Buyer diligence requests are rarely a surprise if you've seen one before — they cluster into a fairly predictable set of categories. Having these ready before a buyer asks, rather than scrambling once they do, is one of the clearest signals of a well-run process.
Financial
- Statutory accounts, typically the last 3 years
- Management accounts, up to date, ideally monthly or quarterly
- A trial balance or general ledger detail sufficient to independently verify reported figures
- Bank statements, to reconcile declared revenue against actual cash movement
Commercial
- A customer concentration breakdown — revenue by top customers, and contract terms if they exist
- A supplier register — key suppliers, terms, and any single points of failure
- Sales pipeline or recurring-revenue detail, where relevant
Organisational
- An org chart and key-person detail — who does what, and how dependent the business is on any one individual
- Leadership and ownership structure, including any options, warrants, or complicating cap-table detail
Legal and compliance
- Material contracts — customer, supplier, lease, financing
- Any litigation, historical or ongoing
- Regulatory or licensing detail specific to the sector
How to actually use this
The goal isn't to have every document perfect before a conversation starts — it's to know honestly where the gaps are. A documentation checklist that's mostly complete, with the known gaps clearly flagged, reads to a buyer as a well-run business. A checklist nobody looked at until a buyer asked reads as the opposite, regardless of how good the underlying business actually is.