Getting your books audit-ready for due diligence

When you raise a round, the diligence on your finances can be more searching than founders expect. Reviewers want to trace where money came from, where it went, and who signed off along the way. The good news is that most of what they ask for is something you can prepare from records you already hold.

This guide covers what investors and auditors tend to look for, and the statements, exports and activity history you can pull together so your numbers are easy to follow. It is not accounting or tax advice — for that, work with a qualified professional.

What investors and auditors look for in due diligence

Financial due diligence, the kind you meet around a Series A, is largely about whether your numbers can be traced and trusted. Reviewers typically want to see:

• A complete, consistent transaction history they can follow end to end.
• Statements that reconcile with the accounts and figures you have reported.
• Evidence that controls existed — for example, that payments were approved by someone, not just sent.
• Clarity on where money came from and where it went, without unexplained gaps.

None of this requires a perfect company. It requires records that are organised and explainable, so a reviewer can satisfy their questions quickly rather than treating every gap as a red flag.

Downloadable statements and a clear transaction history

The backbone of diligence is a clean transaction history. Altery provides downloadable statements and a transaction record you can pull for a given period, so you can hand reviewers a clear account of activity rather than reconstructing it under pressure.

It helps to keep transactions described well as you go: a meaningful reference on a payment is far easier to explain months later than a bare amount and date. The clearer the running record, the less back-and-forth there is when someone reviews it.

Exporting data and connecting to accounting tools

Reviewers and your accountant will usually want the data in a form they can work with, not just on screen. Altery lets you export your transaction data, for example as CSV, and offers an API for pulling records programmatically.

• CSV exports let you, your bookkeeper or your accountant move figures into spreadsheets and accounting software for reconciliation.
• API access supports a more automated flow, keeping records in sync with the tools you already use.

Getting this data into your accounting tool regularly, rather than only at raise time, means your books are closer to ready whenever diligence begins. How the figures are then treated in your accounts is a matter for your accountant.

An activity log of who approved and made payments

One thing reviewers value is being able to see not just what happened, but who did it. Altery keeps an activity record of account actions, including who approved and who made payments, which gives you an audit trail to draw on.

This supports the controls story diligence cares about: it shows that approvals were real steps taken by named people, not an afterthought. When a reviewer asks how a particular payment was authorised, having that history to point to turns a potentially awkward question into a quick answer.

Making the numbers easy to defend

Defending your numbers is mostly about removing surprises. A few habits make a real difference:

• Keep your transaction descriptions clear as you go, so each entry explains itself.
• Reconcile regularly with your accountant, rather than leaving a year to untangle at once.
• Keep exports and statements organised by period, so you can produce them quickly when asked.
• Use approvals consistently, so the activity trail reflects how decisions were actually made.

Altery gives you the records, exports and controls to support all of this. Whether your books are fully audit-ready, and how the figures should be presented, is something to confirm with your accountant or auditor — the platform supplies the underlying data, it does not replace professional review.

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