Challenge
FSI Consulting was engaged by a privately held company preparing for a potential sale that faced significant challenges in financial readiness. The internal finance team lacked consistent monthly reporting, maintained limited documentation to support buyer diligence, and had not yet consolidated its multi-entity structure. With a transaction process approaching, the CFO needed a fit-for-purpose sell-side Quality of Earnings report and a complete, defensible finance and accounting data package to provide buyers with confidence in the company's financial performance and underlying profitability drivers.
Solution
FSI quickly mobilized its finance and transaction advisory team to execute a comprehensive sell-side Quality of Earnings engagement under an accelerated four-week timeline. Working closely with the CFO and accounting staff, FSI built a fully integrated financial databook that reconciled the trial balance, general ledger, and subledger activity across several months of rollforwards. The engagement included validation of intercompany consolidations, subledger reconciliations, and detailed working capital analyses, along with pricing and margin analysis by vendor and customer. In parallel, FSI developed complete financial statements and account-level flux analyses to create a cohesive and transparent data set ready for buyer review.
Impact
Within just four weeks, FSI delivered a comprehensive databook and fit-for-purpose Quality of Earnings report that transformed the company's financial presentation and accelerated the sell-side process. The deliverables enabled the CFO and sellers to respond confidently to buyer inquiries, streamline diligence requests, and present normalized earnings and working capital positions supported by transparent, auditable data. FSI's speed to execution and depth of financial analysis significantly enhanced management credibility, improved buyer confidence, and positioned the business for a smooth and successful transaction process.