Two ironworkers guide a steel truss into place at sunrise.

How we work

How an engagement runs, from the first call to the readout.

You can start with us two ways: a defined, fixed-fee project, or an ongoing CFO & Operating Partner role. Both start with a conversation about what you need, and neither requires the other.

The calendar

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

Two paths, a fixed-fee project in seven points and an ongoing role in five, and what reaches you at each one.

Path one · A fixed-fee project

Seven points · every project

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 in writing, usually within a business day of the call.

Inside one business day

Engagement letter

What happens

Nothing starts before it is signed and the payment terms in it are met.

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 QoE in 10 to 25 business days, a focused Operational & Market Diligence in 15 to 20; a Red-Flag Review or an Exit Readiness Review is dated at scoping.

During the work

The finding call

What happens

A material finding reaches you by phone inside two business days of our confirming 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

The partner who reached each conclusion walks it, each finding with its dollar figure and its document. Contest anything before it is final.

You receive

The report and its exhibits; on a Quality of Earnings, the report, the Financial Exhibit Book and the client Excel workbook. LIMESTONE issues the report.

Path two · An ongoing CFO & Operating Partner role

Five points · one role or both

Day 0 · 30 minutes

Scoping call

What happens

The role the business needs, the level of involvement and the first priorities, in one conversation.

You receive

A written scope: the role, the level and the starting fee.

Inside one business day

Engagement letter

What happens

Responsibilities, cadence and terms, agreed in writing. Nothing starts before it is signed.

You receive

The letter, with the term and the way the level can change.

The first month

The baseline

What happens

The numbers, the seats, the cash and the sale horizon where there is one, read together.

You receive

A short list of priorities, each with an owner and a measure.

Monthly

The cadence

What happens

Scheduled reviews at Advisory, a maintained workstream at Strategic Advisory, hands-on leadership at Embedded; the levels are on the CFO & Operating Partner page.

You receive

The discussions, the work product and the few measures that show whether the plan is moving.

When the work changes

The level moves

What happens

Step up or down as the priorities change, one role or both.

You receive

A revised scope in writing before the change takes effect.

Neither path requires the other. Standing practice; the engagement letter governs each engagement.

Before the quote, and before Day 1

Who holds what

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.

Gold rule: held outside the business, and usually the slowest to arrive.

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 from the thirty-minute call: the entities, cash or accrual books, and how many years. The items someone else holds go on the request first, because they set 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 Operational & Market Diligence, Jared leads and Ryan reviews; on Exit Readiness, Ryan leads the financial scope and Jared the operating scope. Nobody sits between you and the person who reached the conclusion, and that person walks 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.

Information and confidentiality

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. 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 let a diligence fee move with the findings or with whether the deal closes.
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.

Common 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

Bring us the question you need answered.

A thirty-minute call with both partners, then a written scope and the fee before work begins. If another advisor fits better, we say so.