Before entering into any transaction with another party, it’s important to do your own financial due diligence to confirm the facts. Are you really getting what you think you’re getting? Or have you found the next Luckin Coffee?

During financial due diligence (FDD), 要想确定合适的收购价格，有三点分析是关键:

1. 盈余质量(QofE)
2. 净债务
3. 净营运资本(NWC)

I refer to these tests as the three pillars of financial due diligence. 在高水平上, we are trying to locate items that relate to the normal course of business, capture material cash flows not captured in financial statements, verify the consistent accounting treatment of items, and ensure that items are recognized in the correct time period.

通常情况下，任何一个支柱的调整都会影响到其他两个支柱中的物品. As a rule of thumb, every balance sheet item related to lines above 息税前利润 应该成为NWC的一部分吗, while every item removed from QofE and NWC, with any actual cash impact in the current year or in near-term future, 应该考虑净债务吗.

在一系列的文章中, I will delve deeper into how to perform these tests, starting here with quality of earnings.

Assessing Quality of Earnings in 尽职调查

Quality of earnings answers the salient 问题 本年的收入线或成本线是否来自主营业务活动, 或者只是一次性的. 因此，尽职调查从业人员希望确定正常和可持续的盈利水平，以确保在交易中支付的多重基础价格是公平的.

在FDD报告的所有分析中，盈利质量可能是最受关注的，因为 企业价值 通常是由fdd调整后的息税前利润而不是管理层报告的数字驱动的. 如果息税前利润成功减少10万美元，那么这笔交易的息税前利润倍数为10倍，价格将减少100万美元. 因此, 由于对价格的潜在影响，通常被视为无关紧要的调整都在接受审查.

Examples of Quality of Earnings 调整s

当查看在QofE分析期间将进行的调整类型时, the following are the most prominent that I have encountered in my work:

如你所见, 表中有一些元素与达到预算目标的年度竞赛相对应. Yet, when it comes to a transaction, the 买家 通常情况下，是否只关注企业正在进行的核心运营. 因此，有必要剥离任何不是“照常营业”活动的核心组成部分.

案例研究:时尚零售

让我们通过一个时尚零售商的案例研究示例来展示实际的调整.

收购目标是Fashion X，这是一家在该地区拥有10家门店的小型零售商. 在 尽职调查程序, the following factors were determined:

• 该公司每年12月结束，并遵循国际财务报告准则会计准则.
• 20% increase in 息税前利润 from last year
• Expected deal value to be 10x 息税前利润
• 商店的设置时间, from when stores are opened to when they get profitable, 估计是六个月. All setup costs are expensed above 息税前利润.

• Three stores were opened at end of Sep-18 with the following details:

  设置成本	前6个月亏损	6个月后的月利润
  $10k	$50k	$5k
  $5k	$40k	$6k
  $5k	$10k	$4k

• One unprofitable store was closed at the end of Jun-19. The total loss of the store and the cost of closure was $100k in FY19. 这家店在2018财年亏损了1万美元.
• 年终备付金汇总表显示未使用或有应计在当年转回, 息税前利润增加10万美元.

案情分析

尽职调查是一种取证练习，从业者必须解析信息并关注出现的关键点. 以下是从影响盈利质量的案例数据中得出的关键见解.

1. 一次性开店费用

对于任何可以通过增加一个独立的收入单位来增加收入的企业.g., 一个餐厅, 零售商店, 生产单位), it is fairly common for the unit to have a one-time setup cost. Often, these costs, to the extent they are expensed to P&L above 息税前利润, are reversed within QofE as they are considered a one-off. In this case, the total setup cost over six months was $20k (10+5+5). 在这六个月里, three (Oct-Dec) are in FY18 and the other three in FY19 (Jan-Mar), 因此, the cost in FY18 and FY19 are both reduced by $10k.

在交易中，一切最终都归结为谈判，没有什么是非黑即白的. If the business is expanding and it is normal to add 2-4 stores a year (i.e., it has been doing it consistently over the last few years), 买方可以辩称，这些不是一次性成本，而是在正常业务过程中发生的. This would knock off $100k from the deal price.

2. 新店亏损6个月

类似于设置成本, 对于一个新单位来说，有一个“上升”时间并在此期间亏损运行是相当常见的. This could be due to time spent in marketing, getting production to a minimum level, or putting together a successful store team. These initial losses are also reversed within QofE. The total loss over six months from Sep-18 was $100k (50+40+10), 因此, the costs in FY18 and FY19 are both reduced by $50k.

3. 新店的年化利润

尽管零售部门在运营的前六个月亏损了, 这是一项对业务的投资，预计会产生更高的收入, as is demonstrated by the stores being profitable subsequently. QofE numbers are adjusted to reflect this.

4. 亏损商店出售

The business that the 买家 will get won’t have the loss-making store. 因此, the cost incurred and the losses related to the business are reversed (FY19: $100k; FY18: $10k).

5. 或有考虑时机

Businesses often end up under- or overestimating accruals, which can overflow into next year at year-end. 当真正的发票来的时候, the management may need to adjust the accrual, leading to some cost recognition in the wrong period. This is perfectly acceptable from an audit or accounting point of view, 但在FDD中, 我们会对此进行调整.

当最终价格将以当年为基础时，为什么要调整前几年的价格? This is done to get a better idea about the underlying growth story. 请注意，虽然该业务的潜在收益比报告的要好, the adjusted earnings grew only by 1.5%, compared to the 20% reported growth.

考虑到上述因素，收益表的质量看起来像:

如你所见, 由于门店扩张，“一切如常”的数据发生了重大变化. The adjusted earnings show an uptick as these costs are added back, 在随后的谈判中，哪一方会考虑更高的预期售价.

警告的话

财务尽职调查不是审计，也不能完全保护你免受错误信息和欺诈. 然而，这将使你的理由更有力，并帮助你谈判一个更好的价格. 在很多场合, deals are done on the basis of a strategic rationale, with FDD being of limited importance in such scenarios.

结论

本演练旨在给出一个实际的例子，说明为什么QofE在交易谈判中至关重要，以及财务尽职调查在实践中是如何工作的. 在后续文章中, 我将以类似的方式探讨净债务和营运资本，以完成三个支柱.

这应该会让你对交易场景中的这些价值驱动因素有所了解. 然而, these would need to be adapted to specific needs of a deal or a business, 这将有助于聘请专业顾问制定定制计划，并在交易谈判中发挥最佳作用.