The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., lit at night.

How an engagement runs

How We Work

Every engagement runs the same way, whichever service you buy: a scoping call, one fixed fee in writing, a request list with the slow items asked for first, a Day 1 that starts the clock, a material finding by phone before any draft, and a readout with both partners in the room.

The calendar

The engagement letter comes first, and the clock starts on Day 1.

Seven points from the first call to the readout, and what reaches you at each one.

The engagement calendar

Seven points · every engagement

Day 0 · 30 minutes

Scoping call

What happens

Entities, cash or accrual books, how many years, what the deal needs.

You receive

The fee and the window, stated on the call.

Inside one business day

Engagement letter

What happens

Nothing starts before it is signed and the deposit clears.

You receive

The letter. The fee moves only if you ask for more work.

At signature

Request list

What happens

Reviewed with you line by line, each item marked critical or not.

You receive

The list, with the items that start the clock marked.

Day 1

The clock starts

What happens

The later of the last critical item arriving and payment clearing. Confirmed in writing that day.

You receive

The delivery date, in writing. A Quality of Earnings runs 10 to 25 business days by scope, an operational review 15 to 20; the Review’s window is set at scoping.

During the work

The finding call

What happens

A material finding reaches you by phone inside two business days of our believing it, ahead of any written draft.

You receive

The call, then a one-page note.

Before the readout

The draft

What happens

To you first, with three business days for factual accuracy.

You receive

The draft, and nothing in the readout you have not heard.

Delivery · live

The readout

What happens

Both partners walk every finding, each as a dollar and a document. Contest anything before it is final.

You receive

The report, the exhibit book and the model. LIMESTONE issues the report.

Standing practice; the engagement letter governs each engagement. Business days count from Day 1.

Every date in the engagement counts from Day 1, and we confirm Day 1 in writing the day it happens.

Before the quote, and before Day 1

Who holds what

To quote

A thirty-minute call: entities, cash or accrual, how many years, what the deal needs. The fee goes in writing inside a business day.

Held by

What we ask for

Why it comes first

Your payroll provider

The payroll register by employee and the quarterly 941 filings.

Usually the last to arrive. We go to the provider directly.

Your accountant

The preparer’s copy of three years of returns, with the supporting statements and depreciation schedules.

The client copy often lacks the statements and depreciation schedules we work from, so we ask the accountant for the preparer’s copy.

The IRS

Record of Account transcripts, or a signed Form 8821 so we can pull them.

On a government clock. Not needed to start.

Your bank

Monthly statements for every operating account, for the proof-of-cash periods.

The proof of cash cannot begin without them.

You

Read-only access to the accounting system, the trial balances, revenue by customer.

Fastest to arrive. The model starts the day they land.

Day 1 is the later of the last critical item and cleared payment, so the slow items set the date.

From the LIMESTONE information request. Where an item does not exist, say so and it comes off.

Before we quote

The fee comes off a call, and the slow items are asked for first.

The fee comes out of a thirty-minute call and goes in writing before anything else happens. The slow items are the ones someone else holds: the payroll provider, your accountant and the IRS. We ask for those first, and the critical ones decide the date.

Ryan Anoskey, CPA

Partner

Jared Luegers, CFA

Founder and Managing Partner

The people

One partner leads, the other reviews, and LIMESTONE issues the report.

Ryan Anoskey, CPA, leads the numbers. Jared Luegers, CFA, leads the operational read and performs the documented second review before anything is released; on the operational and readiness work, Jared leads and Ryan reviews. Nobody sits between you and the person who reached the conclusion; both partners walk the readout. The Team page has who does what by stage.

Where the records live

Database and files in Ohio, the application in Washington, D.C. Never on a personal device, never in an email.

Who can see them

Named accounts with one-time codes, no passwords. An advisor’s or a lender’s seat sees status and, when the client releases it, the report; never the records.

Confidentiality and data

Your records move through one portal, in the United States, read by named people.

Records never travel by email. They move through a private portal hosted in the United States, where every seat is a person we invited and every open is logged. Nothing is held outside the United States, and no record goes to a public AI service that retains content or trains on it. The report goes to the party that engaged us and to nobody else without that party’s written word. On request at the end, the records are returned or deleted.

Where we stop

Five things we do not do, on any engagement.

We do not take a success fee or any fee that moves with the findings or the outcome.

We do not broker a sale or take a listing.

We do not draft legal documents or give legal advice.

We do not give tax opinions.

We do not put a value on a business in writing.

Where a client needs one of those, we say so, step back, and work alongside the advisor who provides it.

Questions

Three questions clients ask before they sign.

The FAQ has the rest, including the independence rules; the Contact page has both addresses and the office.

What happens if the records come in slowly?

The date moves with Day 1, and we tell you at the time. If the payroll reports are the holdup, we work with the provider directly.

Who sees a draft before it is final?

You do, before anyone else, with a three-business-day factual-accuracy window written into the engagement letter. An advisor who sent you to us sees the findings when you say so.

What if you find something that changes the deal?

The call comes inside two business days, ahead of any written draft, with the evidence and its size. If it changes the deal, we ask you that day whether to bring your advisor in.

Get started

Start with the call, and the engagement letter follows.

Thirty minutes about the business or the deal, then one fixed fee in writing. Both addresses are on the Contact page if you’d rather write first.