What business owners ask when assembling a transition team, answered plainly.
Answers reviewed by Ron Smith, Founding Partner of Cordis Group LLC, publisher of The Advisory Register. Last updated July 11, 2026.
A complete transition team usually has four seats: an M&A advisor or investment banker to run the process, a transaction attorney to paper it, a CPA or quality-of-earnings provider to defend the numbers, and a wealth or tax advisor to structure the proceeds. Larger or more complex deals add specialists such as estate counsel or insurance advisors.
The most common mistake is filling only the first seat and asking that person to cover the other three. Search the Register by specialty to see how the categories divide.
Common designations include CPA (accounting), JD (law), CFA (finance and analysis), CVA and ASA (business valuation), CEPA (exit planning), and CM&AA (M&A advisory). Securities-licensed bankers operate through registered broker-dealers.
Credentials confirm training and a code of conduct; they do not confirm deal experience at your company’s size. Treat them as a screening filter, then weigh completed transactions, references, and specialty fit more heavily.
A sell-side advisor represents the owner: preparing the company, running buyer outreach, and negotiating for the highest achievable terms. A buy-side advisor represents an acquirer: sourcing targets and negotiating price down.
The distinction matters when checking conflicts. Ask any advisor whether they also do buy-side work for the private equity firms or strategics likely to bid on your company, and how they handle that conflict if it arises in your process.
It is the work done 12–24 months before a formal sale process: cleaning up financial reporting, addressing customer concentration, documenting management depth, and mapping the likely buyer set. Cordis Institute research (Working Paper WP-001, The Preparation Gap in Early 2026) finds 73% of lower-middle-market deals take a post-LOI price adjustment averaging 18%, driven mainly by preparation gaps that were fixable upstream.
Pre-process advisory exists to close those gaps while there is still time for the fixes to show up in the numbers. See why M&A advisory engagements should begin twelve months before the mandate.
A practical sequence: wealth/tax advisor and estate counsel first, because some structures only work if set up well before a sale; then a pre-process or M&A advisor 12–24 months out to run readiness work; a sell-side QoE provider roughly 6–12 months before launch; and a transaction attorney before you sign anything binding, including the banker’s engagement letter.
Engaging the attorney last but before signatures is the most frequently violated rule on this list. For staging detail, see how advisors should stage diligence readiness across twelve months.
At minimum: scope of work and named team members, the fee formula and what counts as transaction value, retainer treatment (credited against the success fee or not), exclusivity and termination rights, the tail period, expense handling, and confidentiality.
The tail deserves the most attention: a 12–24 month tail limited to buyers the advisor actually introduced is standard; an open-ended tail covering any future buyer is a red flag worth negotiating out. More in the question a seller should ask before signing any engagement letter.
M&A advisors typically charge a retainer plus a success fee at close. Attorneys bill hourly or on capped project fees. QoE providers charge fixed project fees, commonly ranging from tens of thousands of dollars depending on company complexity. Wealth managers charge a percentage of assets under management. Exit planners often work on flat or phased project fees.
Knowing the norm for each seat helps you spot outliers, in both directions, when you compare proposals.
Ask for their last five engagements, not a curated highlight list, and speak with at least two former clients whose deals resemble yours in size and industry. Ask those references what went wrong, not just what went right, and whether the close price tracked the LOI.
Verify announced transactions through press releases or public filings. For securities-licensed professionals, check regulatory records through public databases. An advisor who resists reference requests is answering your question a different way.
Four questions cover most of it: Do you receive referral fees for sending me to other professionals? Do you represent buyers who might bid on my company? Does your fee change depending on which buyer wins or how the deal is structured? Do you or your affiliates invest in deals you advise on?
None of these arrangements is automatically disqualifying, but each should be disclosed in writing, and an advisor who is uncomfortable with the questions is telling you something.
Most investment banks concentrate above $25M–$50M in enterprise value because their cost structure requires larger fees. Below that, the market is served by M&A advisory boutiques and business brokers.
The practical test is not the label but attention: ask who at the firm will work your deal daily and how many active engagements that person carries. A first-chair senior advisor at a boutique routinely outperforms a junior team at a larger bank for lower-middle-market companies.
No. The Advisory Register is a curated editorial directory published by Cordis Group LLC. Advisors cannot purchase a listing, ranking, or preferential placement, and the Register accepts no referral fees from listed advisors. Candidates are reviewed against published criteria covering credentials, experience, and client outcomes.
The Register is a starting point for an owner’s own diligence, not a recommendation engine. Our About page describes the review process in full.