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Quality of Earnings Reports That Hold Up in the Deal Room
Buy-side or sell-side, a CPA-prepared Quality of Earnings report shows what a business really earns, normalized EBITDA, revenue quality, proof of cash, and net working capital, before you sign, price, or lend on it.
Licensed
US CPA Firm
35+ yrs
Combined CPA experience
98%
Client retention
$1M–$50M
Businesses served.
Quality of Earnings Reports That Hold Up in the Deal Room
Buy-side or sell-side, a CPA-prepared Quality of Earnings report shows what a business really earns, normalized EBITDA, revenue quality, proof of cash, and net working capital, before you sign, price, or lend on it.
Tell us about the transaction and a licensed CPA will scope the report, timeline, and fee.
Sound familiar?
The pattern we see before a business calls us.
You're buying the seller's story
The P&L a seller hands you is a marketing document. Without a QoE, you're pricing the deal on unverified numbers, and surprises found after closing come straight out of your return.
Sellers: one add-back can move the price
Every legitimate normalization, owner compensation, one-time costs, related-party items, raises adjusted EBITDA. Miss them, and the multiple gets applied to a smaller number. Your number.
The lender wants more than a tax return
Banks and SBA lenders increasingly require an independent quality of earnings analysis before funding an acquisition. A tax return isn't earnings quality, and they know it.
What you get
The four questions every deal turns on, answered with evidence
A transaction-scoped analysis prepared by licensed CPAs and built to be defended across the table.
Normalized (adjusted) EBITDA
Earnings restated for owner compensation, one-time items, related-party transactions, and out-of-period entries, the number the multiple should actually be applied to.
Every add-back documented and sourced, so it survives the other side's diligence instead of collapsing under it.
Revenue quality & proof of cash
Revenue tied to bank deposits, recognition policies tested, customer concentration exposed, is the top line real, recurring, and likely to continue after closing?
Proof of cash reconciles reported revenue to actual bank activity — the fastest way to surface aggressive bookkeeping.
Net working capital analysis
A supportable NWC target and peg for the purchase agreement, so value doesn't leak through the working-capital true-up after the price is agreed.
For contractor deals we extend this into WIP, retainage, and billings in excess — where construction working capital actually hides.
How it works
From first call to a deal-ready report
Scoped up front, defended through closing.
A licensed CPA reviews the deal, size, structure, timeline, what your lender or counterparty requires, and gives you a fixed scope, fee, and delivery date.
What you get
The four questions every deal turns on, answered with evidence
A transaction-scoped analysis prepared by licensed CPAs and built to be defended across the table.
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An independent analysis of what a business actually earns, adjusted for one-time items and related-party transactions, used to support pricing and financing a transaction.
An audit opines on whether financial statements follow accounting standards. A QoE is transaction-focused: what should the buyer actually pay based on true, normalized earnings.
Buy-side protects you from overpaying. Sell-side gets your story and add-backs organized and defensible before a buyer's advisors pick it apart.
Typically two to four weeks depending on transaction size and how organized the underlying records are.
It depends on transaction size and complexity. You'll get a fixed scope and fee before we start.
Yes. Construction deals extend the analysis into WIP, retainage, and billings in excess, covered in more depth on our Construction page.
Discover More
M&A support is one piece of a complete financial partnership. After the deal closes we stay on, handling bookkeeping, QuickBooks, CFO advisory, and tax strategy for your newly acquired or growing business.
Sell-side and buy-side quality of earnings for lower middle market transactions. Normalized EBITDA with every adjustment traced to the general ledger, working capital analysis, and a report written to hold up under the other side's review.
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A thirteen-week cash forecast, budget versus actual, and margin analysis, updated monthly and reviewed with you in a working session. Clients use this in place of a full-time CFO, or alongside a controller they already employ.
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We track cost at the job, project, or department level and run AP and AR day to day. Each month includes a review of where margin sits and which jobs or lines have moved. This is the layer between the bookkeeper and the CPA, and most firms do not staff it.
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We reconcile the bank and card accounts, run AP and AR, and close the month on a fixed calendar. The chart of accounts is built around how your business makes money rather than how QuickBooks ships by default. Financials are delivered by the 15th.
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Ready when you are
Know what the business really earns, before the money moves
- Normalized EBITDA with every add-back documented
- Proof of cash and revenue quality testing
- Net working capital target for the purchase agreement
- Licensed CPAs who support the report through closing
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