A sample due diligence checklist is genuinely useful as a memory aid and actively harmful as a document to send, because a generic list contains a great many items that do not apply to this company and every one of them is a request somebody has to chase. The cost of an over-long list is measurable and it lands on the buyer's own team. This page is about using one properly, which means cutting it before it goes out.
What a sample list is good for
Reminding you of the categories you would otherwise forget: change-of-control clauses, environmental matters at a site nobody visited, employment classification, insurance history. Reading a generic list and asking which of these apply is a thirty-minute exercise that improves any real one.
Why sending it whole costs money
Every item is a request, and requests that do not apply still get chased before somebody works out they do not. On this site's worked example, an item left open for six weeks costs $228 of the buyer's own analyst time, and a list padded by fifty inapplicable items is over $11,000 spent establishing that they were inapplicable.
It also costs credibility
A seller receiving a list that obviously was not read learns something about how the rest of the process will be run. On a competitive sale that matters: the seller has other options, and a buyer who looks careless in diligence is a buyer whose other commitments get discounted.
How to cut it
Delete anything that does not apply to this sector, this size or this structure, then group what remains by who on the seller's side can answer it, then assign an owner on your side per group. The list gets shorter and answerable at the same time, which is the whole objective.
Questions people ask about sample due diligence checklist
Should we send a generic checklist?
No. Cut it to what applies first. An item left open six weeks costs $228 of your own analyst time on the worked example here.
What is a sample list actually for?
Reminding you of categories you would forget. Reading one and asking which apply is a thirty-minute exercise worth doing.
How should the final list be organised?
Grouped by who on the seller's side can answer it, with an owner on your side for each group.