The short answer
RTOs have no reliable published sale multiple that we could find, so the price rests on what a buyer can verify about the registration and the earnings behind it. We found no neutral register or survey of settled RTO sale prices, and a listed price is a seller's hope, not a completed sale.
The Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) does not let a registration move from one legal entity to another, so a sale is normally a sale of the company that holds it, with its compliance history (ASQA, Guide to Change of Ownership, 2025). The alternative is a new application: in the year to 30 June 2026 ASQA approved 219 of 402 initial registration applications (these include CRICOS applications) and rejected 91, with 92 withdrawn (ASQA annual report 2025 to 2026). The price turns on the years left on the registration, the regulator's file, scope, and revenue that rests on a funding contract the funder can end.
Who regulates RTOs, and how many are there?
There are roughly 4,000 RTOs, and ASQA regulates most of them: 3,754 at 30 June 2026, or 93.5 per cent of the national market (ASQA annual report 2025 to 2026). Two state regulators register the rest: the Training Accreditation Council (TAC) in Western Australia, with 158 RTOs, and the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA), with 102 (same report). The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations says they register RTOs whose training is limited to domestic students in those states (2026). The ownership rules below are ASQA's; a provider registered with the VRQA or TAC should check with that regulator.
What multiple do RTOs sell for?
RTOs have no reliable published multiple that we could find, so a valuer builds the price from normalised earnings and the factors below.
| Factor | Pushes the price up | Pushes the price down |
|---|---|---|
| ASQA standing | No conditions or sanctions; clean audit record | Conditions, suspended scope or regulatory action |
| Scope | In-demand products with students attached | Superseded or unused products |
| Funding mix | Many fee-for-service and employer clients | One state contract; repayment and consent risk |
| People in control | Directors who pass fit and proper tests | Owner is the main trainer; adverse regulatory history |
Does the registration transfer when an RTO is sold?
No. ASQA does not let a registration move from one legal entity to another, so buying assets alone brings no registration; the buyer needs the company that holds it. If the shares change hands and the ABN and ACN stay the same, the RTO can keep delivering as long as ASQA is told.
Clause 16 of the Compliance Standards, part of the revised Standards for RTOs in force from 1 July 2025, requires notice of a prospective ownership change as soon as practicable before it takes effect. ASQA's guide adds 10 business days after the event for an RTO-only provider, but the clause gives that period only for other events and for governing-person changes that cannot be known in advance. A CRICOS-registered provider must also notify beforehand, so the notice belongs in the completion timetable.
The notice needs a fit and proper person declaration from every governing person, including anyone owning 15 per cent or more (ASQA, 2025). The test can take in offences, insolvency, and cancelled, suspended or rejected registrations, VET Student Loans approvals or state funding (Compliance Standards, Schedule 1). If 50 per cent or more of the ownership changes within 12 months, ASQA requires a financial viability risk assessment and a self-assessment, may audit, and applies extra scrutiny to scope applications for 12 months (ASQA, 2025). A buyer prices that cost, time and its own history.
How do the re-registration date, scope and audit history move the price?
A registration near expiry, unused scope and a poor audit record each lower the price. Registration lasts up to seven years and renewal is due at least 90 days before expiry (National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011, the NVR Act, sections 17 and 31), so a near expiry hands the buyer a renewal to win. ASQA approved 774 renewal applications and rejected 22 in the year to 30 June 2026 (ASQA annual report 2025 to 2026).
An RTO cannot advertise, deliver or issue certification outside its scope (the qualifications and units it is approved to deliver), a new RTO cannot apply to add products for 24 months, and some products need an industry regulator's approval (ASQA, 2026). An RTO may not enrol anyone in a superseded product from a year after its replacement is listed (Compliance Standards, clause 14), and a registration lapses after 12 consecutive months without training or assessment unless ASQA extends the period (NVR Act, sections 40A and 40B).
In the year to 30 June 2026 ASQA completed 361 performance assessments, chosen on risk indicators, and found non-compliance in 228 (63.2 per cent); it imposed 71 conditions and made 110 decisions to cancel a registration or reject a renewal, involving 60 providers (ASQA annual report 2025 to 2026). A seller should have ready:
- ·The training.gov.au entry: scope, registration period and conditions (NVR Act, section 216)
- ·ASQA audit reports, rectification evidence and correspondence
- ·Funding contracts, caps, and the audit and repayment history of claims
Do state funding contracts and VET Student Loans approval survive a sale?
Not automatically. The Victorian and NSW funding contracts stay with the company but the funder has a say in a change in control, and VET Student Loans approval is held by the provider, which must report planned ownership changes (VET Student Loans Rules 2016, section 110).
Victoria's 2026 Skills First funding contract requires notice at least 20 business days before a change in control and allows termination if the change goes ahead after an objection (clauses 7.3, 7.4 and 17.4). NSW's Smart and Skilled contract for 2026 to 2027 requires the Department's consent before a change in control and lets it terminate if control changes without it (clause 30).
Neither contract promises a next year: Victoria's gives no guarantee of a later allocation (clause 5.6) and NSW's expires on 30 June 2027 (clause 5). The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) reports 1,137,645 government-funded students in 2025, down 82,170 (6.7 per cent), and funded program enrolments at private training providers down 12.6 per cent. A valuer prices funded earnings by contract term, allocation and audit record.
Does CRICOS registration add to what an RTO is worth?
It can, but it is a separate income stream with its own regulator and policy risk, not a bonus on domestic earnings. CRICOS registration lets an RTO enrol overseas students on student visas; 983 of ASQA's 3,754 RTOs held it at 30 June 2026, and new CRICOS registration applications to ASQA, and applications to add courses to existing CRICOS registrations, have been suspended for 12 months from 19 May 2026 (ASQA annual report 2025 to 2026).
A worked example: one state contract and a working owner
Illustration only: a hypothetical RTO has $3,000,000 of annual revenue, $1,800,000 (60 per cent) from one state funding contract and the rest from fee-for-service and employer training. All figures are made up, and the 3.0 times multiple is assumed, not a benchmark.
- ·Reported EBITDA is $600,000. The owner runs the RTO full time as chief executive on $100,000, and the market cost of the role is $180,000, so normalised EBITDA is $520,000.
- ·At 3.0 times, $520,000 x 3.0 = $1,560,000 before debt and working capital.
- ·If earnings follow revenue, $312,000 of the $520,000 depends on the contract, which is $936,000 of the price. Without it the price would be $624,000.
- ·Findings from an ASQA audit need $60,000 of file and system work, leaving $1,500,000. The buyer holds back 20 per cent ($300,000) until the funder confirms it does not object, and pays $1,200,000 at completion.
When the number has consequences
A formal valuation matters most when another party will examine the number: buying or selling an RTO, buying out a co-owner or shareholder, moving the registered company between related parties, a CGT event such as a small business CGT concession claim, or valuing shares held in an estate.
Oliver Group prepares independent valuations only. We are not a tax agent and do not give tax, legal or financial advice: your accountant and lawyer apply the valuation in their own fields. Reports follow the guidelines of APES 225 Valuation Services, and a report is not written to a predetermined number.
Oliver Group's fees are set by the annual turnover of the business: a Small Business Valuation is $1,495 + GST for turnover under $2 million, a Medium Business Valuation is $2,495 + GST for turnover between $2 million and $3 million, a Large Business Valuation is $3,495 + GST for turnover between $3 million and $10 million, and above $10 million the fee is quoted in writing before work starts. A small-business report is delivered in 2 business days and a medium- or large-business report in 3 business days; above $10 million the delivery date is agreed before commencement. Delivery time starts once payment and all required information have been received. The fee is fixed in writing before work begins and never depends on the concluded value.