Buy-side quality of earnings — from an operator, not an auditor.

Two things. First — every reserve, addback and normalisation is tested against the operating reality the partner has lived: inventory turn for a CPG operator, RevPAR pacing for a hotel CFO, AISC for a mining producer. Second — we flag the things an audit-firm QoE typically misses: marketing-spend timing shifts, founder-dependent revenue, customer cohort retention beyond the headline, and reserve categories the trailing-twelve-month P&L can't catch.

Audit-firm QoE is built by accountants who have not run a P&L. The work is technically correct but pattern-blind — they cannot tell you which adjustments are operationally defensible because they have never had to defend one. Our QoE is led by a partner who has been on the seller's side of this conversation. Same documentation rigour, sharper read.

Same "operator's lens" positioning. Where we extend: sector-depth across thirteen industries with a named partner per sector, plus the downloadable QoE checklist scoped to consumer-brand acquisitions specifically. For sub-$25M EBITDA consumer deals, we publish the playbook openly.

3–6 weeks for a full QoE plus operational diligence. Faster if needed, with explicit trade-offs noted up front — typically thinner commercial diligence to hit the timeline.

Yes — we work alongside private equity, family-office and operating-company buyers. Most diligences are sponsor-adjacent. The deliverables map cleanly to the way LP-reporting and IC memos are structured.

Fixed fee per engagement scoped to deal complexity. No hourly billing surprises. Typical sub-$25M EBITDA deal: $35K–$75K all-in. Reserve adequacy + commercial + operational scope adds to it.

We tell you. Plainly, in writing, with the reasoning. That is the whole point — you pay us for an honest read, not for an LOI confirmation.