Grand Central Terminal’s Indiana limestone facade on 42nd Street in New York at dusk

Referral Partners

Send us the client, and the client stays yours.

For the CPA, the attorney, the broker, the lender and the wealth advisor who send us an owner or a deal. We prove the earnings, read the operation and hand the relationship back to you. We hold one role on a transaction. We never take the listing.

The lanes

What each advisor keeps, and where our work stops.

Six seats around an owner: what each one keeps, and where LIMESTONE does the work and hands back.

Six seats around an owner, and what each one owns

Where we work, and where we hand back

The CPA

Owns

The return, the books, the monthly work and the tax structure of the deal.

We do, then hand back

Test the earnings against the bank and the return; the books stay yours.

The attorney

Owns

The documents, the deal and the estate plan.

We do, then hand back

Prove the numbers before the other side tests them. The drafting is yours.

The broker

Owns

The listing, the process, the buyer and the price conversation.

We do, then hand back

The sell-side review before the business goes to market. We never take the listing.

The lender

Owns

The credit decision, the underwriting and the structure of the loan.

We do, then hand back

The quality of earnings the file can rely on. The decision stays yours.

The wealth advisor

Owns

The plan, the proceeds and the owner’s life after the sale.

We do, then hand back

Test the earnings the figure rests on, in time to change them. The plan stays yours.

LIMESTONE

Owns

The earnings proved, the operation read, the fixes run when an owner wants them run.

One role per deal

One side of a transaction, the other declined in writing. The client goes back to whoever sent them.

Standing practice; the engagement letter with the client governs each engagement.

Where we stop

On any engagement that reaches us through you,

  • we do not take a success fee or any fee that moves with the outcome;
  • we do not broker the sale or take the listing, now or later;
  • we do not draft legal documents or give legal or tax advice;
  • we do not put a value on the business in writing;
  • we do not contact your client’s customers on a live sale without the owner’s written consent;
  • and we do not introduce a buyer around you.

What you receive from us

The sheet for your seat, a sample report, and a note the day we speak to your client and at delivery. Our mutual NDA before anything is shared, or yours on review.

What stays the client’s

The findings, the draft and the readout. If a client later asks us for operating help after a deal closes, that conversation starts with the client, never through your file.

What you see, and when

You hear from us the day we speak to your client, and the findings stay the client’s.

Within one business day of your introduction we email the client and send you a note saying so. While the work runs you see where it stands; the findings belong to the client and reach you when the client says so, and if a finding changes the deal we ask the client that day to bring you in. The readout is walked live and you are welcome in the room. Afterward the relationship goes back to you.

By the seat you sit in

When to send a client, by seat.

CPAs and tax advisors

A client with a buyer surfacing, a lender asking for a quality of earnings, or a sale twelve to thirty-six months out, where you keep the return, the books and the tax structure of the deal and we test the earnings and hand the client back.

The sheet for CPAs (PDF)

Attorneys

A client moving toward a sale or a succession whose earnings have never been tested by anyone with a reason to find a problem. You keep the documents and the deal; we prove the numbers before the other side tests them.

The sheet for transaction and estate counsel (PDF)

Brokers and M&A advisors

A seller going to market with add-backs that need defending, or one a year of fixes away from listable. We prepare the seller and hand them back. The listing is yours. A buyer who needs independent diligence has a page of their own.

The sheet for brokers and advisors (PDF) · Buyers & Investors

Lenders

A borrower whose package is not financeable yet, or a 7(a) acquisition at $3 million or more that needs the quality of earnings the file can rely on. The credit decision stays yours; write to us and the vendor packet comes by email within a business day.

SBA quality of earnings · Capital Readiness

Wealth advisors and planners

An owner whose plan rests on what the business sells for, the largest figure in the plan and usually the only one nobody has tested. We test the earnings behind that figure first, in time to change them; you keep the plan. Owners start on the Owners & Sellers page.

The sheet for wealth advisors (PDF) · Owners & Sellers

Refer a client

Tell us who to reach, and we email within one business day.

A name and a line about the situation is enough. Both addresses are on the Contact page if you’d rather write first.

Received. We will email within one business day and let you know when we have.
That did not send. Try once more, or write to either of us from the Contact page.

We use this to email the client and to tell you we did. Nothing else.

Questions

Three questions advisors ask before the first referral.

The independence rules are in the FAQ; the scopes and sample reports are on the Quality of Earnings, Operational Due Diligence and Exit Readiness Review pages.

What does the first read cost my client?

Nothing. A thirty-minute read of the listing, the books or the deal comes back in writing, and if there is nothing worth doing we say so.

Will you contact my client’s customers?

Never on a live sale without the owner’s written consent, and otherwise only with the owner’s introduction and on the owner’s timing. The concentration read comes from contracts, invoices and churn history.

Do you work with exit planners and coaches?

Alongside them, on top of the plan. You own the plan and the relationship; we are the finance and operating work the plan calls for.

get started

Start with one client.

Send a name, or book a partner call. The first conversation is free, and we tell you in writing whether we can help.