Deal-ready FDD reports, in minutes not weeks.
Connect an accounting system, or upload an Excel export. You get a 40-tab financial due diligence deep-dive: EBITDA bridge, proof of cash, flag log, NWC analysis. No onboarding. No configuration. Just the report.
Less than $500 per deal. Money-back guarantee if you're not satisfied.
Supports all major accounting systems
Data-room-ready workbook in a couple minutes
Deals run
In flagged adjustments
Typical turnaround
Hours Saved Per Review
Traditional FDD is broken for lower-middle-market deals
2-4 Weeks
Traditional FDD takes weeks. Deals move fast. By the time you get the report, the window may have closed.
Hours of Manual Work
Manual workbook prep, period mapping, and add-back identification eat dozens of analyst hours per deal. Time you could be spending on judgment, not data entry.
Missed Red Flags
Many advisors skip thorough diligence on smaller deals or rely on manual Excel reviews that miss critical patterns.
What You Get
A professional FDD workbook, ready for your deal team
Your FDD Report Includes
- Executive summary with key findings and risk assessment
- Normalized financial statements (IS, BS, CF) across all periods
- Period-over-period variance analysis with explanations
- Automated flag detection: revenue spikes, expense anomalies, classification errors
- Cash-to-accrual reconciliation and discrepancy identification
- Customer and vendor concentration analysis
- Clean Excel workbook with labeled tabs, consistent formatting
What you walk away with
Built like Big-4.Delivered like software.
The diligence work product a senior team would put together for a multimillion-dollar deal. Ready to drop into your deal binder, in a couple minutes.
Inside the workbook
Pricing scales with how you work. One-off reports for occasional deals; a subscription that pays back fast for active shops. We'll quote what fits.
Expert review, on request
Deals under LOI can add a line-by-line review by a senior analyst from the bench behind our quality of earnings engagements: a findings call and a lender-ready summary letter on top of the workbook.
Try it on a real deal.
Built for everyone running a deal
Buy-side, sell-side, the advisors in the middle, and the lenders funding it. Start where you sit.
Buyers
Searchers, independent sponsors and private equity firms testing a seller’s numbers against the seller before committing capital.
Zenith for buyersSell-Side Advisors
Prepare a business for buyer scrutiny, generate valuation reports for outbound, and keep processes moving with self-serve buyer Q&A.
Zenith for advisorsAccounting Firms
Standardize the analysis layer across engagements and take on more transaction work without adding senior headcount.
Zenith for firmsLenders
Independent, lender-commissioned analysis for change of ownership files, built for the credit file rather than the borrower.
Zenith for lendersHow It Works
Send Us the Data
Export from accounting software, or send us Excel files. We handle TB, P&L, balance sheets, and basically any format.
We Analyze
Our engine normalizes the financials, runs variance analysis, detects anomalies, and flags anything that needs attention.
Get Your Report
Receive a clean, professional Excel workbook in a couple minutes. Summary, findings, financials, flags. Ready for your deal team.
What Our Engine Catches
Not just numbers. The story behind them.
Revenue Concentration
A single customer drove 28% of March revenue. Without them, growth was flat.
Expense Misclassification
Contractor payments booked as COGS belong in SG&A, understating gross margin by 4 points.
Cash vs Accrual Gap
Cash basis reporting understated receivables by $180K. Accrual reconstruction reveals a different picture.
Seasonal Inconsistency
Q4 revenue pattern broke from prior years, suggesting a one-time event being presented as recurring.
Vendor Concentration
Top 3 vendors represent 72% of COGS. Supply chain risk not reflected in the narrative.
Working Capital Trend
DSO increased from 34 to 52 days over 12 months while revenue grew 8%. Collection issues emerging.
These are real examples of findings from our analysis engine, anonymized from actual engagements.
What dealmakers say
turnaround compression
“We used to spend two days putting together a workbook before deciding whether to even submit an IOI. Now we run it the same morning the teaser hits our inbox.”
Partner, M&A advisory firm
in flagged add-backs we'd have missed
“The EBITDA bridge caught owner-perk items the seller's broker had buried in OpEx. Renegotiated the LOI based on the cleaner number.”
Independent sponsor, lower-middle market
more targets evaluated per quarter
“Pre-Zenith, I'd look at maybe two targets a quarter because the spreadsheet work was so painful. Now I run it on everything that lands and only spend real time on the ones with clean signals.”
Search fund principal
Wherever your clients keep their books
Direct API connects or file uploads. Whatever the seller has, we can read it.
QuickBooks Online
OAuth connect or export
QuickBooks Desktop
IIF, QBB, or Excel
Xero
OAuth connect or export
NetSuite
Direct export or API
Sage 50
Excel / CSV export
Sage Business Cloud
Direct export or API
Sage Intacct
Direct export or API
Excel / CSV
Trial balance, P&L, BS
Free diligence resources
Working a deal yourself? Start with these, no email required.
Due diligence checklist
A phase-by-phase checklist for buying a small business, from pre-LOI screening through closing. Free PDF included.
Open the checklistProof of cash template
A free Excel workbook with built-in variance formulas to reconcile bank activity to the books month by month.
Get the templateThe new SBA QoE rules
What SOP 50 10 8.1 changes for acquisition financing from October 1, 2026: coverage, the valuation cap, and what triggers a mandatory quality of earnings report.
Read the guideSBA coverage calculator
Check whether an acquisition clears the SBA coverage floor on historical earnings, including the add-back rules most calculators leave out.
Run the numbersSBA acquisition lender index
The 100 most active SBA 7(a) acquisition lenders, ranked from SBA loan-level data: loan counts, dollars approved, median deal size and share of book.
See the rankingField guides
Short, experience-tested screens you can run on a target before the process gets serious.
Pre-LOI screening framework
The three quiet deal killers to screen before an LOI locks your leverage. Built for serial acquirers and search funds.
Download the guideAdd-on screen for holdcos and family offices
Three screens to run before the next add-on joins the consolidated P&L. Built for permanent capital that keeps what it buys.
Download the guideEquity-raise screen for independent sponsors
The three findings that stall an equity raise after your LOI is signed. Run it before your capital partners re-underwrite the target.
Download the guideExit-readiness screen for owners
The three findings buyers use to retrade your price, surfaced while you can still fix them before going to market.
Download the guideFrequently asked questions
What is automated financial due diligence?
Automated financial due diligence (FDD) uses software to analyze a target company's financial statements, detect anomalies, and surface red flags, replacing the manual process of building Excel models from exported data. Zenith connects directly to QuickBooks or Xero, or accepts uploaded financials, and produces a structured analysis report in minutes.
How does Zenith FDD compare to hiring a Big-4 firm?
Big-4 advisory FDD engagements typically take 4–8 weeks and cost $50,000–$250,000+. Zenith automates the financial analysis layer in hours at a fraction of the cost, making it practical for every deal rather than just the largest ones. For highly complex transactions requiring regulatory sign-off or expert testimony, advisory firms remain appropriate.
Does Zenith integrate with QuickBooks and Xero?
Yes. Zenith connects directly to QuickBooks Online and Xero via OAuth. Once connected, you can sync the target company's financials with a single click, with no exports or re-keying required. CSV and Excel uploads are also supported for companies without cloud accounting.
What financial red flags does Zenith detect?
Zenith surfaces common FDD red flags including revenue concentration risk, unusual expense spikes, working capital deterioration, negative EBITDA trends, high deferred revenue, and inconsistencies between the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.
How long does automated FDD take?
Initial analysis is generated within minutes of syncing or uploading financials. Reviewing the full report and flags typically takes 1-2 hours for an analyst, compared to 1-3 weeks for a manually built model.
Is a human expert involved, or is it all software?
The workbook is generated by software, and for most screening-stage deals it stands on its own. When a deal goes under LOI, you can add an expert review on request: a senior analyst from the team behind our quality of earnings engagements reviews the file line by line, walks you through the findings on a call, and issues a lender-ready summary letter.
Have a deal in front of you? See it on a real deal.
Run a real FDD on a real deal. A couple minutes. Then decide if you want another.