aspects of the Due Diligence
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It is imperative to indicated at the inception of the transaction what is the main objective, hence you may elect to conduct only Commercial, Legal & Tax DD. While on other instances, the entire list of DDs may deem to be crucial to ensure all risks are being considered in your valuation.
I see it depends on the nature of the transaction and the target. But, I would say financial and legal due diligence are the most important aspects as they are directly linked to the buyer’s liabilities and protections.
We understand how essential each aspect of the Due Diligence. But I think the Financial Due Diligence is the most element for few reasons. You do not enter into a transaction with a company is full of debt and cannot meet its obligation while you end up repaying their exist debt. As highlighted in this course, the Financial Statements can misrepresent major milestones that could affect the transaction
Its a full package, where you need to look at Commercial, technical, HR, etc. to make sure that you are aware of all potential risks of the business you are acquiring. This similar to our human system where for nutrition we need carbs, protein and fat to function well.
Financial tends to be the most important to check off first, but the most challenging has to be people and culture. People and culture is the underlying due diligence you are doing while you are having the challenging conversations regarding organizational charts, compensation, values, and standards. If the numbers look good, but the people and culture aren’t working well, it’s a huge waste of time and money for everyone.
I think all components are important and taken as a whole provide visibility into what you are actually acquiring and what the future may hold. My initial thought on most important if forced to single out one workstream would be the financial. And within financial I think the quality of earnings study is critical. No information will be perfect but the QoE, and follow up questions, will help to better understand the financials in more detail so a buyer can walk into the transaction with eyes open.
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