A closely held firm is not a smaller version of a large public firm, anymore than a child is a miniature adult. While realizing that like large corporations, value comes from a business's ability to generate future cash flows, Long and Bryant emphasize the differences between the two. The primary question is does a separate entity exist or is the business just an extension of its principal owner or manager? If yes, how does this business vary from a large publicly traded firm with market and not management control?

This book gets to the fundamental differences between the two and the...