News Article
Read More
Read More
Read More
View Engagements
Sell-Side Financial Assessments: Preparing for a Smoother, Stronger M&A Process
In today’s competitive and fast moving M&A market, going to market without a fully developed financial narrative is a missed opportunity and often a costly one. For business owners looking to maximize value and minimize friction, proactive preparation is essential.
That’s where The McLean Group’s Sell Side Financial Assessment comes in. Designed to be more comprehensive and forward looking than a traditional Quality of Earnings (QoE) report, our assessment equips sellers and their advisors with the tools they need to anticipate buyer questions, defend valuation, and create alignment between past performance and future expectations. And most importantly, we do it before the deal hits the market, giving clients a critical edge when it matters most.
Unlike standard QoE reports that arrive late in the process, often during buyer led diligence, our assessments are conducted early, giving sellers time to address gaps, tighten narratives, and resolve issues before they turn into deal risks. This proactive approach reduces surprises, builds credibility, and helps maintain momentum through closing.
What’s Included in a Sell Side Financial Assessment?
Our work begins by analyzing the company’s financials in detail, segmenting revenue, normalizing EBITDA, and identifying trends that buyers will scrutinize. For companies in both traditional and high growth industries, we focus on areas that matter most to acquirers:
-
Working Capital Analysis
-
We benchmark working capital against deal norms to help clients anticipate buyer expectations and set realistic negotiation targets.
-
-
EBITDA Normalization
-
We identify and adjust for nonrecurring, discretionary, or owner related expenses to present a clear view of sustainable earnings and potential buyer synergies.
-
-
Cash to Accrual Conversion
-
For businesses managing their books on a cash basis, we provide accrual conversions that align financial reporting with GAAP. This ensures accurate revenue recognition and expense matching, critical for valuation accuracy.
-
-
Projection Alignment
-
We work with management to align forward looking forecasts with historical performance, ensuring key assumptions are supported by data. This helps avoid the valuation disconnects that often derail diligence.
-
In addition to these core areas, our team will perform a customer profitability and concentration analyses, cohort based revenue and margin trends, synergy and integration analyses, benchmark comparisons against private company data, and other business specific drivers that influence valuation. The result is a customized analysis that helps sellers control the narrative and move confidently through the diligence process.
Why It Matters
Many deals fail or get repriced because sellers aren’t fully prepared for the intensity of buyer diligence. By addressing the big questions upfront, our financial assessments allow business owners to respond quickly and accurately to buyer requests. More importantly, they help demonstrate that the company is organized, transparent, and ready for the next stage of growth.
This early preparation also helps accelerate timelines. When buyers can trust the numbers and see that key issues have already been vetted, they are more likely to keep the deal moving and less likely to delay or renegotiate.
Let’s Talk
Whether you are preparing to engage with a strategic buyer or a financial sponsor, having a credible and defensible financial story is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal. The McLean Group’s Financial Consulting team is here to help you build it.
If you are preparing for a transaction or advising a client who is, reach out to Matt Volkman at mvolkmann@mcleanllc.com to learn more about how our Sell Side Financial Assessments can position your business for success.
In today’s competitive and fast moving M&A market, going to market without a fully developed financial narrative is a missed opportunity and often a costly one. For business owners looking to maximize value and minimize friction, proactive preparation is essential.
That’s where The McLean Group’s Sell Side Financial Assessment comes in. Designed to be more comprehensive and forward looking than a traditional Quality of Earnings (QoE) report, our assessment equips sellers and their advisors with the tools they need to anticipate buyer questions, defend valuation, and create alignment between past performance and future expectations. And most importantly, we do it before the deal hits the market, giving clients a critical edge when it matters most.
Unlike standard QoE reports that arrive late in the process, often during buyer led diligence, our assessments are conducted early, giving sellers time to address gaps, tighten narratives, and resolve issues before they turn into deal risks. This proactive approach reduces surprises, builds credibility, and helps maintain momentum through closing.
What’s Included in a Sell Side Financial Assessment?
Our work begins by analyzing the company’s financials in detail, segmenting revenue, normalizing EBITDA, and identifying trends that buyers will scrutinize. For companies in both traditional and high growth industries, we focus on areas that matter most to acquirers:
-
Working Capital Analysis
-
We benchmark working capital against deal norms to help clients anticipate buyer expectations and set realistic negotiation targets.
-
-
EBITDA Normalization
-
We identify and adjust for nonrecurring, discretionary, or owner related expenses to present a clear view of sustainable earnings and potential buyer synergies.
-
-
Cash to Accrual Conversion
-
For businesses managing their books on a cash basis, we provide accrual conversions that align financial reporting with GAAP. This ensures accurate revenue recognition and expense matching, critical for valuation accuracy.
-
-
Projection Alignment
-
We work with management to align forward looking forecasts with historical performance, ensuring key assumptions are supported by data. This helps avoid the valuation disconnects that often derail diligence.
-
In addition to these core areas, our team will perform a customer profitability and concentration analyses, cohort based revenue and margin trends, synergy and integration analyses, benchmark comparisons against private company data, and other business specific drivers that influence valuation. The result is a customized analysis that helps sellers control the narrative and move confidently through the diligence process.
Why It Matters
Many deals fail or get repriced because sellers aren’t fully prepared for the intensity of buyer diligence. By addressing the big questions upfront, our financial assessments allow business owners to respond quickly and accurately to buyer requests. More importantly, they help demonstrate that the company is organized, transparent, and ready for the next stage of growth.
This early preparation also helps accelerate timelines. When buyers can trust the numbers and see that key issues have already been vetted, they are more likely to keep the deal moving and less likely to delay or renegotiate.
Let’s Talk
Whether you are preparing to engage with a strategic buyer or a financial sponsor, having a credible and defensible financial story is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal. The McLean Group’s Financial Consulting team is here to help you build it.
If you are preparing for a transaction or advising a client who is, reach out to Matt Volkman at mvolkmann@mcleanllc.com to learn more about how our Sell Side Financial Assessments can position your business for success.
In today’s competitive and fast moving M&A market, going to market without a fully developed financial narrative is a missed opportunity and often a costly one. For business owners looking to maximize value and minimize friction, proactive preparation is essential.
That’s where The McLean Group’s Sell Side Financial Assessment comes in. Designed to be more comprehensive and forward looking than a traditional Quality of Earnings (QoE) report, our assessment equips sellers and their advisors with the tools they need to anticipate buyer questions, defend valuation, and create alignment between past performance and future expectations. And most importantly, we do it before the deal hits the market, giving clients a critical edge when it matters most.
Unlike standard QoE reports that arrive late in the process, often during buyer led diligence, our assessments are conducted early, giving sellers time to address gaps, tighten narratives, and resolve issues before they turn into deal risks. This proactive approach reduces surprises, builds credibility, and helps maintain momentum through closing.
What’s Included in a Sell Side Financial Assessment?
Our work begins by analyzing the company’s financials in detail, segmenting revenue, normalizing EBITDA, and identifying trends that buyers will scrutinize. For companies in both traditional and high growth industries, we focus on areas that matter most to acquirers:
-
Working Capital Analysis
-
We benchmark working capital against deal norms to help clients anticipate buyer expectations and set realistic negotiation targets.
-
-
EBITDA Normalization
-
We identify and adjust for nonrecurring, discretionary, or owner related expenses to present a clear view of sustainable earnings and potential buyer synergies.
-
-
Cash to Accrual Conversion
-
For businesses managing their books on a cash basis, we provide accrual conversions that align financial reporting with GAAP. This ensures accurate revenue recognition and expense matching, critical for valuation accuracy.
-
-
Projection Alignment
-
We work with management to align forward looking forecasts with historical performance, ensuring key assumptions are supported by data. This helps avoid the valuation disconnects that often derail diligence.
-
In addition to these core areas, our team will perform a customer profitability and concentration analyses, cohort based revenue and margin trends, synergy and integration analyses, benchmark comparisons against private company data, and other business specific drivers that influence valuation. The result is a customized analysis that helps sellers control the narrative and move confidently through the diligence process.
Why It Matters
Many deals fail or get repriced because sellers aren’t fully prepared for the intensity of buyer diligence. By addressing the big questions upfront, our financial assessments allow business owners to respond quickly and accurately to buyer requests. More importantly, they help demonstrate that the company is organized, transparent, and ready for the next stage of growth.
This early preparation also helps accelerate timelines. When buyers can trust the numbers and see that key issues have already been vetted, they are more likely to keep the deal moving and less likely to delay or renegotiate.
Let’s Talk
Whether you are preparing to engage with a strategic buyer or a financial sponsor, having a credible and defensible financial story is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal. The McLean Group’s Financial Consulting team is here to help you build it.
If you are preparing for a transaction or advising a client who is, reach out to Matt Volkman at mvolkmann@mcleanllc.com to learn more about how our Sell Side Financial Assessments can position your business for success.
About The McLean Group
For over 30 years, The McLean Group has been providing investment banking and financial services offerings focused on the Defense, Government & Intelligence (DGI), Security, Critical Infrastructure, Maritime, Facility Services, Unmanned Systems, and Public Safety markets. Our 60+ professionals bring deep industry experience and relentless execution to every client engagement. We provide solutions that blend financial creativity with operational expertise. Whether we are providing transaction advisory, valuation opinions, or growth capital, our services are unmatched in these core markets. Learn more at www.McLeanLLC.com.
RECENT NEWS
Fairness Opinions: What Boards Should Know Before They Sign
A fairness opinion is an independent assessment of whether the financial terms of a transaction are fair to shareholders, but it speaks to how a board reached its decision rather than whether the decision was right. In this article, The McLean Group’s Valuation Advisory team examines what a fairness opinion is and is not, the three protections it provides to directors, and the situations that most often call for one: conflicts, complex consideration, multiple share classes, and the absence of a competitive process. For boards approaching a significant transaction, engaging an opinion early gives directors a record built while the analysis can still inform the outcome. […]
Monthly Middle Market M&A Insider Report (Aug 2026)
The McLean Group’s August 2026 M&A Insider Report tracks deal activity across Defense & Government, Physical & Cyber Security, Critical Infrastructure, and Maritime. This month’s edition highlights notable transactions including Motorola Solutions’ $1.5B acquisition of D-Fend Solutions, adding RF cyber-takeover counter-drone technology deployed in more than 30 countries, AE Industrial Partners’ $845M carve-out of L3Harris’ space propulsion, power and electronics units, which re-establishes the business as a standalone company under the revived Rocketdyne name, and Booz Allen Hamilton’s $720M acquisition of the Ultra I&C Mission Solutions business from Advent-backed Cobham Ultra Group. The report also includes public company trading comps and EBITDA valuation multiples across all four sectors. Public market multiples are provided for reference purposes and reflect traded equity values, which may differ materially from private company transaction pricing. […]
The McLean Group Advises Valiant O&M on Its Acquisition by Inspirit Equity
The McLean Group advises Valiant O&M, the operations and maintenance division of Valiant, on its acquisition by Inspirit Equity, a Los Angeles-based private investment firm backed by permanent capital. Now operating independently as Vulcan Government Services, the business provides facility operations, maintenance, and logistics services to U.S. government agencies, supporting hospitals, research laboratories, and other critical infrastructure through a diversified portfolio of long-term contracts. […]