What is due diligence? When and how should you do it? Here are the due diligence meaning and guidelines to help you decide what factors to investigate before you buy a business or make other costly business decisions.
Due diligence is one of those terms that you may understand on the surface but don’t know how to put into practice. Let’s learn about due diligence and how to use it in a real-world setting.
The dictionary definition says that due diligence means “the care that a reasonable person exercises to avoid harm to other persons or their property.” In plain English, due diligence means doing your homework. Before putting your business funds to work on anything, you should make yourself an expert. Often, due diligence means the investigation done before purchasing another company, so let’s start there.
Let’s assume that you’re planning to buy out one of your competitors who is retiring. The business is attractive to you because it’s perfectly positioned in an area of town that’s tough for your business to reach. Before you purchase the business, you (often with the help of professionals) will perform due diligence. The due diligence process would include getting answers to questions such as these:
Of course, this is a very short list of the due diligence that would take place before purchasing another business, but maybe you’re not in the market to buy a business. Maybe you’re planning to buy a new building or add a new vendor or product line. There are plenty of decisions you are likely to make where proper due diligence is key.
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Due diligence is time consuming, inconvenient, tedious, and sometimes expensive. It goes beyond the basic checks you would normally make, and it’s safe to say that if you didn’t find it to be about as fun as going to the dentist, you probably didn’t do it right. You should know just as much about the business or person as you do about your own business.
Above, we’ve given a brief overview of some of the due diligence questions you might answer when performing these common business activities. For other decisions, produce a checklist of your own and make sure to include the needed experts. Even if you’re in a financial field, you aren’t necessarily skilled at evaluating a company’s books, for example. It’s better to spend a little money now to avoid costly mistakes later.
Disclaimer: The content on this page is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.
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