Diligence checklist

Corporate and ownership

• Certificate of incorporation, articles of association, statutory registers
• Share register and cap table, with any options or side agreements
• Shareholder or partnership agreement
• Group structure diagram, if more than one entity
• Any charges, debentures or security over the company or its assets

Regulatory

• FCA authorisation details and permissions profile
• Appointed representative agreement, if in a network
• Last three years of regulatory returns
• Compliance monitoring plan and the last two years of monitoring reports
• Complaints log, with outcomes and any redress paid
• Professional indemnity insurance policy, schedule and claims history
• Any past s166 reviews, FCA correspondence of substance, or attestations

Clients and revenue

• Client register: funds under management, fee rate, product mix and age per client
• Recurring revenue schedule reconciled to platform and provider statements
• Client agreements and fee authorities for every paying client
• Ongoing service definition and evidence of delivery (review records)
• Revenue concentration analysis: top ten clients as a share of recurring income
• Platform and provider agreements

Advice record

• Advice file sample, buyer-selected, across advisers and years
• Defined benefit transfer register with files, insurance position and any past reviews
• Register of higher-risk business: VCT, EIS, offshore, unregulated collectives
• File-checking methodology and results

People and operations

• Organisation chart, employment contracts and adviser agreements
• Restrictive covenants for every client-facing person
• Payroll, pension and benefits summary
• Office lease or ownership papers, and key supplier contracts
• Back-office and CRM system details, data export capability, data protection registration

Financial

• Three years of statutory accounts
• Current management accounts, no older than one quarter
• Debtors, creditors and work-in-progress
• Owner remuneration and any personal costs run through the business
• Tax filings and clearances: corporation tax, VAT position, PAYE

Buyers rarely ask for everything at once; the sequence and what it signals is covered in Getting sale-ready. When the file is in shape, the calculator shows what the tidy version is likely worth.