Lack of proper books/accounting software a deal killer?

profile

April 22, 2026

by a searcher in Trabuco Canyon, CA, USA

If you buy a business that is still running entirely on excel, is that a 'red flag' or an efficiency goldmine? Looking at a business that seems great, but concerned on lack of actual accounting software/books <$500k EBITDA
0
7
56
Replies
7
commentor profile
Reply by a professional
in Walnut, CA, USA
Thanks for the tag @redacted‌. As others have mentioned, it’s not a deal killer. I’ve seen a handful of deals when I worked at a large national firm that were on excel. If I were in your shoes, I’d want to understand the following before proceeding: - confirm whether they’re fully cash basis or modified accrual - request bank and credit card statements for last 3 years - PoC is paramount to do early on as this will tell you immediately if they’re not recording or over booking their revenue or expenses. This will essentially give you a level of comfort around their reported excel figures. Does their TB balance? Happy to talk more, email me to set a time to connect, or shoot me a call at###-###-#### redacted
commentor profile
Reply by a professional
from Liberty University in Fort Myers, Florida, United States
Every month my firm does a handful of QOEs on companies that do not maintain bookkeeping records. We rebuild them from bank and credit card statements (its an additional fee). There are typically significant variances between someone's excel bookkeeping vs the actual earnings if they did not do their bookkeeping right. We do our bookkeeping fix in excel, but have everything traced and proven out. I wouldn't say its a red flag, but just expect more volatility on what they advertised vs reality. Happy to talk more if you are interested in what we do
commentor profile
+5 more replies.
Join the discussion