EveryBooks / Industries / Private equity & multi-entity / Due diligence readiness
Private equity & multi-entity
Due diligence readiness
Find what diligence would find, while you still have time and leverage to fix it. We prepare the books and the schedules a buyer will ask for, before the buyer asks.
Who this is for. Founder, CFO or private equity seller preparing for a sale, a recap or a refinancing.
The problem today
Diligence exposes gaps in the books late, when the cost of fixing them is measured in price and leverage rather than in hours. A missing schedule, a reconciliation that never balanced, revenue recognized inconsistently across two years: each one becomes a question you answer from a weak position.
The team is also busy running the business. Preparing for diligence while closing the month is how both get done badly.
What we deliver
A review of the books through a buyer's eyes
We go through the record the way a diligence team will, and give you the list of what they will find. Written plainly, ranked by how much it is likely to cost you.
Balances and schedules cleaned up
Accounts reconciled, supporting schedules rebuilt where they are missing, and unexplained balances either explained or resolved.
Revenue and customer data prepared for analysis
Revenue by customer, by period and by product, consistent across the years a buyer will look at, so cohort and retention questions can be answered from your data rather than argued about.
Consistency across periods
Where policy or presentation changed mid-history, we identify it and set out the effect plainly, so the change is disclosed by you rather than discovered by them. Any restatement is a decision for your accountants, not for us.
Data room support
We help assemble and structure the financial sections, and we stay available to answer the follow-up requests that arrive during the process.
What agents do, and what your team approves
What the agents do
Agents rebuild schedules from transaction data, test reconciliations across every period in scope, and flag inconsistencies between periods for review.
What they never do
Every adjustment is proposed to you with the reasoning, and your team decides what to post. Nothing is restated without your explicit approval.
Systems we work with
- Any ERP
- NetSuite
- QuickBooks
- Excel
From past work
What we have built
We have provided transaction support and reporting for deal teams working on acquisitions, which is also what tells us what the other side asks for first.
Questions we get
Is this a quality of earnings report?
No. We do not issue quality of earnings reports and we are not making an independent assessment of your earnings. We prepare the books and the schedules so that the firm performing that work can do it quickly, and so that what it finds does not surprise you.
How early should we start?
Six to twelve months before you expect to go to market is comfortable. Three months is workable. Starting after the data room is open means fixing things under observation, which is the expensive way.
What do buyers ask for first?
Monthly profit and loss for the last three years at a consistent level of detail, revenue by customer, a working capital build, and the bridge from your reported numbers to anything you are presenting as adjusted. The absence of any of those sets the tone for everything after.
What if the review finds something serious?
You hear it from us first, in private, with time to decide what to do. That is the entire reason to do this early.
Related
- Finance function assessmentA clear read on how finance runs today, and a plan to improve it.
- Revenue analyticsOne trusted view of revenue, growth and retention.
- Post-acquisition integrationWe bring every acquired company onto one set of books.
- All Private equity & multi-entity workA platform grows by buying companies.
- How we workRead the books, design for agents, ship them, train your operators, then run and improve.