Financial diligence template

Financial Due Diligence Checklist Template

A financial diligence checklist for historical accounts, management reporting, revenue, gross margin, working capital, debt and forecasts.

Spreadsheet preview

Folder index rows

01 Historical Financials / Annual financial statements
01 Historical Financials / Monthly management accounts
02 Revenue / Revenue by customer
03 Cost and Margin / Gross margin bridge
04 Working Capital / AR/AP ageing
05 Debt and Cash / Debt agreements
06 Forecast / Budget and business plan

Use case

Preparing finance folders for buyers, investors or lenders

Download the CSV, open it in Excel or Google Sheets, customise the rows, then upload the finished index to Data Room Builder. The columns are intentionally simple: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and Notes.

Level 1Level 2Level 3Notes
01 Historical FinancialsAnnual financial statementsAudited where available
01 Historical FinancialsMonthly management accountsP&L, balance sheet and cash flow
02 RevenueRevenue by customerInclude churn/retention where relevant
03 Cost and MarginGross margin bridgeBy product, customer or geography
04 Working CapitalAR/AP ageingMonthly ageing schedules
05 Debt and CashDebt agreementsFacilities, leases and repayment schedules
06 ForecastBudget and business planInclude assumptions and version date

Implementation tips

  • Tie reported KPIs back to source financial schedules where possible.
  • Keep normalisation adjustments in a clearly labelled folder, not scattered across finance files.
  • Separate management forecasts from historical source documents.

FAQs

What does FDD usually request?

Historical financials, management accounts, revenue quality, margin analysis, working capital, debt, cash, forecasts and supporting schedules.

Should the model go in the same folder as historical accounts?

Usually no. Keep forecasts/model files separate from historical statements so reviewers understand what is actual versus forward-looking.