§ 01 · Deal Readiness / QoE Prep

The buyer already knows where to look.

Most retrades are not surprises. They are unresolved finance issues discovered late by someone with leverage. StackedCFO prepares the EBITDA story, working-capital bridge, data room, technical accounting positions, and diligence narrative before the buyer or lender gets the first clean look.

The diligence premise
Fix it before it becomes leverage.

Deal readiness is not cosmetic cleanup. It is the operating layer that turns finance from a source of buyer objections into a controlled evidence file.

§ 02 · Failure points

Where finance creates deal risk.

The company may be attractive. The diligence package may still be fragile.

EBITDANormalization

Add-backs are unsupported, recurring costs are mislabeled, and the bridge does not survive buyer pressure.

NWCPeg risk

Working capital is calculated mechanically instead of economically, creating retrade risk late in the process.

RevenueQuality

Customer concentration, churn, timing, and ASC 606 issues remain hidden until diligence reframes the story.

Data roomEvidence

Schedules exist, but they do not tie, explain, or prove the transaction narrative under scrutiny.

§ 03 · The workstreams

A sell-side readiness layer before the process starts.

Built for founder-led companies, PE-backed platforms, and operators preparing for a raise, lender package, recap, sale process, or sponsor review.

01

Quality of earnings prep.

Revenue, margin, expense, and EBITDA analysis built from the buyer's likely question list, not management's preferred story.

02

Adjusted EBITDA support.

Normalize add-backs, recurring costs, founder expenses, one-time items, and policy changes with defensible schedules.

03

Working capital bridge.

Build the monthly NWC bridge, identify seasonality, isolate true operating needs, and pressure-test the proposed peg.

04

Data room architecture.

Organize schedules, evidence, reconciliations, and explanations so the data room answers the next question before it is asked.

05

Technical accounting cleanup.

Identify ASC 606, 842, 805, 470, 480, and 815 issues that could become diligence distractions or purchase-price pressure.

06

Board and lender narrative.

Turn the analysis into the executive story: what changed, what is recurring, what is risk, and what is already remediated.

§ 04 · Deliverables

What you leave with.

The deliverable is not a pretty memo. It is a buyer-ready finance file that reduces avoidable diligence noise.

QoE Pack

Revenue, gross margin, opex, EBITDA, add-back, customer, cohort, and bridge schedules.

NWC File

Trailing monthly working-capital analysis, normalization, seasonality, peg logic, and issue list.

Data Room Map

Index structure, tie-out log, source schedule register, and evidence tracker.

Risk Register

Known buyer questions, accounting issues, diligence gaps, unresolved data items, and remediation owner.

Executive Brief

Board, lender, or banker-ready narrative with the numbers, issues, answer set, and recommended posture.

§ 05 · Timeline

Four-week readiness sprint.

Most companies do not need a year-long transformation before diligence. They need a focused sprint that finds, fixes, and frames the issues.

Week 1

Diagnose

Review trial balance, financials, debt, revenue, contracts, close process, and prior lender or board packages.

Week 2

Normalize

Build EBITDA, revenue, margin, customer, opex, and working-capital views with diligence-grade support.

Week 3

Remediate

Resolve accounting and data gaps, draft memos, reconcile support, and build the answer file.

Week 4

Package

Deliver the QoE prep pack, data room map, risk register, and executive narrative.

§ 06 · Before the buyer sees it

Do not let diligence discover your finance function for you.

Bring the issues forward while you still control the narrative, the evidence, and the timeline.