Funeral home pre-sale preparation checklist

Section 1: Long-range foundations

• Accrual-basis monthly statements. Buyers test seasonality and trend by month. Done means 24 or more months of monthly P&L that ties to the filed returns.
• Personal spending off the books. Every personal item left in the ledger becomes an add-back you must prove later. Done means two fiscal years with nothing to explain.
• Calls coded by disposition. Burial, cremation with services, direct cremation, and trade or shipping cases tracked separately. Done means three to five years re-coded from case files, not estimated.
• A second licensed director in front of families. Earnings that leave with the owner get discounted. Done means another director’s name appears on a real share of last year’s arrangements.
• Guaranteed contracts priced at today’s cost. Each underpriced guaranteed contract adds to the shortfall a buyer deducts. Done means current preneed pricing tied to the current GPL.
• Bids on big-ticket repairs. Roof, HVAC, retort reline, fleet. Done means dated contractor estimates and a fix-or-disclose decision on each.
• A real estate decision. Sell with the business, sell separately, or lease to the buyer. Done means a decision and an appraisal on the calendar.

Section 2: Records (weeks 1–3)

• Three years of returns and statements, plus year to date. The baseline for earnings. Done means a one-page bridge explaining any gap between book and tax income.
• Call report by year and disposition. The starting point for every buyer’s model. Done means totals that match the case list line for line.
• Case-level revenue export. Lets a buyer rebuild average revenue per call. Done means a raw export from your case software with cash advances in their own column.
• Dated General Price List (GPL) history. Separates price increases from mix changes. Done means three years of versions with effective dates, gaps rebuilt from signed statements.
• Add-back schedule with support. Done means an invoice, payroll record, or ledger reference on every line, and anything unsupported removed now rather than in diligence.

Section 3: Preneed (weeks 4–6)

• Register completeness. Contract number, purchaser, beneficiary, date, goods and services, price, guaranteed or not, revocable or not, funding type. Done means your count matches the trustee’s and insurers’ counts.
• Match to funding. Each contract tied to a trust account or a policy number and insurer. Done means zero unmatched contracts, or a written list of the exceptions.
• Verify funding values. Balances from current trust statements and insurer confirmations, never from internal ledgers. Done means outside documents filed for every balance.
• Re-price obligations. Every guaranteed contract priced at the current GPL. Done means a column showing today’s cost beside the funded value.
• Compute the gap. Done means one number you can explain, plus a plan to fund, disclose, or price it.
• State examination reports. Done means the latest exam and your responses to any findings on file.

Section 4: Compliance and facility (weeks 7–9)

• Establishment, branch, and crematory licenses. Done means none expires within four months of the expected closing.
• Every director and embalmer license. Done means a roster with license numbers and expiration dates.
• Funeral Rule paper and practice. Price lists and sample statements, plus logged test calls during and after business hours. In its November 2024 phone-sweep report, FTC staff could not get after-hours prices from 26% of 278 providers. Done means three logged calls whose quotes match the GPL.
• Formaldehyde program. The OSHA formaldehyde standard sets a 0.75 ppm eight-hour limit and a 0.5 ppm action level, and exposure records must be kept at least 30 years. Done means current monitoring results in the file.
• Bloodborne pathogens program. The bloodborne pathogens standard requires an exposure control plan reviewed at least annually and training records kept three years. Done means a plan dated within the last year and signed training rosters.
• Crematory permits and retort logs. Done means the air permit or state equivalent, plus maintenance and reline records with no gaps.
• Environmental history. SBA lenders must open with a Phase I for death care properties unless no embalming or cremation happens on site. Done means any prior reports and tank records filed.
• Deferred maintenance and fleet lists. Done means a bid on every repair line and year, mileage, and title holder for every vehicle.
• Property documents. Done means deed, survey, title policy, and zoning letter, or the full lease with amendments.

Section 5: Marketing readiness (weeks 10–13)

• Value range. Run The Four-Number Funeral Home Valuation Screen and value real estate separately. Done means a range, not a single wish number.
• Confidential information memorandum. Done means every figure in it traces back to sections 2 through 4.
• Blind teaser. Done means no name, town, or detail that would let a local reader identify the firm.
• Buyer shortlist. Score buyer types with The Buyer-Fit Matrix. Done means two or three types and a list of named prospects.
• NDA and disclosure plan. Done means a signed-off NDA and a written note on which staff learn about the sale, and when.
• Data room. Done means files loaded into the folders of our funeral home data-room index, with the index itself as the first document.

Section 6: Go or no-go

• Calls by year. You can state three years of calls by disposition without looking them up.
• Add-backs. The total contains no line you could not document tomorrow.
• Preneed gap. It is one number you would be comfortable defending to your trustee.
• Licenses and permits. None lapses inside the expected closing window.
• Repairs. Every deferred maintenance line has a price beside it.
• Buyers. You know which buyer types you are calling first, and why.