Pre-Close Finance Merger Integration Plan
Covers all financial pre-close planning tasks. Accompanying reports — Risk Register, Milestones, Next 14 Days, and Executive Dashboard — reflect status as of T-60 (60 days before close). For the integration after close, see Day 1 M&A Finance Plan and 100-Day Finance Post-Merger Integration Plan.
Before the deal closes, Finance has to know what it's buying. That involves these activities:
- Quality of earnings is verified against true operating performance
- Five years of financials are analyzed
- AR and AP aging is examined
- Tax returns are assessed
- Open audits are identified
- Every contingent liability on the balance sheet is documented and quantified
While due diligence proceeds, the Finance team establishes the financial infrastructure for Day 1: the preliminary opening balance sheet, purchase price allocation, pro forma combined P&L, chart of accounts harmonization, synergy tracking framework with named owners, and every control, approval threshold, and bank signatory the combined entity needs to operate from the first hour.
Nothing moves to Day 1 without the CFO certifying to the IMO that billing is live, AP is funded, wire authorities are confirmed, integration cost codes are in the GL, and no open blocker threatens a clean close.