Accounting
EBITDA
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization — a common proxy for operating cash generation.
Definition
EBITDA strips out financing and tax structure, plus non-cash items, to compare operating performance across businesses or periods. It's also the most common base for valuation multiples in M&A — particularly in the insurance-agency space, where 'agency multiples' are quoted in terms of EBITDA.
When It Matters
Buying, selling, or financing a business. Benchmarking performance year over year.
Common Questions
What's a typical EBITDA multiple for an independent insurance agency?
Multiples vary by size, growth, and book quality, but high single digits to low double digits is a common range for healthy agencies in 2026 transactions.