Preparing for a private-company valuation engagement

Historical financial statements, management reporting, forecasts, and the capitalization table should use consistent dates and definitions. Identify nonrecurring items, changes in accounting presentation, and differences between board materials and the submitted model.

• Historical income statements and balance sheets
• Latest year-to-date actual results
• Management forecast with key operating assumptions
• Current cap table and governing security documents
• Recent financing, secondary, and transaction materials

The valuation team needs to understand how customers, pricing, headcount, margins, capital needs, and product milestones drive the forecast. A bridge from recent actual results to the forecast can be more useful than another presentation deck.

Call out uncertainty and scenarios directly. Hidden conservatism or optimism is harder to evaluate than a clearly labeled assumption.

For a refresh, provide a concise chronology since the prior valuation: financing activity, operating performance, forecast revisions, product and market developments, strategic discussions, and capital-structure changes. This helps the analysis focus on information that can affect value.