Are the Numbers Real? The Fear of Fuzzy Financials

Want to know what makes buyers sweat bullets?

It’s not your location
It’s not your technology
It’s not even your staff

It’s your numbers.

Buyers don’t trust them.

They’ve seen too many deals implode because the “healthy” practice they were promised turned out to be a house of cards propped up by sloppy bookkeeping, wishful thinking, and numbers no one could verify.

They’re no longer just cautious. They’re paranoid. Because if they buy based on fake numbers, they’re the ones left holding the bag when production craters and the bank still wants its payment.

Buyers Assume You’re Hiding Something (Even If You Aren’t)

Buyers walk in expecting to find problems. They comb through your financials like a detective at a crime scene because they’ve been burned before.

They’ve seen:

• Collections “magically” spiking the month before listing
• Bloated adjustments used to disguise shrinking production
• Personal expenses buried in the books to make profits look lower (or sometimes higher)
• Staff bonuses and perks that don’t show up on the P&L
• Payroll “estimates” instead of accurate, auditable figures
• Production reports that don’t match deposit reports

They know the game. They’ve watched sellers try to make practices look better than they are.
And it makes them suspicious of everything.

When they can’t reconcile what’s on paper with what’s in reality, they don’t argue; they walk.

Fuzzy Numbers Don’t Just Kill Trust. They Kill Deals.

To a buyer, fuzzy numbers aren’t just sloppy… they’re dangerous. They signal risk, the kind that makes banks nervous, legal teams twitchy, and valuations nosedive. And once that seed of doubt is planted, it spreads fast.

The buyer starts wondering:

• If the numbers aren’t accurate, what else is being hidden?
• What am I really buying here a business or a black hole?
• How much am I going to have to fix before I can even start growing?

Those doubts don’t just lower offers they can blow up the deal completely.

What Buyers Want to See (But Rarely Say Out Loud)

Buyers don’t expect perfection. They expect transparency and discipline.

Here’s what earns trust instantly:

• Clean, reconciled books for the last 3 years
• Accurate production and collection reports that match bank deposits
• Clear documentation of adjustments, write-offs, and fee schedules
• Realistic expense breakdowns, especially payroll, lab, and supplies
• No “mystery math” between your P&L and your tax returns
• Consistent trends that tell a believable story

If they can’t follow the money, they won’t follow through with the deal. If they can, they relax and start competing to win your practice.

The Harsh Truth: Sloppy Books Can Cost You Six Figures

Even if your production is real…
Even if your collections are solid…
Even if your practice is wildly profitable…

If your books are a mess, buyers will treat it like it’s failing. They’ll build risk into their offer, and that “risk discount” can gut your sales price by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And it’s all avoidable.

Make Your Numbers Bulletproof

Buyers don’t buy what they hope is true. They buy what they can verify beyond a doubt. Clean, transparent financials make buyers confident they’re stepping into something solid…not a financial landmine with a drill attached.

Show them numbers they can trust, and you’ll watch their fear vanish and their offers rise.
Hand them a tangled mess, and watch them run.

The choice is yours.

To your unstoppable success,
Your Team at Everything DSO