Historical financial readiness
Reconcile selected accounts, organize historical reporting, document relevant accounting practices, and identify preparation gaps in the financial information.
Transaction Advisory
Prepare the financial information behind a future business sale.
Reconcile the financial story, support potential earnings adjustments, understand working-capital patterns, and prepare the records buyers will scrutinize before diligence accelerates.
Prefer to call about becoming a client? (631) 677-1344
A focused seller-side role
Financial preparation for the selling company.
Our role is seller-side financial and tax preparation; we do not advise purchasers. We perform seller-side earnings and normalization analysis, not a formal quality-of-earnings engagement, and we do not issue a quality-of-earnings report or conclusion. The owner’s legal, valuation, and transaction advisers remain responsible for marketing, valuation, negotiation, legal matters, and execution.
When seller-side preparation may be useful
Prepare before buyer diligence begins.
This service is designed for privately held companies whose owners are actively considering a sale and want to reconcile historical reporting, document potential normalization items, understand working-capital patterns, and prepare for buyer diligence before the process accelerates.
For companies preparing more broadly for lender, investor, or buyer scrutiny, see Financial Readiness.
For a practical preparation sequence, read How to prepare company financials for a future sale. Our focused guides explain how to support potential normalized EBITDA items and organize working-capital information before diligence.
Often a strong fit when
- A sale may be pursued within the next one to three years.
- Buyer interest has made financial preparation more urgent.
- Historical reporting requires reconciliation or clearer support.
- Potential normalization items are not consistently documented.
- Working-capital history has not been analyzed in a consistent format.
- Financial documents are dispersed across systems or team members.
What a seller-side engagement may include
Organize the financial record and document the assumptions behind it.
The scope is shaped around the contemplated sale, available financial information, expected timing, and the responsibilities of the owner’s other advisers.
Seller-side earnings analysis
Organize historical results, identify potential normalization items for management and its advisers to evaluate, reconcile supporting schedules, and document underlying assumptions.
Working-capital analysis
Analyze historical working-capital patterns and prepare schedules management and its transaction advisers can use when evaluating a proposed working-capital target.
Data-room & diligence preparation
Build a financial-document index, organize requested information, maintain a response tracker, and coordinate transaction-related tax analysis with Business Tax and legal counsel.
How the engagement works
A structured preparation process before and during diligence.
Understand the contemplated sale
Review the company, anticipated timing, historical reporting, financial systems, advisers involved, and information currently available.
Assess the financial record
Review relevant reporting, supporting schedules, potential normalization items, working-capital information, and data-room preparation gaps.
Prepare the agreed materials
Build the analyses, schedules, documentation, and financial data-room organization included in the written scope.
Support management responses
Help management organize financial responses, maintain the request process, and coordinate information with the owner’s advisers during diligence.
When a future sale becomes real
A future sale brings new attention to the financial record.
When an owner begins considering a sale, unexplained expenses, nonrecurring items, working-capital swings, and scattered support can weaken the company’s financial story. Reconciliation, documented normalization items, working-capital analysis, data-room organization, and coordinated tax analysis create a stronger foundation before buyers begin asking questions.
Before we begin
Is this service only for companies preparing to sell?
Yes. This service is designed for a privately held company contemplating the sale of some or all of the business. Our role is limited to preparation for the selling company and does not extend to a prospective purchaser.
How early should financial preparation begin?
Preparation can begin once a sale becomes a realistic possibility. Starting 12 to 24 months before an anticipated process may provide additional reporting periods in which to organize records and document financial trends. Shorter timelines can be evaluated during scoping.
What does seller-side earnings and normalization analysis include?
It may include organizing historical earnings, reconciling supporting schedules, identifying potential normalization items for management and its advisers to evaluate, and documenting the related assumptions. It is not a formal quality-of-earnings engagement and does not result in a quality-of-earnings report or conclusion. It does not determine business value or replace a prospective buyer's own diligence and analysis.
Do you provide a business valuation or determine the asking price?
No. We do not determine business value or recommend an asking price. We prepare financial information and analyses that management and its chosen transaction advisers may use in their respective roles.
How do you work with our legal and transaction advisers?
With management's authorization, we can coordinate financial schedules, data-room materials, diligence responses, and transaction-related tax information. Each adviser retains responsibility for the work within that adviser's role.
How is the engagement scoped and priced?
We consider the anticipated timing, number of entities, available financial records, reporting quality, expected diligence requirements, and advisers already involved. We then provide a written proposal describing responsibilities, deliverables, timing, and fees.
Make the company’s financial story easier to defend.
Share the anticipated timing, condition of the financial reporting, and advisers already involved. We’ll discuss the preparation that can create a more controlled diligence process.
Start Preparing for Buyer Diligence