Trusted by UK founders and owners preparing for a sale, a partial exit, or a management buy-out
The gap between wanting to sell and being ready to sell
A buyer needs more than a good pitch. They need a business that looks credible, stable, and easy to take over. These are the gaps we find most often.
Profit relies on adjustments nobody can defend
Add-backs for personal costs, one-off items claimed every year, and an EBITDA figure that only holds together if the buyer takes your word for it.
The business still depends entirely on you
Key relationships and decisions all route through the founder. A buyer sees that as risk, not value.
A handful of customers carry the business
Heavy concentration and informal contracts get tested hard once due diligence starts.
Management accounts do not tell a consistent story
Gaps between monthly numbers and the year-end accounts raise questions a finance function should be able to answer instantly.
The forecast is optimism, not evidence
Growth assumptions with no link back to pipeline, staffing, or trading history rarely survive the first serious buyer conversation.
Legal and HR loose ends are still open
Missing contracts, undocumented arrangements with staff or suppliers, and tax positions that have never been properly tidied up.
What an exit readiness review covers
A structured assessment against what buyers actually test, followed by a plan to close the gaps that matter most.
Financial reporting & EBITDA normalisation
We tighten monthly reporting, normalise EBITDA, and make sure the numbers are consistent and defensible before anyone else sees them.
Management team & key-person risk
We identify where the business leans too heavily on you and set out what needs to change so a buyer believes it can run without you.
Customer & revenue quality
We review customer concentration, contract terms, and pipeline quality, and flag anything a buyer would treat as a red flag.
Legal, HR & tax tidiness
We check for the missing contracts, undocumented arrangements, and outstanding tax positions that routinely surface in due diligence and slow a deal down.
Forecast & value driver plan
We build a forecast grounded in real evidence, and identify the specific actions most likely to improve your position before you go to market.
Readiness report & action plan
A clear, prioritised report ranking every issue by impact and effort, so you know exactly what to fix first and what can wait.
Buyers do this every day. Most founders do it once. The readiness review exists to close that experience gap, so by the time you sit across from a buyer, there are no surprises left for them to find.
Kish Patel ACA
ICAEW Chartered Accountant, Founder of Consult EFC
Get your exit readiness score in 60 seconds
Answer five quick questions honestly. This will not give you a valuation, but it will give you an honest first read on how much readiness work sits between you and a confident sale.
A directional self-assessment only. The full picture comes from a proper readiness review.
Exit Readiness Self-Assessment
Tap the answer that fits best for each question
1. Could the business run for a month without you?
2. Does your largest customer make up more than 20% of revenue?
3. Could you explain every EBITDA add-back with evidence?
4. Do your monthly numbers reconcile cleanly to the year-end accounts?
5. Is your forecast tied to actual pipeline and staffing plans?
Preparing early vs finding out the hard way
Selling later is fine. Selling unprepared is what costs value.
| What happens | Exit Readiness Review 12 to 24 months ahead |
Wait & See Deal with it later |
Find Out in Due Diligence Buyer finds it first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to actually fix the issue | ✕ | ✕ | |
| Realistic view of your valuation range | ✕ | ||
| Who controls the narrative on the issue | You do | Unclear | The buyer does |
| Risk of a price chip late in the process | Low | Uncertain | High |
| Confidence going into buyer conversations | ✕ | ✕ |
From diagnostic to genuinely ready
Readiness work is not a formality you rush through the week before a sale. Here is the shape it typically takes.
Month 1
Diagnostic review
We assess the business against what buyers test, and rank every gap by impact and effort.
Months 2 to 6
Close the priority gaps
Financial reporting, management structure, and legal loose ends get fixed first, before anything cosmetic.
Months 6 to 18
Build a track record
Consistent monthly numbers, reduced customer concentration, and a management team that can operate without you.
Month 18+
Ready to go to market
Hand over to a full exit planning engagement to run buyer outreach and the sale process itself.
We typically work with owners who look like this
12 to 36 months from a possible sale
You want out eventually, but you are not naive about how much work it takes to get a business genuinely sale-ready.
Not sure the business would survive due diligence
You suspect there are gaps, in reporting, in the team, in the numbers, but you have not had an outside, structured look at exactly where they sit.
Considering a partial exit or MBO
Whichever route you eventually take, a full sale, a partial exit, or a management buy-out, the same readiness gaps need addressing first.
Want an honest answer, not a sales pitch
You would rather hear the uncomfortable truth now, from someone with no reason to sugar-coat it, than from a buyer's adviser later.
Already ready to run a sale process? See our Exit Planning Adviser service, or explore selling your business directly.