Due diligence: essence and possible prospects of development

Abstract

The subject of the study is a set of theoretical, methodological principles for the implementation of the due diligence procedure as an audit service in Ukraine. The methodological basis of the study is general scientific and special methods of cognition. There was clarified the concept of due diligence as audit service using the methods of theoretical generalization, comparison of the accounting, and due diligence by the method of comparison. The peculiarities, current problems, and obstacles of the development of due diligence in Ukraine are determined with the help of the abstract-logical method and structural-logical analysis. The objective of the study is to consider the essence of the concept of due diligence as an audit service, to identify the main obstacles, and to formulate prospects for its development in Ukraine. In Ukraine, the due diligence is equated to a legal audit. However, the concept of the legal audit is much narrower and characterizes the legal expertise of the company’s compliance with the requirements of the law. As a result of the study, it was found that due diligence is a procedure for conducting a comprehensive examination of an investment agreement in the framework of making a decision on effective capital investment by minimizing risks in order to preserve this capital and its potential future increase. It is proved that it is expedient to involve specialists of different professional orientations such as appraisers, lawyers, financiers, project managers, and crisis managers for the implementation of due diligence. The task team can include economists, engineers, security specialists and other experts. Varieties of due diligence are considered and its differences from the traditional audit are determined. It is substantiated that when improving the method of due diligence, it is necessary to understand its difference with the audit. The role of the due diligence procedure in the conclusion of enterprise sales contract is determined, namely, the reduction of existing investment risks. The “success” of the agreements or their “failure” is explained by the nature of the emerging synergy, and also by the fact that enough time was spent on conducting the due diligence. The sequence and structure of the due diligence process, as an audit service, were defined, outlining the content of its individual stages and works, which gave an opportunity to develop the algorithm of the due diligence procedure. It is established that due diligence is a rather new phenomenon for Ukraine, and audit and specialized companies are only at the beginning of the path in this direction. In order to develop this type of services, it was suggested that auditors and specialized companies expand the range of services in the direction of due diligence and the corresponding procedure for its conduct. The cooperation of Ukrainian professional organizations with foreign professional organizations should be developed in order to provide specialists with the possibility to obtain international certificates, as well as to involve audit, legal, and consulting companies in the process of vocational training in the direction of due diligence. The conclusion of the study. Thus, due diligence includes a set of measures to conduct a comprehensive examination of an investment agreement within the framework of making a decision on effective capital investment, which involves significant economic risks. The need for due diligence is due primarily to the fact that in today’s market relations, the requirements of investors, banking institutions, and buyers are increased to the transparency of information about the object of investment, lending or purchase. Due diligence as a research tool allows you to get a realistic assessment of your business, to determine the financial position and business development trends, as a result of obtaining information that will have a qualitative impact on effective management decisions.