3 Key Reverse Due Diligence Points to Probe Your Accountancy Acquirer

Imagine selling your Accountancy business

It is one of the most important business decisions you will engage with in your life

And is definitely something you will hope to only be doing once

Unfortunately there are several recurring and crucial mistakes we observe Accountancy owners repeatedly making in the open market place

After over a decade of experience we consider the following three questions as the most important 

1 Are they really serious about acquiring

Primarily it is key to avoid insatiable buyers or buyers who are merely dipping their toes in the water and lack the proper conviction to acquire

When the cost of the process starts to outweigh their misguided and shallow perception of the benefit a failure of completion is more than likely wasting not only your time, but also your money

On the flipside there are many ambitious firms in the market that have clear set goals with a strong vision of how acquiring a practice can help them achieve their strategic goals 

2 What is the typical acquisition profile

Once it is clear that a firm intends to grow by buying others the next step is to figure out what they want to acquire

Does their acquisition history uncover trends about size and stage of targets

If a company generally buys some for £200,000 and others for £2 million how does that mesh with your company make up

Aside from the market cap what other metrics types of revenue head count stand out

Translating those major patterns into a justified window of opportunity is a critical second step

3 Funding

Are their eyes bigger than their stomach  

Unfortunately it is the Accountants who are most confident about their funding situation that tend to have difficulties down the line

It is important to secure from the buyer at least a letter of commitment and avoiding drastically wasting your time

Knowing the ability, frequency and buy-profile of potential acquirers not only conveys that an exit is your goal, but contributes substantially to shaping your business to meet that goal one day

Your acquirers are thinking about it, and so should you

And if you want to avoid getting a premium offer and valuation on your Accountancy business you won't want to  click the link here and watch a video that explains how to avoid the two costliest mistakes made when selling

Nearly 50% of sellers make at least one of the two mistakes outlined here which immediately stops them from leveraging a premium price

The 10 minute video also discusses how to spot the four most unsavoury characters that you should NEVER sell to regardless of their responses to the aforementioned questions

Best wishes

Steve Hagues

PS Discover how to avoid the two costliest mistakes made when selling Accountancy practices here