Due Diligence is carried out to study and draw up a real and objective presentation of the company, assess investment risks, study the commercial activities of the company, check the financial position and market positions. Legal audit allows you to identify risks, assess the degree of risks, develop ways to eliminate risks, develop recommendations for improving the company’s activities. Due Diligence is usually carried out before investing or buying a business, before signing a contract or cooperation, in order to identify weaknesses and eliminate them, as well as to protect the interests of investors.
Legal audit examines:
- the state and compliance with the legislation of documents and business contracts, personnel documents, paperwork and document flow of the company;
- legal analysis of the constituent and permissive documents of the company in economic activities;
- preparation of recommendations for the elimination and improvement of document flow;
- analysis of the organizational structure of the company, the legal management scheme, the powers of the company’s management bodies and preparation of recommendations for improving business processes;
- compliance with the legislation of the legal side of the company’s activities and assessment of the effectiveness of the work of legal departments;
- identification of risks, assessment of risks of appealing against concluded transactions and preparation of legal opinions on investment objects;
- the ability to bring company employees to criminal or administrative responsibility;
- procedures related to the purchase of enterprises, corporate rights and securities, legal analysis of documents for compliance with the legislation on securities and the stock exchange, on issues of combating the legalization (laundering) of illegally obtained income and compliance with antimonopoly legislation;
- accounts receivable and payable, identification of bad debts and preparation of recommendations in relation to the debtor, determination of the reasons for the occurrence of accounts receivable;
- the need for a legal audit and more.
In the course of a legal audit, the company’s assets are studied, financial information is investigated, sources of financing and distribution of securities, insurance schemes are analyzed, requirements for counterparties, possible claims and tax liabilities are studied. Legal audit is the only objective source of information about the legal component of the company’s activities, on the basis of which the company can determine the ways of its development. The results of due diligence help investors to ensure that the firm’s documents are fully and truthfully disclosed information about the company. Legal audit is an integral part of the process of companies entering the domestic and international stock markets, contributing to a clear definition of methods and ways of presenting the company to investors in the most favorable light, attracting direct investment.
The service of a legal (legal) audit of a company is also necessary in cases of applying to banks or financial organizations for a loan, if it is necessary to sell or buy a business and assets, if you wish to create a joint venture (restructuring, reorganization), to protect against a takeover, to provide a foreign partner or investor of their solvency and prospects (legal purity of doing business), in order to verify the reliability of the counterparty and minimize claims risks from government bodies, to monitor the current activities of the company.