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For Acquisition Entrepreneurs

Get QoE Lite.

The right-sized due diligence for small business deals.

Know what the seller's numbers are actually hiding before you sign. We right-size the work to your deal, from a single $2,500 service to a full QoE Lite with tax structuring and a post-close game plan. It makes you comfortable, your bank comfortable, and your investors comfortable.

See packages and pricing Send us a deal →

From Darin Pierson, a CPA who has bought, run, and sold a business of his own.

Free
Pre-LOI deal screen plus a 30-minute consult, no obligation
$2,500
Per single service, if that is all your deal needs
CPA-Led
Owner is former EY, bought, ran, and sold a business himself
The problem

Most first-time buyers don't need a giant report. They need the right red flags, fast.

By the time you're under LOI, the seller's numbers look clean enough to wire on, and the deal terms look standard enough to sign. They usually aren't. Most general-practice CPAs aren't trained to spot the financial, tax-structure, and post-close issues that actually move price and cost you real money after the deal closes.

How we're different

Traditional CPA Firm vs. Ashford Sky

Most CPA firms are built for ongoing, stable businesses. They are not built for the moment you're in.

Traditional CPA firm
Built for Tax Season · Not for Deals
  • ✗Reviews seller financials at face value
  • ✗No real opinion on add-backs or working capital
  • ✗Generic tax advice, no deal-level structuring
  • ✗Diligence is either nonexistent or Big 4 priced
  • ✗Multiple firms for all your financial needs
  • ✗Hasn't bought or operated a business themselves
  • ✗Disappears after the deal or diligence is done
Ashford Sky
Built for Acquisition Entrepreneurs
  • ✓Right-sized red-flag review
  • ✓Invested in getting you the best deal
  • ✓Tax strategy specific to acquisition entrepreneurs
  • ✓Clear Q of E timeline and reasonable fee
  • ✓One team through your entire ETA journey
  • ✓Founder bought, ran, and sold his own business
  • ✓Written post-close action plan with KPIs and dashboards
The offer and the fee

Right-sized to your deal.
Not a $25k report you don't need.

Many SBA-sized buyers don't need a $25k+ full Quality of Earnings report, and a bare financials review isn't enough either. So we right-size the work to your deal. Take a single service, or the full QoE Lite with tax structuring and a post-close game plan.

Pre-LOI screen
Free
30-minute consult

Not under LOI yet? Send us a target and we'll run a Pre-LOI deal screen plus a 30-minute consult, and tell you what we see.

  • ✓Pre-LOI deal screen
  • ✓30-minute consult
  • ✓No charge, no obligation
Send us a target
Single services
$2,500 each
1–2 weeks per offering

Pick the one piece your deal actually needs. Each is a standalone engagement.

  • ✓Proof of Cash. We tie out the balance sheet, the P&L, and actual cash to prove the earnings are real.
  • ✓Working Capital. How much cash the business needs to run, and what to peg at close.
  • ✓Tax Structuring + PPA. Structure the buy to save tax at close and going forward, including the purchase price allocation that drives first-year write-offs.
Ask about a single service
Most complete
QoE Lite + Structuring
$7,000–15,000*
3–4 week turnaround

Everything in Single Services in one engagement, plus a full Quality of Earnings and post-close financial architecture.

  • ✓Proof of Cash, Working Capital, and Tax Structuring + PPA
  • ✓Full Quality of Earnings with EBITDA normalization
  • ✓Add-back pressure-test and off-balance-sheet risk scan
  • ✓Financial architecture recommendations for post-close
Send us a deal

* Price for QoE Lite + Structuring depends on (1) deal size and (2) whether the business has inventory. We typically work deals from $300k to $5M, and you get a fixed quote on day one. For context, Big 4 QoE reports start around $75k and are sized for $20M+ enterprise deals.

Real findings from real QoEs

The numbers we found paid for the work many times over.

Two anonymized engagements, and what the diligence actually surfaced.

Self-storage services · 45+ years old
Diligence improved the deal and lowered the price.
~$150K
Inventory understated on the books
Lower
Purchase price the buyer negotiated
The setup
The seller kept cash-basis books, which made a steady, profitable company look lumpy month to month.
What we found
We re-did the numbers on an accrual basis and showed the business was actually profitable in nearly every month. We also caught that rent had just doubled (which lowered real earnings) and that inventory was understated by about $150K.
The result
The buyer got real confidence in the numbers, and used the rent finding to negotiate a lower purchase price.
DTC beauty brand · ship-from-China
Hidden costs cut real profit by a quarter-million.
$258K
Profit the seller had overstated
30×
What the buyer saved vs. the QoE fee
The setup
On paper, the profit looked fantastic. But the seller ran a tangle of related companies.
What we found
The COO's salary was being paid quietly by a sister company, so real profit was $258K lower than reported. We also found $268K of unpaid sales tax and unclear import/customs risk.
The result
The buyer re-priced the deal and got legal protections built into the contract, saving roughly 30× what the QoE cost.

Examples anonymized to protect client and target confidentiality.

Meet the founder of Ashford Sky
Built by a CPA who has actually been the buyer.
Former Ernst & Young Licensed CPA Bought, operated & sold a business 10+ years in deal & tax advisory
Founder-led
Darin Pierson, CPA
Founder, Ashford Sky

I've been the buyer. I combed through the CIMs, submitted the LOI, ran the QoE, and closed on the business. Then I operated it, and sold it. Now I help other buyers navigate the accounting and tax issues through that same arc.

I'm a CPA who spent over a decade across Big 4 and boutique firms before founding Ashford Sky, where our team of seven specializes in acquisition entrepreneurs. I know how to handle the messy diligence, how to structure the deal to be tax efficient, and the post-close scramble to set up the finance back-end. Our job at every step is the same: save you money, take the headaches off your plate, and free you up to operate.

"Most diligence reports are written for the binder. Ours is catered to the buyer, the person who has to wire the money and run the business on Monday."
Darin Pierson, CPA
FAQs

Quick answers from buyers we've worked with.

I'm pre-LOI. Is it too early to engage you?+
No, pre-LOI is actually the cheapest place to engage. Catching a structure problem or earnings issue before it is written into a binding LOI saves you from re-trading the deal later, or worse, signing one you shouldn't.
The broker already provided a QoE. Why do I need this?+
Broker-provided QoEs are paid for by the seller, which means they are written to support the sale, not protect the buyer. Even when accurate, they tend to underweight the parts that materially change valuation: add-back substantiation, working capital normalization, and off-balance-sheet risk. Our review starts from the buyer's perspective and pressure-tests the seller's numbers against what you will actually inherit.
How is this different from a Big 4 QoE?+
Big 4 QoE reports start around $75k and are sized for $20M+ enterprise deals. We are built for the $300k to $5M range, where the dollars don't justify a Big 4 fee but the financial and tax-structure risks are just as real. You get the same core diagnostic work at a fee that fits the deal size.
What does the QoE Lite + Structuring fee actually cover?+
Everything from the single services in one engagement, plus a full Quality of Earnings. That means Proof of Cash, Working Capital, and Tax Structuring + PPA, plus EBITDA normalization, add-back pressure-testing, an off-balance-sheet risk scan, and financial architecture recommendations for post-close. Where you land in the $7k to $15k range depends on deal size and whether the business has inventory. You get a fixed quote on day one.
Can I just buy one piece instead of the full engagement?+
Yes. Proof of Cash, Working Capital, and Tax Structuring + PPA are each available as a standalone $2,500 service with a 1 to 2 week turnaround. If your deal only needs one, that's all you pay for. Many buyers start with a single service and expand to the full QoE Lite + Structuring if the findings warrant it.
What documents do I need to provide?+
At kickoff we ask for three years of P&Ls, balance sheets, and tax returns; a recent monthly trial balance; bank statements for the last six months; AR and AP aging; the LOI or term sheet; and any seller-side QoE if one exists. You get a complete document checklist within 24 hours of signing.
Will you sign an NDA?+
Yes. We sign a standard mutual NDA before any seller information is shared. If the seller has their own NDA form, we will sign that too.
What if you don't find anything material?+
That's a useful outcome. You walk in with documented confidence in the numbers and a structuring plan that locks in the tax wins. The post-close roadmap still gets you the financial architecture and KPI work, which is the part most buyers actually act on after close.
Do you work with first-time buyers?+
Yes. First-time buyers make up the majority of our engagements. The whole offer is built for the searcher who has never closed a deal and needs an experienced CPA-buyer in the room. Darin bought, ran, and sold his own business, so the work isn't theoretical for him either.
Ready when you are

Send us a deal. We'll tell you what we see.

Email us financials and/or an LOI, or grab a time below. Within 48 hours we'll screen it, send you our thoughts, and set up a call if you'd like to discuss. The screen and the call are on us.