Handoff

Updated April 17, 2026

The bookkeeper / spouse handoff checklist

In most small trades businesses, one person, often a spouse or long-tenured bookkeeper, carries operational knowledge that nobody else has written down. The handoff is what makes the rest of the deal stick. This is the checklist of what needs to be documented before close.

Why this is its own page

Valuation, structure, and financing are the visible parts of a sale. Continuity of operations is the invisible part. In many small trades businesses, the person running the back office knows things that exist nowhere else: which customers prefer to be called before billing, which supplier reps to ask for, which licensing renewal lands in which month, which late payer always pays on the second reminder.

If that knowledge does not transfer, the customer book that was valued in the deal can degrade quickly. The buyer learns the hard way. The seller's earnout, if there is one, can suffer.

Documenting this knowledge is unglamorous and time-consuming. It is also the single highest-leverage thing a seller can do in the 6 to 12 months before close.

Where the knowledge lives

It typically lives in 1 of 3 places. In someone's head. In an email folder. In a paper file in the office. The handoff is the process of moving it from those 3 places to a documented system the buyer can use on day 1.

What good documentation looks like

Each item below should be written down in plain language. Not as a manual. As a one-page-or-less reference for the next person doing the work. Keep them as numbered lists or short paragraphs. Save them in a single shared folder (or binder) the buyer receives at close.

Common file structure: Customers, Suppliers, Licensing and Insurance, Banking and Payroll, Equipment, Recurring Calendar, Software and Logins, People.

The checklist

  1. Top 50 customers list with primary contact, billing preference, and payment history pattern.
  2. Recurring service contracts: customer name, scope, renewal date, billing cadence, contract document location.
  3. Supplier list with account numbers, primary rep contact, and any negotiated terms or discounts.
  4. Bank accounts: institution, account number, signatories, online-banking login (with password manager handoff plan).
  5. Payroll system: provider, pay schedule, employee classifications, benefits enrollment dates.
  6. State and local tax accounts: sales tax, payroll withholding, unemployment insurance, with account numbers and filing cadence.
  7. Federal tax: EIN, prior 3 years of 1120 / 1120-S / 1065 returns, current-year estimated tax payment schedule.
  8. Insurance policies: general liability, workers compensation, commercial auto, umbrella, with renewal dates and broker contact.
  9. Surety bonds (if any): bond company, bonding capacity, renewal dates.
  10. Contractor and master licenses: license number, holder name, renewal date, CE requirements, exam history.
  11. Specialty certifications held by the company or by named employees: cert type, holder, expiration date.
  12. Equipment inventory: vehicles (VIN, year, registration renewal), major tools and equipment (year, condition, replacement cost).
  13. Real estate (if any): owned office or yard, lease terms, mortgage details, property tax cadence.
  14. Recurring monthly calendar: when each bill is paid, when each license renews, when each insurance policy renews, when each tax payment is due.
  15. Software accounts: accounting software, dispatch software, CRM, email, website host, domain registrar, with login transfer plan.
  16. People: full employee roster with hire date, license / cert held, pay rate, benefits, emergency contact, role description.
  17. Customer-complaint history: any open complaints with state contractor board, BBB, or court records, with status.
  18. Pending litigation, liens, or judgments against the company, with attorney contact.
  19. Standard operating procedures: how a service call is dispatched, how a job is invoiced, how a complaint is resolved, how a new employee is onboarded.
  20. The succession conversation log: a written record of conversations with the buyer about expectations, transition timeline, and post-close consulting role.

Sources

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