There's good advice in this article about selling a small business.

Here's something to add: if you're hoping to sell your business, don't play games with the books. If you were to hide some revenue or inflate some expenses in an attempt to save on taxes, for example, that would be a mistake.

Why? Because your potential buyer will want to see your books and see that they match your tax returns. If they don't match, your business will be valued at the LOWER number. In particular, buyers' banks are extraordinarily hardnosed about this kind of discrepancy.

Also: your buyer might not want to assume your tax liability.

Finally, it's not legal.

I've seen some sales of decent businesses get derailed by this. So be careful.