ABSTRACT
Very few deals are carried out without financial due diligence. One of the main jobs of due diligence accountants is to undo what has been done by other accountants. Good financial due diligence aims to give a view of underlying profit which can be used, if not to predict the future, then to provide a canvas on which the picture of the future can be painted. Reporting accountants can also be a good source of non-financial business information. The financial due diligence team will try to speak to the auditors and review the audit files for the last two to three years and, if they are also looking at tax, the tax files for up to the last six. The quality of the information system is fundamental to the whole financial due diligence exercise because of the impact on the reliability of financial information.
