Sellers underestimate how much a sophisticated buyer's diligence team will find. Buyers underestimate the same thing. The result is a lot of surprise discoveries post-close that could have been surfaced, priced, or resolved with a proper QofE before signing. Due diligence isn't about distrust. It's about doing the job right. Get real diligence done. Even if you don't choose Numera Advisory, make sure you get a real scope you are comfortable with and ensure all+ is done and the results well communicated.

Your company is growing fast, but your accounting team+processes aren't keeping up. That gap will cost you — in decisions made on bad data, in missed signals, in audits that surface problems you could have fixed six months earlier. The best time to close that gap was last year. The second best time is right now. The misses build up. We see searchers endure oh-so-much, whether it's costly, unforeseen liquidity crunches, crap system integrations, investors/board members unhappy with speed and quality of reporting, all of it starts with getting the accounting numbers right and communicated even better by real accounting leaders. Let us help dammit.

Hollywell is now Numera Advisory, woohoo! And a fractional CFO and Controller from Numera is a real, tenured accounting professional, supported by our full team (Templates, ideas, guides, scaling up and down). It's not a marketing term for a firm of block-and-tackle accounting managers and a team of offshore bookkeepers. And they're not a consolation prize for companies that can't afford a full-time, seasoned executive. It's a deliberate decision to bring in senior finance leadership exactly when you need it — during a raise, an acquisition, a difficult audit — without carrying that cost year-round. It's not a workaround. It's how smart ETA and traditional search owner operators build lean, effective F&A functions, until their planned scale happens.

Your LOI is in. Your exclusivity clock is ticking. You don't need a slow, under-experienced team running a process — you need senior professionals who have been in the room before and know exactly what to look for. Speed and rigor aren't mutually exclusive. The right team gives you both. Our timeline for deals < $20M is typically soup to nuts ~4 weeks, with draft results in 2-3 weeks. We're never the hold up and we don't repeat ourselves keeping deal fatigue to a minimum. Let's go.

Recurring revenue sounds great until you find out 40% of it is actually one customer on a contract expiring in 90 days. Or that the 'recurring' fees are really project-based billings that happened to repeat. A Quality of Earnings report doesn't just validate the numbers — it tells you what the numbers actually mean. Get real diligence from a real provider. @Hollywellteam is a great choice for ETA/Traditional Search alongside our middle-market PE client base (I.e., large deals). Regardless of provider, make sure any that you're talking to give you a list of actual procedures they'll be performing and hold them to it.

The seller believes in their business. That's their job. Your job is to believe in their financials — and those are two very different things. Passion doesn't make a customer contract renewable or guarantee deposits will turn into work. Confidence doesn't fix a working capital problem. Diligence does. Get real diligence, from a real provider, even if it's not @Hollywellteam. We shake our heads in derision and flat out just feel bad for buyers when we see some of the shiny "reports" others are putting out that don't have serious big firm diligence and audit CPA backgrounds.

Revenue is a story. Adjusted EBITDA is a pitch. A Quality of Earnings report is the truth. Sellers aren't typically lying — they genuinely believe in their numbers. But belief and accuracy aren't the same thing. Before you write a check, make sure you understand what's recurring, what's real, and what's been quietly smoothed over. And on a personal note, brokers in the smaller deal space aren't nearly on average a @JackieHirsch_. Others can be a hinderance to a deal and at worst lead to good deals being passed over.

Most deals don't fail at signing. They fail because no one looked hard enough at the numbers before signing. By the time problems surface — customer concentration, unsustainable margins, deferred maintenance, etc. — buyers are already in bed with the business. Financial due diligence isn't a formality. It's the work that separates a smart acquisition from an expensive lesson. Rebuttals we see on this, especially on maintenance CAPEX or CAPEX in general, typically revolve around "no one cares as it doesn't affect EBITDA". Cash flow is still cash flow. If a majority of a fleet of trucks for a home services business breaks down a month after close, bet potential searchers/buyers are not going to hi five as EBITDA isn't going to take a hit.

To address @EndresenHeather and my last soap box session, financial diligence should encompass the following regardless of deal size: Core financial/audit procedures (Not just a cash proof but beating up the entirety of the balance sheet and income statement with sampled testing, proofs of expenses and other higher risk items, AR and AP aging and reasonableness reviews) for multiple years Addback scrutiny and EBITDA bridge ranges and discussions alongside consideration of free cash flow (This is important as cash charges that don't affect EBITDA such as large CAPEX items you aren't aware of will need to replace/fix is still cash you'll need after close) Contracts, ICC, and off-balance sheet procedures Organization and tax structure considerations Working capital reconciliations and assessments as to the level of adjusted working capital needed alongside any hidden deferred revenue (AKA liabilities the seller should not be taking out of the bank account at close) Revenue concentration and quality of revenue/customer testing Cost of sales/inventory/fixed asset testing, if applicable (We'll also send you as buyers on-site armed with real inventory and fixed asset audit procedure templates to assess quality of both) Employee and 1099 contract and reasonableness testing List above is brief and certainly not the full list of procedures. Point is, make sure you know what you're getting. AGAIN, GET REAL DILIGENCE DONE GIVEN THE $M YOU'RE ABOUT TO POTENTIALLY SPEND.

STOP PICKING YOUR FINANCIAL DILIGENCE PROVIDER BASED ON SOCIAL MEDIA. Enough's enough. It's on us as real diligence providers to get this message out and myself and the Hollywell team are just bad at marketing and getting the word out. We are seeing just awful QofE deliverables on smaller deals (Traditional search and ETA). No, a basic cash proof and a shiny PDF does not pass muster. Regardless if you choose Hollywell or not, make sure the your QofE provider has real deal team audit and diligence experience. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS QofE Lite. It's a crap marketing term, it is and always should have been full diligence just for smaller deals. Hollywell's FDD team ALL CAME FROM BIG-4 AUDIT AND DEALS. And we don't send the second half bill if we find something that leads to you walking away from the deal. Seriously, skimping on financial diligence when about to spend millions alongside a life changing event is nonsense. GET REAL DILIGENCE DONE DAMMIT. Alright, we'll do better about getting the message out more consistently. Getting off my soap box now. Go get 'em, searchers.

Adam, our diligence leader, and I will be speaking @SMBootcamp_ again this week. Hands down the best way to kick deal information asymmetry's tail.

Just leaving @SMB_ash. So many great searchers potentially making the leap. Enjoy the journey, it can be rough, but it certainly drives purpose and comfort zone expansion.

@Hollywellteam is headed to @SMB_ash next week. We're going to provide the reasons why financial DD is important, but do promise to have a bit of fun at the end with a game show on whether the addbacks we throw out are real or not. Some of these are nuts. See you soon.

Diligence tip, there is no "QofE lite". It's just the same level of fact finding diligence we do for smaller deals. We're just bad marketers is all. Pick your provider based on real reputation and case studies, not an "X" account.

The @Hollywellteam is headed to @SMB_ash in April. We'll be the Debby Downers telling real stories on why diligence matters, but don't let it spoil the event. The SMBash and SMBootcamp team are doing the best job of getting real info to those in their search.