Financial Due Diligence Services

    By Shepi Editorial TeamUpdated 2026-08-31

    Financial due diligence tests whether a target's reported numbers survive contact with its source documents. Shepi runs that analysis on 100% of general ledger transactions — EBITDA normalization, proof of cash, revenue quality, and working capital — starting at $1,000 per project.

    100%

    GL transactions analyzed

    Days

    Not four to eight weeks

    $1,000

    Per-project pricing

    What Financial Due Diligence Covers

    Financial due diligence (FDD) is the workstream that validates the numbers behind a transaction. It is broader than a quality of earnings analysis in name but overlaps almost entirely in practice on lower-middle-market deals: the deliverable is a defensible adjusted EBITDA plus the balance sheet and working capital context needed to price and finance the deal.

    Earnings normalization

    Owner compensation, personal expenses, related-party rent, one-time items

    Proof of cash

    Monthly tie-out of recorded revenue and expense to bank activity

    Revenue quality

    Recurring vs one-time revenue, customer concentration, price vs volume

    Working capital

    Historical levels and a normalized peg for the purchase agreement

    Balance sheet review

    Unusual balances, deferred liabilities, related-party accounts

    Anomaly detection

    Journal-entry patterns, reclassifications, and unsupported adjustments

    Scope by Deal Type

    Deal typePrimary focusTypical scope
    SBA-financed acquisitionDebt service coverage on sustainable cash flow3 yrs + TTM, proof of cash, adjustment evidence
    Search fund / ETAWhether the seller's add-backs hold upFull QoE plus concentration and owner-dependency review
    PE platform or add-onComparability across periods and entitiesMulti-entity consolidation, working capital peg
    Sell-side preparationDefending the asking multiple pre-marketAdjustment schedule with support, red-flag remediation

    How Shepi Delivers It

    1

    Ingest the data room

    General ledger, trial balance, financial statements, bank and credit card statements, payroll registers.

    2

    Reconcile and map

    Chart of accounts mapping, trial balance reconciliation, and bank coverage checks run automatically.

    3

    Analyze every transaction

    Rather than sampling 10–20% of the GL, Shepi scans all of it for adjustment candidates and anomalies.

    4

    Review and decide

    Each proposed adjustment carries its supporting transactions. Accept, reject, or edit — the bridge recalculates.

    5

    Deliver the package

    Narrative report plus a working Excel model your lender or counsel can audit line by line.

    Engagement Options

    Self-ServiceDone-For-You
    Price$1,000$5,000
    Who runs the analysisYou, in the platformShepi team, with you reviewing
    CPA review of adjustmentsNoYes — licensed CPA review
    Best forEarly screening, sell-side prep, internal validationLender- and buyer-facing diligence
    DeliverablesPDF report + Excel modelPDF report + Excel model, CPA-reviewed

    Self-service output is a seller- or buyer-prepared package with no CPA review — useful for screening and internal work, but most lenders will not accept it in place of independent analysis. Neither track is an audit, review, or attestation engagement, and Shepi does not issue CPA opinions. See the scope of work.

    Timeline and Data You'll Need

    Financial statements

    P&L and balance sheet, 3 fiscal years plus TTM through the last closed month

    General ledger

    Full transaction export for the same period — the backbone of the analysis

    Bank & card statements

    Every operating and credit account, no month gaps

    Payroll & tax returns

    Payroll registers and filed business returns to corroborate the books

    With a complete data room, first-pass analysis lands in hours. CPA-reviewed engagements finish in days rather than the four to eight weeks a traditional firm needs.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Related Resources

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