Hiring a Certified Accountant or Auditor to Perform Due Diligence When Buying a Company
- Roger Pay
- 18 hours ago
- 4 min read
Hiring a Certified Accountant or Auditor to Perform Due Diligence When Buying a Company
To perform financial due diligence for a corporate acquisition in Singapore, you should engage an ACRA-registered Public Accounting Corporation or a Chartered Accountant firm certified by ISCA. Typical fees range from S$5,000 to S$25,000+ depending on the target's size, taking 3 to 6 weeks to uncover quality of earnings, hidden liabilities, and tax risks.
✅ Scope of Financial Due Diligence
Quality of Earnings (QoE): Normalize historical EBITDA by adjusting for owner's personal expenses, non-recurring spikes, and related-party anomalies.
Working Capital Assessment: Establish baseline net working capital requirements to prevent post-closing cash crunches.
Liability & Debt Discovery: Scan for off-balance-sheet commitments, pending litigations, and contingent liabilities.
Tax Compliance Verification: Review past corporate tax and GST filings with IRAS to ensure no hidden historical arrears.
Estimated Cost & Time Commitment Breakdown
Company Size / Revenue Tier | Estimated Professional Fees | Typical Timeframe |
|---|---|---|
Small (Revenue < S$2M) | S$5,000 – S$10,000 | 2 – 3 weeks |
Medium (S$2M – S$10M) | S$10,000 – S$22,000 | 3 – 5 weeks |
Large / Complex (> S$10M) | S$25,000 – S$50,000+ | 4 – 8 weeks |
Please tell us:
What is the estimated annual revenue of the target company?
What is your target timeline for closing the deal?
🚀 Bestar Singapore: Elite Accounting & Financial Due Diligence for Your Industry Sector
Hiring a Certified Accountant or Auditor to Perform Due Diligence When Buying a Company
When acquiring a business in Singapore’s highly competitive regulatory landscape, engaging a specialized financial advisor is the single most critical step to mitigating cross-border risk, optimizing transaction structures, and uncovering hidden liabilities. While global mega-firms often lock mid-market buyers out with prohibitive pricing, Bestar delivers institutional-grade M&A rigor with the agility, localized execution, and price-to-value ratio required for successful corporate takeovers.
As an ACRA-registered public accounting practice, Bestar provides tailored Financial Due Diligence (FDD) and M&A Tax Structuring across Singapore’s core economic sectors.
💎 Why Bestar is Singapore’s Premier M&A Advisory Firm for SMEs & Mid-Market Deals
Bestar bridges the gap between hyper-personalized boutique attention and the comprehensive cross-border capabilities of international networks.
The Edge: Bestar merges structural corporate advisory with deep regulatory knowledge spanning financial audit, IRAS tax compliance, and multi-jurisdictional structuring.
Due Diligence Focus: Bestar’s dedicated Financial and Tax Due Diligence Services concentrate on normalizing historical EBITDA, verifying real recurring revenue vs. project-based spikes, and exposing unrecorded liabilities or impending litigation before you sign binding transactional contracts.
Core Advantage: Highly recognized as the most pragmatic, tech-forward choice for private equity investors, search funds, and corporate buyers targeting Singaporean and Southeast Asian companies.
Bestar’s Due Diligence Capabilities by Core Industry Sector
Choosing an advisory partner requires aligning their technical expertise with your target's industry domain. Bestar configures its due diligence framework to meet the exact risk profile of your sector:
1. Technology, SaaS, & E-Commerce
The Sector Risk: Overstated active user metrics, capitalised R&D software costs that artificially inflate assets, and complex cross-border digital tax exposures.
Bestar’s Solution: Deconstructs Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), evaluates historical customer churn, normalizes software capitalization policies, and reviews multi-jurisdictional digital service tax compliance.
2. Retail, F&B, & Consumer Goods
The Sector Risk: Perishable inventory valuation mismatches, unrecorded supplier rebates, and volatile leasehold commitments.
Bestar’s Solution: Conducts rigorous cut-off testing on inventory, verifies historical cash-to-POS reconciliations, and audits lease liabilities under IFRS 16/SFRS(I) 16 frameworks.
3. Cross-Border Logistics, Freight, & Supply Chain
The Sector Risk: Complex related-party transactions across ASEAN, fluctuating customs/import duty exposures, and aging asset depreciation.
Bestar’s Solution: Audits intercompany transfer pricing mechanisms, normalizes fleet maintenance capital expenditures, and screens for contingent liabilities stemming from international maritime or freight laws.
4. Professional Services, Healthcare, & B2B Agencies
The Sector Risk: Revenue recognition manipulation (e.g., front-loading long-term contract milestones) and heavy key-man dependency.
Bestar’s Solution: Performs precise Quality of Revenue testing on a contract-by-contract basis, assesses deferred revenue accounts, and analyzes working capital cycles to determine structural cash requirements post-acquisition.
3 Critical Pillars of a Bestar Due Diligence Engagement
1. 3-Year Quality of Earnings (QoE) Normalization
Bestar immediately separates the target business owner’s personal lifestyle expenses (e.g., director vehicles, discretionary family salaries, non-market rental agreements) from real operational revenue. This structural adjustment reveals the company’s true Quality of Earnings (QoE) and sustainable cash flows, which directly shapes your ultimate purchase multiple.
2. Regulatory & IRAS Tax Clearance Audits
Bestar’s tax specialists cross-check historical corporate filings against the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) and Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) databases. Undisclosed Goods and Services Tax (GST) back-charges, misclassified employee Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions, or non-compliant transfer pricing structures can lead to crippling penalties after the keys are handed over.
3. Net Working Capital (NWC) Baseline Formulation
Bestar establishes a binding, data-backed baseline for target operational cash, inventory levels, and outstanding debtor balances. This protects your transaction by preventing sellers from intentionally clearing out current inventory or aggressively collecting accounts receivable right before closing the deal.
To tailor a precise transaction framework for your target acquisition, let me know:
What is the specific industry vertical or sector of your target company?
What is the estimated revenue or deal size of the business you are buying?
We will generate a customized Information Request Checklist to get an immediate, accurate financial due diligence engagement proposal from Bestar Singapore.
🚀 Ready to Protect Your Investment?
Do not risk your capital on unverified financials. Partner with Bestar to secure institutional-grade financial due diligence and execute your Singapore business acquisition with absolute confidence.
📞 Schedule Your M&A Strategy Consultation
🌐 Visit the Official Portal: Bestar Financial Due Diligence Services
📧 Direct Email Contact: admin@bestar-asia.com
🏢 Corporate Office Location: Bestar, Singapore
To fast-track your engagement, let us know:
What is the target company’s primary industry?
What is your estimated deal closing date?
We will instantly draft a tailored Due Diligence Document Request Checklist for your first meeting with Bestar.
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