For people looking at a small business

A red-flag report for the business you’re about to buy.

Paste the listing and the seller’s P&L. See which numbers check out, which look off, and the 15 questions to ask before you make an offer.

Check a deal Try a sample

Files aren’t stored. PDFs are read in your browser. This is not financial, legal, or accounting advice.

Every key number, tagged

Revenue, SDE, add-backs, deposits, margins, and the asking multiple are marked verified, unverified, or suspicious, with a one-line reason.

The red flags, in order

Deposits that don’t match sales, personal expenses in the add-backs, one big customer, cash that never hits the bank, and claims that don’t match the yearly figures.

15 questions for the seller

A list you can take into a call or an email, written so you can ask for tax returns, bank statements, and contracts before you bid.

A simple sanity-math box

Asking price ÷ SDE, what’s left for owner pay, and debt-service coverage on a typical 10-year SBA-style loan, with the assumptions shown.

How to evaluate a business for sale

  1. Read the listing and the seller’s profit-and-loss statement together, not as two separate stories.
  2. Test revenue against bank deposits and, later, tax returns. A gap needs a written explanation.
  3. Recast add-backs. Personal costs and “one-time” expenses that show up every year should not inflate what you pay.
  4. Look for concentration: one customer, one employee, or one license the owner holds alone.
  5. Divide the asking price by a conservative cash-flow number, then see what is left after a loan payment and a real owner wage.
  6. Do not make an offer until a CPA and a broker have reviewed the same documents.

Deal Check does the first pass from the text you provide. It does not replace due diligence.

Pricing

Free preview

The top 3 red flags on any deal you paste.

$49 full report

Every tagged number, all flags, sanity math, and the 15 questions. Free during launch — the button unlocks the report, no payment is collected.

FAQ

How do I evaluate a business for sale?

Start with the listing and the seller’s P&L. Check whether revenue ties to bank deposits and tax returns, recast add-backs so you are not paying a multiple of personal expenses, look at customer concentration, and run a simple test of asking price divided by seller’s discretionary earnings. Then ask for supporting documents before you make an offer.

What are the red flags when buying a business?

Revenue that does not match deposits, undocumented cash sales, inflated or personal add-backs, a single customer that is a large share of sales, an “absentee” claim when the owner is still essential, growth claims that do not match the yearly figures, and an asking price that only looks reasonable before the numbers are recast.

What is SDE, and why do add-backs matter?

Seller’s discretionary earnings is the cash flow a full-time owner-operator can take from the business — usually net profit plus owner pay, depreciation, and certain one-owner benefits. Buyers often pay a multiple of SDE. Weak add-backs make that multiple look cheaper than it is.

What questions should I ask the seller before making an offer?

Ask for three years of tax returns, 24 months of bank statements, an itemized add-back list, the top customers and any contracts, the owner’s real hours and duties, upcoming equipment needs, and whether the lease and online listings transfer. The full report drafts 15 questions from the documents you paste.

Are my files stored?

No. Files aren’t stored. If you upload a PDF, it is read in your browser with pdf.js. Only the extracted text is sent to build the report, and it is not saved.

Disclaimer. Deal Check is not financial, legal, or accounting advice. It is an automated reading of the text you provide and can miss or misread figures. Verify every number with a CPA and a business broker, and do your own due diligence before making an offer.