How Much Does a PPA (Purchase Price Allocation) Cost? Price and Fees 2026 (France & Switzerland)

Price interval of a PPA mandate, cost factors and worked cases, in France and Switzerland.

Introduction: how much does a PPA really cost in 2026?

A Purchase Price Allocation (PPA) mandate generally costs between €/CHF 10,000 and 50,000 for an SME with an enterprise value between €5M and €50M/CHF, with a pre-deal indicative PPA representing 30 to 50% of that budget, and ETI or multi-jurisdiction files exceeding this ceiling (Hectelion practice, 2026). The right budget depends on a single question: how many intangible assets need to be identified, and is your data ready?

A PPA allocates the acquisition price between identifiable intangible assets and residual goodwill, at the acquisition date. This accounting obligation, required by IFRS 3 and US GAAP ASC 805, mobilises a demanding methodology, relief from royalty, MEEM, cost approach, on which the time billed directly depends. As the IASB states in the basis for conclusions of IFRS 3:

« The objective of accounting for a business combination is to provide information that is relevant about the assets acquired, the liabilities assumed and the consideration transferred, so that users of financial statements can evaluate the nature and financial effects of the transaction. », IASB, basis for conclusions of IFRS 3.

The PPA market nonetheless remains fairly opaque on pricing. Three factors sustain the confusion in 2026. First, the scope gap from one quote to another: two engagements titled « PPA » can cover two, or six, intangible assets to be valued. Second, the rising bar set by auditors and tax authorities since the BEPS work on the DEMPE analysis, which makes a superficial report riskier than before. Third, the multiplication of cross-border Franco-Swiss acquisitions, which require covering two regulatory frameworks, IFRS 3 and Swiss GAAP FER 30, in a single engagement.

This article gives the price intervals at a glance, details what drives the bill, explains how a PPA is billed, situates the 2026 market trends, describes the engagement's course and timeline, compares providers, explains how to reduce the cost without losing defensibility, lists the five costly mistakes, then illustrates it all with two worked cases, before answering the ten most frequent questions.

The price of a PPA at a glance: 2026 intervals by transaction size

Type of engagement	Transaction size (EV)	Price interval	Indicative timeline
Pre-deal indicative PPA	Any size	Generally 30 to 50% of a formal PPA's budget	1 to 3 weeks
Formal PPA, SME	€5M to €50M/CHF	€/CHF 10,000 to 50,000	6 to 10 weeks
Formal PPA, mid-cap or multi-jurisdiction	Above €50M/CHF, or Franco-Swiss	From €/CHF 50,000, no fixed ceiling	8 to 14 weeks

Intervals from Hectelion practice, 2026, for engagements conducted in France and Switzerland, excluding tax and disbursements. The pre-deal indicative PPA is a complementary professional practice carried out before closing, it does not substitute for the formal post-closing PPA required by IFRS 3.

The first tier of this table has also evolved with artificial intelligence. Automated data room processing tools speed up the collection of contracts, invoices and CRM histories needed for a pre-deal indicative PPA, which reduces the time billed on this component without changing the professional judgment required to validate the relief-from-royalty or weighted average cost of capital assumptions retained.

Scope the budget of your PPA engagement before you commit

Thirty minutes are enough to scope your PPA and the corresponding budget. Hectelion conducts Purchase Price Allocation engagements in France and Switzerland, for SME and mid-cap acquisitions, alone or alongside your auditor. Book a free, confidential call with our team: we scope the number of assets to identify, the state of your data room and the timeline, before any commitment.

Acontos: estimate the value of your business online for free

Before going into the detail of a PPA budget, note that Hectelion has developed Acontos, an online tool for audit, due diligence and business valuation, powered by Claude Sonnet 5 by Anthropic and calibrated by Hectelion's methodology. From your accounts, it produces in a few minutes a first estimate of the value of your shares, free of charge and without retaining any document. Launch the valuation simulator for an order of magnitude, then read on to understand what a PPA engagement costs, and covers.

What drives the price: assets, data, complexity, urgency

First, the number of intangible assets to identify. A brand and a customer portfolio require two valuation sheets; proprietary technology, a non-compete agreement and codified know-how add three more, each with its method, assumptions and sensitivity analysis. See our dedicated purchase price allocation service.

Second, the availability and quality of data. A complete data room, with billing history, attrition rate and licence agreements available, reduces reconstruction time. Partial data forces the valuer to reconstruct it, exactly as with a standard financial due diligence, which lengthens the engagement and its cost.

Third, sector complexity. A SaaS or technology company, where the MEEM method applies to recurring customer relationships with an attrition rate to be finely calibrated, requires more analytical work than an industrial company with simpler intangible assets.

Fourth, the size of the transaction and the number of entities involved. A single-entity PPA in France differs from a PPA covering several Franco-Swiss subsidiaries, each with its own regulatory framework and its own goodwill treatment.

Fifth, urgency. IFRS 3 imposes a measurement period of twelve months maximum. Launching the engagement late, close to this deadline, exposes to higher fees for a compressed timeline, a constant market practice in France and Switzerland alike.

Finally, the distinction between pre-deal and post-deal PPA changes the picture: the pre-deal indicative PPA, carried out before closing to inform negotiation, is structurally cheaper than a formal post-closing PPA, since it does not produce the full report presented to the external auditor.

Fixed fee or time and materials: how a PPA engagement is billed

A fixed fee is the rule for a PPA: a scope defined in the engagement letter, a number of assets to identify, a firm price, a timeline. This billing method protects both parties, the client knows the budget, the valuer commits to a precise deliverable. Time and materials billing, hourly or daily, is mainly used when the number of assets to identify is not known in advance, particularly on numerous and heterogeneous portfolios of brands or patents.

Check what the fixed fee includes, this is the leading source of misunderstanding on quotes. Normally included: exhaustive identification of assets, valuation of each of them, the WARA calculation and its consistency test against the WACC, the formalised report and the presentation to the external auditor. Normally excluded, and to be priced separately: VAT, disbursements, reconstruction of missing data, updating the report if the measurement period is extended, and the second regulatory framework on a Franco-Swiss file if it was not anticipated in the quote.

Hectelion pricing: fees adapted to the actual scope

A clarification is needed on the status of the figures in this article: the price intervals mentioned are drawn from Hectelion's practice and market observations relative to its competitors, in France as in Switzerland. They describe market practice, not a fixed fee schedule.

Hectelion adapts its pricing to the actual scope of each engagement, from the pre-deal indicative PPA to the multi-jurisdiction file, relying on a multi-method methodology aligned with IVSC standards. Each quote is issued after a free scoping call, on the basis of a firm fixed fee defined in the engagement letter, in the continuity of our intangible asset valuation offering.

2026 trends: heightened scrutiny, AI acceleration, polarised costs

The PPA market is undergoing a dual evolution in 2026. On one hand, scrutiny is intensifying: since the BEPS work and the generalisation of the DEMPE analysis, a superficial PPA report is more exposed to a reassessment or a challenge from the external auditor, which pushes serious acquirers towards more documented, hence more complete, engagements rather than entry-level ones. See also our analysis of the transfer pricing of intangible assets, a discipline close to PPA.

On the other hand, artificial intelligence accelerates preparatory work: structured data room collection, initial accounting reconciliations and comparables research take fewer hours than before, which compresses the timeline of pre-deal indicative PPAs without reducing the professional judgment required on the assumptions. The market should therefore keep polarising between an accelerated pre-deal PPA and a documented post-deal PPA, whose cost rewards defensibility before the auditor, not just time spent.

Course and timeline: from the engagement letter to the final report

A PPA engagement runs through seven phases, from familiarisation to the delivery of the final report, over a total duration of six to ten weeks for an SME, more for a multi-jurisdiction file. The acquirer (CFO) mandates the independent valuer and provides the data, SPA, financial statements, business plan. The valuer identifies the intangible assets, values them method by method, calculates the WARA to test consistency with the WACC, determines residual goodwill then documents the whole. The report is then presented to the external auditor, statutory auditor in France, réviseur in Switzerland, as part of consolidated accounts certification. The detail of the seven phases and the expected content of a PPA report is available in our reference article on PPA.

Comparing providers: Big Four, boutique firms, general accountants

Three categories of providers conduct PPA engagements, each with legitimate use cases. The Big Four and large audit firms have dedicated teams and multi-country coverage, suited to listed groups and large transactions, at fees generally above the SME interval. Independent boutique valuation firms, such as Hectelion, apply the same methodological rigour, aligned with IVSC standards, at fees calibrated for SMEs and mid-caps, with full independence from the auditor and traditional financial intermediaries. General accounting firms may lack specialisation in the methods specific to PPA, relief from royalty, MEEM, WARA, a criterion worth checking before mandating.

A point of caution: the auditor who will certify the accounts should not conduct the PPA they will later have to validate, a conflict of interest ruled out in practice by every serious firm. Before signing, three questions distinguish quotes that look comparable: how many intangible assets does the quote name specifically, does the report include a complete sensitivity analysis, and does the quote cover both regulatory frameworks if the transaction is Franco-Swiss? A serious provider answers these three questions in writing without difficulty.

How to reduce the cost of your PPA without losing defensibility

The cost of a PPA is not a given: several levers reduce the bill without ever sacrificing the depth required by IFRS 3. First, preparing the data room before mandating the valuer, three years of billing history, licence agreements, an already-calculated attrition rate, avoids the most costly reconstruction hours in the quote.

Second, launching a pre-deal indicative PPA before closing rather than discovering the scope once the transaction is signed. Part of the asset identification and data collection carried out upstream reduces the time of the formal post-closing engagement by the same amount.

Third, where the methodology allows, grouping assets of a similar nature, several brands of the same portfolio for instance, in a common sensitivity analysis rather than in fully separate sheets, without reducing the number of assets actually valued.

Fourth, mandating early within the twelve-month IFRS 3 measurement period to avoid the rush fee of a compressed timeline, the most frequent and costly mistake observed in practice.

Fifth, on a Franco-Swiss file, mandating a single firm able to cover IFRS 3 and Swiss GAAP FER 30 in one engagement rather than two separate providers, who duplicate part of the functional analysis and data collection.

None of these levers touches the independence declaration or the sensitivity analysis: reducing the cost of a PPA is about the efficiency of preparation, never the depth of work required by the external auditor.

The 5 costly mistakes

Mistake 1: Choosing the cheapest provider without checking their independence

An attractive quote that does not mention a formal independence declaration, or that comes from the audit firm itself, exposes to a report challenged by the tax authority or a counter-expert. The cost of a second PPA far exceeds the initial saving.

Mistake 2: Under-budgeting a Franco-Swiss multi-jurisdiction PPA

A quote calibrated on a single framework, IFRS 3 alone or Swiss GAAP FER 30 alone, underestimates the real time when the transaction involves entities on both sides of the border, each with its own goodwill treatment.

Mistake 3: Launching the engagement too late in the measurement period

Waiting for the last months of IFRS 3's twelve-month window to mandate the valuer exposes to higher fees for a compressed timeline, with a risk of a correction through profit or loss if the deadline is missed.

Mistake 4: Accepting a quote that excludes sensitivity analysis

A report without a sensitivity table on key assumptions, royalty rate, attrition rate, useful life, does not withstand a serious challenge. Check that this deliverable is included in the quote, not billed as an extra.

Mistake 5: Confusing the budget of a pre-deal PPA with that of a post-deal PPA

A pre-deal indicative PPA, useful for informing price negotiation, does not replace the formal post-closing PPA presented to the auditor, any more than it exempts from a future goodwill impairment test. Budgeting only for the first means discovering the cost of the second after closing, without having anticipated it.

Case 1: industrial acquisition in France, PPA at €18,000

Case built for pedagogical purposes based on observed market practices. Company C SAS, industrial equipment manufacturer, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Revenue €8M. Acquisition price €12M. Two intangible assets identified: a commercial brand and a customer portfolio. Complete data room, billing history available over five years.

The quote comes to €18,000, at the low end of the €10,000 to €50,000 interval, due to the low number of assets to value and the immediate availability of data. The engagement runs over seven weeks, with no reconstruction of missing data, and covers identification, valuation by the relief-from-royalty method for the brand and by MEEM for the customer portfolio, the WARA calculation and the final report.

Case 2: Franco-Swiss acquisition, PPA at CHF 42,000

Case built for pedagogical purposes based on observed market practices. Company D SA, a distributor active in France and Switzerland, acquires a Basel-based competitor. Enterprise value CHF 35M. Four intangible assets identified: brand, proprietary logistics technology, customer relationships and a non-compete agreement signed with the founders. Dual regulatory framework applicable, IFRS 3 for the French entity and Swiss GAAP FER 30 for the Swiss entity, with the two alternative goodwill treatments to be documented on the Swiss side. Partial data room, customer attrition rate to be reconstructed from CRM history.

The quote comes to CHF 42,000, at the high end of the interval, due to the number of assets, the dual regulatory framework and the time needed to reconstruct data. The engagement runs over twelve weeks and includes coordination with the two auditors, French and Swiss.

A word from the founder

« I'm often asked: why does a PPA cost €15,000 with one firm and €45,000 with another for comparable transaction sizes? The answer rarely lies with the provider, it lies in the number of assets to identify and the state of the data. »

« A quote that looks too low almost always hides a gap: no independence declaration, no sensitivity analysis, or a single accounting framework when the transaction involves two. »

« The right instinct isn't to compare prices, it's to compare scopes. A complete quote costs more than an incomplete one, and always costs less than a second PPA. »

Aristide Ruot, Ph.D.
Founder | Chief Executive Officer, Hectelion SA

FAQ: the 10 essential questions on the price of a PPA

Introduction: what to remember before the questions

The price of a PPA mandate depends first on the number of intangible assets to identify and the availability of data, before the size of the transaction itself. The following questions answer the most frequent queries of finance departments and acquirers in France and Switzerland.

Q1: How much does a PPA cost?

Between €/CHF 10,000 and 50,000 for an SME with an enterprise value between €5M and €50M/CHF, depending on the number of assets identified, data availability and sector complexity (Hectelion practice, 2026).

Q2: How much does a PPA engagement cost?

The term « PPA engagement » refers to the same exercise as a « PPA mandate »: the price interval is identical, €/CHF 10,000 to 50,000 for an SME, excluding mid-cap or multi-jurisdiction files that exceed this ceiling.

Q3: How much does a PPA mandate cost at Hectelion?

At Hectelion, a PPA mandate for an SME sits within the same €/CHF 10,000 to 50,000 interval, adjusted to the number of assets and the file's complexity. Book a call for a precise quote.

Q4: Is the price of a PPA negotiable?

The scope is more negotiable than the price itself. Reducing the number of assets analysed or the depth of the sensitivity analysis lowers the quote, but weakens the report before the auditor or the tax authority.

Q5: Who pays for the PPA, the acquirer or the target?

The acquirer mandates and pays for the PPA, since the accounting obligation falls on them from the point of control. The target provides operational data but does not fund the engagement.

Q6: Is the cost of a PPA tax deductible?

The tax treatment of PPA fees depends on the jurisdiction and the qualification retained, capitalisable acquisition costs or a deductible expense. This point falls to tax advice, to be validated with your accountant or tax lawyer before the engagement.

Q7: Does a pre-deal PPA cost less than a post-closing PPA?

Yes. A pre-deal indicative PPA generally represents 30 to 50% of a formal PPA's budget, since it does not produce the full report presented to the auditor and sometimes relies on incomplete data room information.

Q8: Why does a Franco-Swiss multi-jurisdiction PPA cost more?

Because it mobilises two distinct regulatory frameworks, IFRS 3 on the French side and Swiss GAAP FER 30 on the Swiss side, with different goodwill treatments, which lengthens analysis and documentation time.

Q9: How long does it take to get a PPA engagement quote?

A precise quote generally requires a first thirty-minute call and the communication of the transaction's broad lines, price, expected number of assets, timeline. An indicative quote can be delivered within forty-eight hours.

Q10: Does the price include the presentation to the external auditor?

At Hectelion, yes: the quote covers producing the report and an exchange with the external auditor to answer their questions. Check this point with any provider, some bill it as an extra.

Estimate the value of your business with Acontos, Hectelion's online simulator

To extend this reading with a concrete figure, Hectelion provides Acontos, its online tool for audit, due diligence and business valuation. Powered by Claude Sonnet 5 by Anthropic and calibrated by Hectelion's methodology, it reads your accounts, normalises EBITDA, applies real sector multiples and rebuilds a net-debt bridge to estimate the value of your shares in a few minutes. Launch the valuation simulator for free: the tool is confidential, retains no document and does not replace a formal valuation, but it gives a first useful order of magnitude for gauging the value of the assets to be valued before discussing it with our teams.

Conclusion: the price of a PPA is read in the scope, not the quote alone

The cost of a PPA mandate is not an isolated figure, it reflects a scope: the number of intangible assets to identify, the quality of available data, the number of jurisdictions involved and the deadline set by the measurement period. For a Franco-Swiss SME, the €/CHF 10,000 to 50,000 interval covers the large majority of files, the most complex cases exceeding it. Comparing quotes means comparing identical scopes, not just amounts, exactly as with any business valuation engagement.

Article summary

A PPA mandate costs between €/CHF 10,000 and 50,000 for an SME with an enterprise value between €5M and €50M/CHF, depending on the number of intangible assets identified, data availability and sector complexity. A pre-deal indicative PPA costs 30 to 50% of that budget. Mid-cap or Franco-Swiss multi-jurisdiction files exceed this ceiling.

Price varies according to six factors: the number of assets to value, data availability, sector complexity, the size and number of jurisdictions of the transaction, urgency linked to IFRS 3's twelve-month measurement period, and whether the engagement is pre-deal or post-deal. The two worked cases illustrate this: €18,000 for a French industrial acquisition with two assets and complete data, CHF 42,000 for a Franco-Swiss acquisition with four assets and a dual regulatory framework. Several levers reduce this bill without losing defensibility: preparing the data room upstream, launching a pre-deal indicative PPA, grouping similar assets and mandating early within the measurement period.

Comparing providers means checking independence from the auditor, the inclusion of sensitivity analysis and coverage of the jurisdictions involved, beyond the quote amount alone. Hectelion conducts PPA engagements in France and Switzerland, for transactions of 2 to 500 MCHF, in full independence from traditional financial intermediaries.