Articles
33 articles by QoEAgent, newest first.
- Proof of Cash Case Study: A Searcher’s SBA Acquisition the Numbers Did Not Support
A searcher's SBA lender could not get answers about the seller's books. What the proof of cash found, and why walking away was the right call.
- How to Prepare for a Quality of Earnings: A Checklist for Sellers and Their Advisors
How sellers, brokers and sell-side bankers prepare for a quality of earnings: records to gather, books to fix, and add-backs to support.
- Quality of Earnings Adjustments: Common EBITDA Add-Backs and Which Hold Up
The quality of earnings adjustments buyers see most, the evidence each EBITDA add-back needs, and the ones that rarely survive due diligence.
- Net Working Capital Peg: How It Is Set, With a Worked Example
How a net working capital peg is calculated in M&A, what belongs in it, a worked example, and why buyers push for a higher peg than sellers.
- SBA Business Valuation Requirements Under SOP 50 10 8.1
SBA business valuation requirements under SOP 50 10 8.1: no $250,000 threshold, lender-ordered only, and a Qualified Source credential required.
- The September 25 Update to SOP 50 10 8.1: A Buyer’s QoE Can Now Reach the Lender
SBA’s September 25 technical update lets a lender use a buyer’s quality of earnings report after a review by one of its own vendors.
- QoEAgent Client Portal: Built for SBA Lender Volume
QoEAgent built a client portal ahead of SBA SOP 50 10 8.1: engagement letters, data requests, secure upload and report delivery in one place.
- What Compilations Miss: Why Bank-First Reconciliation Finds More
Compilations and reviews start from the books. Proof of cash starts from the bank. That difference in direction is why proof of cash finds discrepancies that pass a CPA review.
- Lender QoE Is Not M&A QoE: What SBA Examiners Actually Require
SBA lender QoE needs a Cash Proof for the trailing twelve months and last two fiscal years, prepared for the lender. How that differs from M&A QoE.
- SBA Lenders Are About to Get a Lot of QoE Calls
SBA SOP 50 10 8.1 requires a quality of earnings report on 7(a) acquisitions of $3 million or more from October 1, 2026. What that means for lenders.
- Who Can Prepare an SBA Quality of Earnings Report
SOP 50 10 8.1 requires an independent professional engaged by the lender. A tool a buyer runs on their own deal does not qualify.
- What a Sell-Side Quality of Earnings Actually Does
A sell-side QoE is not a document that argues for the seller. Its job is to remove the buyer’s excuse to retrade, which means it has to be genuinely adversarial.
- Proof of Cash for Corporate Development Teams
Corporate development buys differently from private equity: more deals, smaller sizes, no diligence bench, and integration as the scorecard. What that changes.
- An SBA Lender Checklist for October 1
SOP 50 10 8.1 requires a full QoE, not just a cash proof, on SBA acquisitions of $3M or more. Seven things lenders should settle before October 1.
- Proof of Cash vs Bank Reconciliation
A year of clean bank reconciliations can coexist with overstated revenue. What each procedure actually asks, who performs it, and when a reconciliation is not enough.
- How Long Does a Quality of Earnings Report Take?
A traditional lower middle market QoE runs three to six weeks from data delivery. Most of that is data preparation, not analysis. What actually drives the clock.
- Do You Need a Full QoE for a Small Add-On?
Every add-on needs verification and almost none can carry a full-scope fee. How to scope diligence to the decision you are making without sampling your way into risk.
- Four Things That Break a Proof of Cash
Inter-account transfers, owner and related-party activity, merchant processor settlement, and cash-basis cut-off: the four places a proof of cash actually goes wrong.
- What an SBA Cash Proof Must Contain
A cash proof ties bank statements to the income statement and the tax return, transaction by transaction, per account and per month. What that takes in practice.
- How to Evaluate Proof of Cash Software: Seven Tests
Seven things to test before you buy proof of cash software, from source traceability and transfer logic to exception quality and monthly cut-off discipline.
- The SBA Quality of Earnings Requirement: What Changes on October 1, 2026
From October 1, 2026, SBA acquisitions of $3 million or more require a quality of earnings report containing a cash proof. What it must cover, and what changes for lenders and buyers.
- Press Release: QoEAgent Returns Proof of Cash in 24 Hours and GAAP-Formatted Financials in 48
QoEAgent announces its AI platform delivers a Proof of Cash in 24 hours and GAAP-formatted financial statements in 48 hours for lower-middle-market M&A due diligence.
- QoEAgent Featured in Accounting Today on AI Proof-of-Cash
QoEAgent co-founder Josh Cashman, CFA has been published in Accounting Today with a piece on what transaction accountants should know before trusting an AI proof-of-cash in M&A due diligence. The article explains what today’s AI proof-of-cash tools actually do — document understanding and data classification that reconciles bank activity to the general ledger and surfaces
- QoEAgent Featured in ACG Insights: AI Tackles the Lower Middle Market’s QoE Data Problem
QoEAgent co-founder Josh Cashman published a contributed article in ACG Insights on how AI eliminates the 8–15 hours of data-preparation work in lower-middle-market M&A due diligence.
- Trial Balance Mapping in Due Diligence: A Step-by-Step Guide for PE Firms
A step-by-step guide to trial balance mapping in M&A due diligence — how PE firms classify chart of accounts data into GAAP-structured financials, and how AI changes the workflow.
- How AI Is Transforming Quality of Earnings Analysis in 2026
How AI is transforming quality of earnings analysis in 2026 — automating bank reconciliation, trial balance mapping, and GAAP views while preserving advisor judgment.
- Quality of Earnings Checklist: 12 Items Every M&A Advisor Must Review
A 12-item quality of earnings checklist for M&A advisors and PE firms — covering revenue, EBITDA adjustments, working capital, and cash verification in due diligence.
- From 1,313 Pages to Structured Data: How AI Reads Lease and Vendor Agreements
Manual contract review misses critical terms. QoEAgent extracted and structured 119 agreements across 1,313 pages — leases, vendor contracts, and fuel supply deals — for a 36-location acquisition.
- Processing 431 Bank Statements Automatically: AI Due Diligence at Scale
Manual bank statement processing takes weeks for multi-site businesses. QoEAgent processed 431 statements across 36 accounts, extracting 29,823 transactions automatically with full deposit verification.
- AI Trial Balance Mapping: Classifying 5,528 Accounts with Confidence Scoring
Mapping 5,000+ GL accounts across 36 months is where quality-of-earnings engagements bog down. See how QoEAgent classifies every account with confidence scoring — hours, not days.
- How AI Reconciles 36 Bank Accounts: Inside Proof-of-Cash Automation
Manual proof-of-cash reconciliation across 36 bank accounts takes weeks. See how QoEAgent agents reconcile every account — 99.4% match rate — in hours, not weeks.
- From Trial Balance to GAAP-Compliant Financial Statements: How QoEAgent Maps with Confidence
For M&A advisors, private equity firms, and accounting teams working on quality-of-earnings engagements, the path from raw trial balance data to a clean, GAAP-compliant financial statement has traditionally been one of the most time-consuming and error-prone steps in due diligence. Inconsistent chart-of-accounts structures across entities, multi-period history spanning dozens of GL accounts, and the absence
- What Is a Proof-of-Cash and Why It Matters in M&A Due Diligence
What is proof of cash? Proof of cash is a due-diligence procedure that reconciles a target company’s bank activity to its general ledger and reported revenue over a defined period, confirming that recorded cash actually moved as the financials claim. In lower-middle-market M&A it is one of the most time-consuming steps because bank formats and