What is Included in a Due Diligence Checklist?

A comprehensive due diligence checklist for mergers and acquisitions covers several critical dimensions to verify a target company’s viability and mitigate risk. Based on the provided guide, a standard checklist includes:

1. Financial Records: Assemble at least three years of audited statements, tax returns, cash flow projections, debt schedules, and normalized EBITDA data.
2. Legal Documentation: Organize incorporation papers, shareholder agreements, litigation files, IP assignments, and material contracts including termination clauses.
3. Operational Details: Document supply chain mappings, key performance indicators (KPIs), inventory ledgers, and facility leases.
4. Commercial Intelligence: Compile market reports, customer concentration analyses, sales pipelines, and competitive positioning benchmarks.
5. IT Assets: Inventory software licenses, cybersecurity protocols (such as zero-trust architecture), data backups, and architecture diagrams.
6. Human Capital: Prepare organizational charts, employee contracts, compensation benchmarks, and executive succession plans.
7. Data Management: Establish a secure, indexed data room with access logs and assigned point persons for each category to ensure a streamlined review process.