From pre-acquisition diligence through Day 1 onboarding, CFGI’s TAS practice guides corporate acquirers, private equity firms, and their portfolio companies across the full deal lifecycle. The team brings Big 4 deal pedigree, the buyer’s and seller’s perspective in the same room, and an execution mindset that keeps process pitfalls out of the way.
M&A capital is back, integration timelines are compressing, and the way deals get sourced and screened is changing. Four shifts keep coming up in nearly every CFO and PE conversation we are in.
Capital is being set aside for acquisitions, integrations, and expansion. The question shifts from sourcing the deal to modeling and integrating at speed, with Finance ready to absorb the new entity without breaking the close.
Lower middle market deals comprise 75% of total deal volume. The headline narrative of a strong recovery is misleading, leaning on a small number of very large deals. The real opportunity sits in the bolt-on and tuck-in segment.
CIM screening, target identification, and marketing-material parsing are moving into AI-assisted workflows. CFOs are also piloting AI to compress close cycles and free analysts from manual diligence work.
ERP and EPM upgrades are accelerating, with data protection tied to deal resilience and post-close trust. Cyber posture and systems modernization show up in diligence findings that affect price, terms, and Day 1 readiness.
From pre-LOI screening through Day 1 onboarding and post-close integration, CFGI’s TAS practice runs the diligence and advisory work that keeps the deal economics from drifting between LOI and close.
Quality of Earnings, P&L trend, working capital analysis, balance sheet review, off-balance-sheet obligations, and purchase contract reps and warranties review.
Senior practitioners embed alongside management to prepare financials and supporting processes for sale. Detailed Q of E built in partnership with management and bankers.
Tax due diligence, structuring, SPA and APA advice, tax modeling for post-transaction planning, and identification of historical tax exposures.
Dependency analysis for carve-out targets, separation planning, Transition Services Agreement negotiation, and standalone operating model design.
Systems and process assessment against the investment thesis, IT improvement and one-time cost identification, CAPEX and OPEX evaluation, and integration planning.
A free introduction to a CFGI TAS subject matter expert in any product area: buy-side Q of E, sell-side readiness, tax DD, carve-out, or operational DD.
Best for: deal teams sizing the diligence scope before engaging.
A free one-day micro-workshop in the deal team’s priority area: target screening, CIM parsing, close compression, or post-close reporting automation.
Output: a written summary covering issues, maturity assessment, and next steps.
Significantly reduced rates on a small bolt-on Quality of Earnings or proof-of-cash assignment. The intent is to align expectations and establish the working relationship.
Best for: PE sponsors with a steady tuck-in pipeline.
CFGI’s TAS practice combines former Big 4 partners, ex-CFOs, and senior finance operators. The team has lived inside the company being sold, inside the company doing the buying, and inside the firm running the diligence.
Good deal math gets you to LOI. The right deal needs verified assumptions, a tested integration thesis, and a working capital position the seller and buyer both stand behind. The work between LOI and close is what separates the two.
Capital is being set aside for acquisitions, integrations, and expansion. Finance has to model the deal, build the Day 1 plan, and absorb the new entity without breaking the monthly close. Without senior practitioners in the room, this slips.
Dependencies on the parent across IT, payroll, banking, vendor contracts, and legal entities all need to be mapped, priced, and time-bound. The Transition Services Agreement gets negotiated against that map, not against assertions.
Lower middle market deals lead the volume but the budget is tighter than headline coverage. The diligence has to be senior, targeted, and proportional to deal size, not a scaled-down version of a $1B playbook.
CFOs are piloting AI to screen CIMs, identify targets, and automate manual diligence work. Teams that wait risk losing the front-of-funnel speed advantage to competitors who are already in production with the tooling.
ERP modernization, cyber posture, and one-time IT costs increasingly show up in diligence findings that move price and terms. If operations and technology diligence is not in the engagement, the buyer is buying surprises.
A PE sponsor or corporate acquirer has a target under LOI in a tight diligence window. The buyer needs verified Q of E, a working capital position, off-balance-sheet exposure review, and an integration cost model before signing.
CFGI runs buy-side financial DD focused on Quality of Earnings. The team produces pro forma EBITDA analysis, normalizes for non-recurring and run-rate items, runs P&L trend analysis, builds the working capital trend and target setting, surfaces off-balance-sheet and contingent obligations, and reviews purchase contract reps, warranties, and indemnification considerations.
An owner-operator or a PE-backed company is preparing for sale and needs to walk into the process with clean financials, a defensible Q of E, an organized data room, and answers to the questions buyers will ask.
Senior CFGI practitioners embed alongside management. The team prepares financials and supporting processes for sale, drafts a detailed Quality of Earnings analysis, organizes the data room, and supports working capital negotiations through the bid and final close phases.
A PE sponsor is buying a business unit being carved out of a larger parent. The target shares IT, payroll, banking, vendor contracts, and legal entity infrastructure with the parent.
CFGI drives the analysis of all dependencies inside the carved-out unit, maps shared services across finance, IT, HR, treasury, and legal, prices and time-bounds the support obligations, then assists the client in negotiating the Transition Services Agreement against that map.
Managing Partner | Transaction Advisory Services
Leads CFGI’s TAS practice. Deep experience across pre-acquisition diligence, sell-side due diligence, and post-closing integration. Sectors include healthcare, technology, consumer goods, industrial manufacturing, construction, distribution, and business services.
Partner | Sell-Side Leader, TAS
Leads CFGI’s TAS Sell-Side Services practice and the New York practice. 20+ years across M&A advisory and finance executive roles. Specializes in financial due diligence, separation planning, and sell-side process management.
Start with a free Expert Access call, a reduced-rate bolt-on Q of E, or a full buy-side or sell-side engagement. Same practice, sized to the deal.