Acquisitions, mergers and partnerships are the trend in business today. Organizations, groups and people are pooling their resources to grow and develop a stronger foundation. Sounds like a great thing, doesn’t it?
It is – when everyone is honest and everyone has the best interest of all in mind.
That is not always the case and it can have a devastating outcome when something goes awry. The thing is, it’s not just one small business owner that can be targeted and duped – it can be big organizations, municipal agencies, municipalities themselves or even states. No one is immune or safe from deceit.
The answer is to perform due diligence.
When most people think of a due diligence process, they think lots of numbers and accounting reports. The numbers do tell a story. However, the people behind those numbers tell a greater story – and that’s where due diligence and come together to make sense of deals and transactions through professional due diligence services.
Here at , we don’t do number crunching or strategic analysis, we do the people investigation. That part of due diligence investigation is equally as valuable when one organization is creating a close relationship or embarking on a major transaction with another.
The executives and principals in an existing company set the values, culture and means of operations in their organizations and business. There is great value in their reputations and their past performance; honesty and integrity are important elements to that reputation.
In publicly-held organizations, some of that information is in the annual report – at least a good bit of the positive information is there. In private or family-owned businesses, there is probably not an annual report. Don’t base your dealings on a hunch that the other guy is a good guy.
In either instance, based on a due diligence checklist, we take a close look at the executives and principals to gather information so the final decision and agreements can be based on facts. Included are investigations into areas such as:
- Criminal background searches
- Previous and current litigation
- Potential litigation
Because we have access to data bases and resources that are restricted to highly qualified investigators, we are able to gather information that may have a bearing on the pending agreement.
Before you or your client signs on the dotted line or a large sum changes hands, it pays to conduct due diligence.
-Brenda McGinley, CEO, All in Investigations, All in Investigations