Selling a business
These guides cover the finance work that comes before and during a sale: getting the numbers ready, preparing for a quality of earnings review and answering what buyers will ask. They are written for owners planning an exit in the next one to three years. For a finance lead to prepare the business and support the process, see Decipher's fractional CFO services.
Due diligence checklist: the financials buyers want to see
A financial due diligence checklist for owners selling a company: the documents buyers request in each area, what they test with each one, a request tracker, and the gaps that slow a deal down.
Exit planning starts with the numbers, 12 to 24 months out
Exit planning on the financial side means getting the books, earnings, working capital and reporting into the shape a buyer will test, well before a sale. A month-by-month timeline, what buyers look at, how valuation approaches work, and the mistakes that cost sellers time and price.
Quality of earnings vs audit: what each one tests
A quality of earnings report and an audit both review a company's financials, but they answer different questions for different readers. What each one tests, who commissions it, what it produces, and which one a seller needs before a sale.
Selling a business: the financial steps from prep to close
Selling a business runs through a fixed sequence: get the numbers ready, set a price, market to buyers, sign a letter of intent, survive diligence, sign the purchase agreement and close. What the seller's finance side does at each stage, the deal terms that decide what the seller keeps, and a worked example from headline price to cash at closing.
Working capital peg: how it is set and how sellers prepare
What the working capital peg is in a business sale, how buyers and sellers set it from monthly history, how the closing true-up changes the price, and what sellers should prepare.
Quality of earnings and EBITDA adjustments before a sale
What a quality of earnings report examines, which EBITDA adjustments hold up in diligence and which ones buyers push back on, how the working capital peg works, and how to prepare in the 6 to 12 months before a sale.