Corporate health check: find out in ten days whether your company’s records are in order

A company can run for years with incomplete registers, a missed general meeting or a share transfer that was never documented. Nobody notices until a buyer, an investor or a bank opens the file. The health check gives you that picture before they do, at a price set in advance.

When to do it

Before putting the company up for sale or receiving a letter of intent. Before an investor comes in or a fundraising. Before a family succession. When a shareholder or a director leaves. Or simply when nobody has kept track of the company’s corporate life for several years.

What the firm checks

• The Kbis extract and the beneficial ownership filing, checked against the actual share capital and management.
• The articles of association and their successive amendments.
• The decisions of the last three financial years: approval of the accounts, allocation of the result, filing with the commercial registry.
• The minute books and the share transfer register.
• The chain of title: each shareholding backed by a document.
• The shareholders’ agreement, if any, and its consistency with the articles.
• Agreements entered into with directors and shareholders, and how they were dealt with in general meetings.
• The composition of the assets, to determine whether real estate predominates and in what form the shares must now be transferred.

What you receive

A short note ranking each irregularity on three levels: to be cured before any transaction, to be cured, to be monitored. A fixed-fee quote for the regularisation, item by item. A call with the lawyer to go through the note and decide on the next steps.

What the health check does not cover

The health check covers the company’s position under French company law. It does not cover tax, employment law, commercial contracts, intellectual property or litigation, and does not apply to listed companies. Curing the irregularities identified is covered by the quote provided with the note.

The price

See also: why audit your company’s corporate records before selling.

This information is general and does not constitute legal advice. Every situation calls for its own analysis.