How to Choose the Right Quality of Earnings Provider for Your Business Acquisition

You've decided a Quality of Earnings report is the right move for your acquisition. The next question: who should do it? The QoE market ranges from Big 4 accounting firms charging six figures to solo CPAs offering $2,500 engagements — and choosing the wrong end of that spectrum can be just as costly as skipping the report entirely.

Here's how to think through the decision and what to ask before you sign an engagement letter.

The four types of QoE providers

The market for Quality of Earnings work broadly breaks into four categories. Each has a legitimate place — the key is matching the provider to your deal.

Seven questions to ask any provider before hiring them

1. How many QoE engagements have you completed in the past 12 months?

Volume matters for pattern recognition. A firm completing 30–50 small business QoE engagements per year sees recurring patterns that a practitioner doing 3–5 per year simply doesn't have exposure to. Ask specifically about small business deals — a firm doing 20 middle-market QoEs and 2 small business ones isn't a small business specialist regardless of their total count.

2. What is your typical deal size?

Fit matters more than capability. A firm whose average deal is $15M is technically capable of reviewing a $1.2M acquisition — but they'll approach it with $15M processes, charge accordingly, and the engagement may feel like an afterthought to their team. Look for a provider whose sweet spot aligns with your deal size.

3. Can I see a sample (redacted) report?

This is non-negotiable. Ask to see a real redacted report from a comparable deal. A strong QoE report includes a clear adjusted EBITDA bridge, revenue quality analysis with customer-level detail, individual documentation for each add-back, trend analysis across multiple years, and a working capital assessment. If the sample looks thin, reads like a tax document, or lacks specific findings — keep looking.

4. Will your report be accepted by SBA lenders?

If you're using SBA financing, ask your lender which providers they accept before you hire anyone. SBA lenders have strong opinions about QoE firm credibility, and a report from an unrecognized provider can delay or derail financing. Confirm the firm you're evaluating has been accepted on prior SBA-financed transactions — and ideally ask for a reference from a lender who's worked with them.

5. Who will actually do the work?

At larger firms, engagements are often staffed to associates or managers with the partner appearing only at key milestones. For a $1M acquisition, you want to know whether a senior practitioner with small business M&A experience is actually reviewing the financials — or whether it's a first-year analyst working from a checklist. Ask directly: who will be the primary analyst on my engagement, and what is their background?

6. What is your fixed-fee engagement structure?

Never accept an open-ended hourly engagement for a QoE report. You should receive a fixed-fee engagement letter with a defined scope before work begins. Understand exactly what's included in that fee and what would trigger additional charges (multiple entities, tax return review, expedited delivery, additional site visits). Firms that won't commit to a fixed fee are often the ones that generate surprise invoices at close.

7. What is your delivery timeline — and what do you need from me to hit it?

For small business QoE engagements, 10–15 business days from receipt of complete financial documents is a reasonable expectation. Firms promising one week should be scrutinized — quality suffers under extreme time pressure. Firms that can't commit to a timeline at all signal capacity or organizational problems. Get the timeline in writing in the engagement letter, along with a clear document request list so you know what you need to provide.

Red flags that should end the conversation

• Can't provide references from completed small business QoE engagements — any reputable firm should be able to connect you with past clients
• Reluctant to share a sample report — if they won't show you what you're buying, there's a reason
• Promises findings that "support" a specific outcome before work begins — a QoE analyst who tells you what they'll find before looking at the financials isn't doing independent work
• No dedicated transaction advisory practice — "we can do M&A work" from a generalist CPA isn't the same as a firm that lives in this space
• Offshore or outsourced analysis teams without senior domestic oversight — small business QoE work requires judgment and pattern recognition that doesn't translate well to commoditized outsourcing
• Unable to explain their methodology for testing add-backs or revenue quality — the approach should be clear and defensible

What "CPA-reviewed" actually means — and why it matters

One credential distinction worth understanding: some QoE providers have their reports reviewed and signed off by a licensed CPA, while others produce reports without CPA oversight. This matters for two reasons.

First, SBA lenders and sophisticated buyers increasingly require CPA review as a credibility threshold — it signals that the analysis meets professional standards and that someone with a license is standing behind it. Second, CPA review adds a quality control layer that catches analytical errors and ensures the adjusted EBITDA calculation is technically defensible.

When evaluating providers, ask specifically: is the report CPA-reviewed, and will the CPA's credentials and signature appear on the deliverable?

Making the final decision

Once you've narrowed to two or three providers who pass the questions above, the decision usually comes down to three things: fit (do they work in your deal size range?), confidence (do their sample reports reflect strong analytical work?), and responsiveness (did they answer your questions clearly and promptly, or did it feel like you were chasing them?).

How a firm treats a prospective client during the sales process is a reliable signal for how they'll treat you during the engagement — especially when you need a quick turnaround on a document request or a clear explanation of a finding at a critical deal moment.