Acceptable level of diligence

by a searcher from University of Virginia

3 months ago

I’m under LOI on a small deal and the seller is hesitant to export and share his quickbooks because he says they have intermingled their personal information and assets. Rather than fight with him about what he can and can’t show me, I’d rather just ask for the stuff I need for diligence. What’s the minimum level of information you would need to feel comfortable moving forward on a deal? For what it’s worth, I think the guy is honest and trustworthy, just private vs. trying to hide something. Just my gut reaction  though.

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professional from University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire - College of Business

It's like asking someone to share their Screen Time data from their iPhone. What they tell you and what it looks like when they have to show you the data are usually very different. J.P. Morgan had a great line for this " A man always has two reasons for the things he does - a good one and the real one."

2 months ago | like reply | 0 likes

searcher from University of Virginia

Hi everyone- to follow up on this, his broker talked to him and he’s going to have his bookkeeper remove the personal info and provide the requested data. I was adamant that I or any other good buyer would want access to this and asked him if he’d feel comfortable leaving his company to someone that didn’t do proper diligence. He was understanding!

3 months ago | like reply | 1 like

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