Have your CPA prepare an analysis of your cash flow to determine how much cash is available to pay debt service on an annual basis. Once you know how much cash is available to pay debt service, you can then estimate how much debt the buyer will be able to service. Most lenders calculate a minimum debt coverage ratio. This ratio is basically the cushion required by the lender for a given transaction. For example, your CPA says your business annually produces approximately $125,000 of cash flow that would be available to service debt. Now let us say the buyer’s lender requires a minimum debt coverage ratio of 1.25. In this example, the buyer’s lender would only finance debt with annual payments up to $100,000. Any debt payments above this level would not meet the lenders minimum debt coverage requirement.