Taking the Business to Market
Buyers find everything. We make sure what they find works in your favor.
What a Buyer Finds in Your Books Either Supports Your Valuation or Undermines It.
The businesses that get the best outcomes in a sale process are the ones that prepared. Not the ones that moved fastest, and not the ones that got lucky. The ones that knew what a buyer would find before the buyer found it — and had time to address it.
When you're heading to market, your accounting and finance function becomes a central part of the narrative a buyer is buying. Clean books, a close that happens on time, accounting and finance reporting that tells a coherent story, and a team that can answer hard questions about the numbers — these things protect valuation. The absence of them creates negotiating leverage for the buyer.
We prepare businesses for sale through the Financial Discovery Assessment™ — the same rigor a buyer's QoE firm will apply, done before the process starts so you control what gets found and when.
Where We Focus
What Gets Found in Diligence — and What to Do About It Before the Process Starts.
Quality of Earnings Preparation
A buyer's QoE firm will scrutinize revenue quality, customer concentration, recurring versus one-time items, EBITDA adjustments, and accounting policy consistency. We run the same analysis before you're in a process — identifying what a buyer will find and giving you time to address it, explain it, or price it into your expectations before it becomes a negotiating point.
Financial Statement Cleanup
Years of accounting decisions that made sense at the time can create a messy picture when a buyer looks at the books. Inconsistent revenue recognition, non-standard accounting policies, personal expenses in the business, unusual balance sheet items — we identify and clean up what needs cleaning before it becomes a diligence finding.
EBITDA Normalization
Your true EBITDA — adjusted for owner compensation at market rates, one-time items, and non-recurring expenses — is the number that drives your valuation multiple. We build the normalization schedule that presents your adjusted EBITDA clearly and defensibly, and prepares you to support every add-back with documentation when a buyer asks.
Data Room Preparation
A well-organized data room signals a well-run business. A disorganized one signals risk. We build the financial component of the data room — three to five years of clean financial statements, supporting schedules, contract documentation, and the accounting and finance analysis a sophisticated buyer will ask for. Organized, indexed, and ready.
CFO Support Through the Process
During a sale process, a buyer's diligence team will ask detailed, specific questions about the financials. Having a CFO who knows the business, knows the books, and can answer those questions credibly is one of the most valuable things a seller can have in the room. We provide that presence — for the diligence calls, the management presentations, and the conversations that happen when buyers probe.
Post-LOI Financial Support
After a letter of intent is signed, diligence intensifies and the financial requests multiply. We support sellers through the post-LOI period — responding to diligence requests, managing the working capital peg negotiation, and ensuring the financial closing conditions are met without surprises that could retrade the deal.
The Right First Step
The M&A Readiness Assessment.
The Financial Discovery Assessment™ with an M&A focus applies the same rigor a buyer's QoE firm will apply — before they do. You get a prioritized roadmap of what needs to be addressed, what it would cost to fix, and how much time you need to do it right. The best time to start is before you're in a process.
The Sell-Side Playbook
Deeper reads on the finance work a sale process requires.
Each is a real engagement pattern from the Sell-Side M&A practice.
M&A / QoE Prep (Pre-QoE)
We prepare; the CPA firm attests. The pre-QoE work that makes the buyer's QoE cheaper, faster, and less contentious.
Working Capital Peg & Historical Build
The single biggest source of value leakage at close. The historical build is what protects it.
The Sell-Side Data Room
Structured the way experienced buyers want it. Financial, tax, legal, HR, ops, IT.
Buyer Types & What Each Wants
Strategic, PE, family office, search fund, ESOP. Different diligence styles, different asks.
Sell-Side Timeline
12 months, 6 months, 90 days out. What has to be true at each mile marker.
The Full Sell-Side Practice
The overview: how we work with sellers from prep through close and post-close.
Work With Us
Diligence-ready books before diligence starts.
Whether you're 24 months out from a process, preparing to launch, or already in diligence — the finance-function work required at each stage is different. Our team has been on both sides of the table: preparing sellers, and running deal-side diligence. That pattern recognition is what shortens your timeline and protects valuation.
Schedule a Discovery Call
We’ll reach out within one business day.