merger and acquisition is the way to go.

A key component to any merger acquisition analysis is due diligence. Due diligence allows you to assess the entity you want to acquire and quantify the risks. Depending on the company to be acquired, you may need to conduct diligence in several areas, including financial, human resource and environmental. Due diligence may also extend to other company assets, such as intellectual property. Determining the risks through a merger and acquisition analysis will avert any future liabilities to you. To make sure you are properly prepared, you need to do the following:

1. Compare acquisition analysis services to determine which one best suits the needs of your company.
2. Invest in a good merger and acquisition due diligence software.
3. Educate yourself about the merger and acquisition analysis process, including due diligence, through books and other resources.

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Find a premiere acquisitions analysis service

A good service will provide a thorough merger acquisition analysis that includes due diligence investigations. It should break down all of the areas that need to be explored and determine any probable liability, whether legal or financial. You can find acquisition analysis services dedicated to financial diligence, environmental diligence and technical diligence.

I recommend: Warren, McVeigh & Griffin provides analyses in three areas: organizational, financial, and technical. They conduct reviews of current and historical data to determine loss exposures. EBI Consulting offers expert environmental due diligence in various areas, including air quality and safety compliance.

Buy M&A analysis software to aid you through an M&A due diligence of third-party software

If you need to acquire a third-party intellectual property, you may not have access to source codes to determine compliance. You want a fast and accurate solution that clarifies software pedigrees and determines license obligations. You want to know the true value of the technical assets you are acquiring.

I recommend: BlackDuck Software provides solutions that assess third-party software, automate code evaluations and conduct a pre-acquisition software evaluation. Also, take advantage of Brainloop's free trial virtual data room that streamlines the various steps of a merger and acquisition, including due diligence.

Read up on M&A due diligence as part of your research on merger acquisition analysis

Although you don't need to be an expert, you should at least have a basic understanding of the merger acquisition process, including the due diligence involved. Consult books and sites that explain everything in easy-to-understand language.

I recommend: The Business Buyer Resource Center provides a download of a due diligence kit that includes checklists and a comprehensive study guide. Also read the primer The Art of M&A Due Diligence by Alexandra Reed Lajoux, which provides insight from 100 experts to help small businesses, manufacturers and service companies conduct M&A due diligence. Check out the sample due diligence checklist at Constable.net. It will help you get an idea of what to include in your own checklist.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Get personal insights on due diligence and other aspects of mergers and acquisitions from financial blog archives, such as AskTheVC.com and Feld.com.

Follow acquisition analysis and the surrounding business landscape closely to keep your firm competitive. Market changes, emerging funding sources and evolving financial markets all drive acquisition analysis services and the merger & acquisition (M&A) environment.

Read publications that keep you updated with news and information about global changes in companies that are going through restructuring and may be looking for merger opportunities. Watch the banking industry and the stock market to keep up with financial issues to be prepared for market fluctuations that affect credit lines for acquisitions. Subscribe to M&A analysis newsletters that provide a big-picture analysis of the M&A environment. Follow trends affecting the merger acquisition process in a variety of ways.

1. Look for a merger & acquisition data news service geared toward professionals working in the industry.

2. Watch for merger & acquisition data that comes from reliable experts in the field.

3. Participate in associations for acquisitions analysis.

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Find sites that gather information from a number of acquisition analysis news services

Look for websites that you can bookmark and check throughout the day to ensure that you hear about news about M&A activity among industrial distributors, manufacturers, technology providers and specific industries in which you work. Read both general financial news that affects the M&A market as well as industry-specific news that reflects recent deals affecting companies in your industry of interest.

I recommend: Industrial Distribution keeps you updated with industry news that you’ll need to have to keep up with the national scene. Read EIN News to get daily updates on big deals that have taken place and other related information.

Subscribe to up-to-date merger acquisition analysis publications for the best news coverage

In addition to headline news and industry reports, look for online publications that provide analysis of recent mergers and the companies that were involved. Find experts to put the news of potential mergers and acquisitions in perspective. Consider adding resources that offer opinions on the latest private equity buyouts and acquisitions strategies.

I recommend: StreetInsider keeps you updated with M&A news from across industry boundaries so that you can stay on top of the trends. Mergermarket provides news and analysis of recent market happenings and how they affect the industry.

Join merger and acquisition professionals for additional avenues to recent M&A developments

Trade associations, networking groups and financial conferences and meetings can provide additional sources of relevant news and trend analysis from M&A experts who are members. Read the association newsletters written by M&A professionals for others who work in the industry.

I recommend: Join the Association for Corporate Growth for coverage of all the latest headlines that are going on in the industry, as well as global news and coverage of other financial issues of which you need to keep aware. Remain in tune with all the changes that are affecting the industry through the publications put out by the Turnaround Management Association.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Find a reliable source for acquisition merger analysis information that directs its coverage to individual industries in which you work, such as high tech M&A publications or magazines that cover the hospitality industry in-depth.

To properly analyze a merger, it is critical to know some of the basic characteristics of each merger. In analyzing mergers and acquisitions, the focus is on one question: does the merger create value? Focusing on the appropriate features of each merger or acquisition is critical to answering that question. The type of merger is very important. For example, a hostile takeover or a stock swap can have important side effects in terms of the success of the merger and the total value created. The payment method, whether stock or cash, is also a critical element of the value creation process.

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Hostile takeover

Professionals label an acquisition a hostile takeover when the management of the target firm is opposed to the takeover. Hostile takeovers are more likely to fail, meaning the acquirer will not be able to buy the target firm. When a deal fails, the target's share price often drops and the trader will earn negative returns.

I recommend: WiseGEEK tells you what you need to know about hostile takeovers.

Stock swap

A stock swap is a merger or acquisition in which the purchased-or target-firm's shareholders trade their shares for shares in the acquiring firm. The trade is usually not one-for-one. The acquiring firm makes an offer to the target firm (based on the relative value of thet firm) and bases the stock swap offer on that value. This offer ratio is called the swap ratio. For example, if the swap ratio is 1:2, then for every two shares of the target firm, the shareholder gets one share in the acquiring firm.

I recommend: BusinessDictionary.com provides a concise definition of a stock swap. AllBusiness.com provides another explanation of a stock swap.

Horizontal merger

A horizontal merger occurs when two firms that compete in the same industry merge. If the two firms merging are large, then a horizontal merger can trigger an antitrust investigation. Antitrust investigations can put a merger in jeopardy, so this type of merger is often perceived as riskier than other types.

I recommend: Check out InvestorWords.com for a good definition of horizontal mergers. Also see learnmergers.com for a good definition of horizontal mergers, including guidelines that need to be followed.

Vertical merger

A firm buys another firm either above the acquirer or below the acquirer in the supply chain, creating a vertical merger. For example, if a firm that refines oil were to purchase a chain of gas stations, then that would be a vertical merger. Vertical mergers are more likely to be completed successfully than horizontal mergers because there is less of an antitrust concern.

I recommend: Farlex provides TheFreeDictionary.com, which has an excellent definition and discussion of vertical mergers.

Conglomerate merger

When two unrelated firms merge with each other, a conglomerate merger occurs. This is different from a horizontal merger because the firms are in different industries, and it is different from a vertical merger because the firms aren't related by the supply chain. Typically, a conglomerate merger creates the least value for the firms' shareholders in the long-run.

I recommend: The explanation of conglomerate mergers and related terms on Bizterms.net will prove to be helpful to you.

Acquisition premium

The acquisition premium is a critical driver of value creation. The premium is the value offered to the target firm's shareholders on top of the current market value of the target firm's shares. Often, the management and shareholders of the target firm will hold out for high premiums, so it is in the interest of the acquirer to carefully analyze the target ahead of time and ascertain a maximum price to pay for the target firm's shares.

I recommend: Investopedia, a trusted informational resource for investing words and phrases, provides a good explanation of acquisition premiums.