We institutionalise the lower mid-market.

Yes, and many clients do. The diligence engagement stands on its own and is priced on its own. The integration and reporting services exist because acquirers frequently ask us to continue after we have spent several weeks working through a target's records, not because the diligence fee assumes it.

Yes. The two workstreams are scoped separately and either can be commissioned on its own, which is common where you already have a tax adviser instructed. Where both are taken together the fee is lower than instructing two firms, because the underlying records are reviewed once and the findings are reconciled between the reports before issue.

Fees depend on the size of the target, the quality of its records and the workstreams required, which is why we scope before quoting rather than publishing a rate card. What we commit to is a single fixed fee covering both workstreams, agreed in writing before work begins. Where scope changes materially, we raise it before undertaking the additional work rather than afterwards.

Frequently, yes. Three weeks is our standard timetable from data room access to final reports, assuming the target responds to the information request promptly. We have delivered against considerably tighter exclusivity periods, generally by concentrating scope on the workstreams that most affect price. Set out the deadline on the first call and we will tell you whether it is achievable, including where it is not.

Yes. Reports are issued with reliance addressed to funders where required, and we engage directly with debt providers during the credit process, attending credit committee where that is useful and responding to follow-up questions until facilities are agreed. Reliance arrangements are confirmed in the engagement letter before work begins, so there is no question over the position at the point the report is issued.

On a large transaction, a national firm is often the right choice. In the lower mid-market the position changes: engagements are scoped by a partner but delivered by junior staff, fee structures are calibrated to considerably larger deals, and financial and tax sit in separate practices with separate budgets and no obligation to reconcile their findings. Our model is senior-delivered and integrated across both disciplines. That is an advantage below a certain transaction size, and we will say so where your deal sits above it.

Then the work has served its purpose, at a fraction of the cost of proceeding. Our fee is not contingent on completion, so nothing in our position depends on the transaction going ahead. Material findings are communicated at the point of discovery rather than on delivery of the reports, which gives you the maximum time to renegotiate or withdraw.

No. Diligence is undertaken on a fixed fee and remains so, in order that our findings are not influenced by an interest in the outcome. Ongoing finance function support following completion is a separate engagement, scoped and priced separately.