Due Diligence Background Investigations: Quick Search or Deep Dive

Do you need all that data to make informed decisions?

Limiting the scope of your due diligence background check on your acquisition target, vendor, supplier, or even for your customer identification program (CIP) can save you time, money, and the headache of researching and analyzing documents that have no bearing on your business decision.‍

Before ordering your business background you should first determine:

• What is the purpose of the check? By figuring out the main reason for the background (i.e. due diligence vs. government regulations compliance), you can simply order only the specific record searches you need to make your decisions.
• What are your search criteria? For instance, are you interested in only civil suits/judgments or do want to also search for criminal records and tax liens? Are you interested in only finding government sanctions?
• How far back do you want to search? Some states have restrictions on the use of old data depending on the purpose of the background check.

Other deciding factors to limit the scope of your business background check:

• Do you want to review active cases only, or do you want to also look at cases that are dismissed/ closed?
• Do you want to search only felony convictions or do you want to search misdemeanor cases as well?
• Do you want to search federal, state (county), or city courts?
• Do you want to search current or previous jurisdictions where the subject conducted business or resided?
• What names do you want to search for? Please see our previous blog in which we explored the importance of searching for the correct names.

Taking the time and determining the factors listed above will help expedite the business background check, simplify the reporting, and provide you with only the facts you need to make an informed decision. It will also save you time and money.

‍Be Proactive.

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