An investor should not have to guess why the pitch deck shows one revenue figure and the accounts show another. Before opening a data room, prepare a short explanation of how your headline numbers connect to the underlying records.
Scope: financial-information preparation for UK business fundraising. Sources checked on 29 September 2026. This is a preparation framework, not a prescribed legal disclosure list or confirmation that an investment is suitable.
Build a consistency check before a larger document list
The UK Space Agency’s Data Room Essentials guidance stresses current information, clear ownership and consistency between financial documents. Its sector-specific requirements are not a universal checklist for every business.
Choose the headline figures you use in investor discussions, such as revenue, cash, debt and funding sought. For each, record the exact period or date, units, business entities included, source file and person responsible. Write the definition next to the number before comparing totals.
Worked example: a £60,000 difference
Assume a pitch deck states £1.20 million of revenue for the year ended 31 December 2025. The draft annual accounts show £1.14 million. Management identifies a £40,000 duplicated sales entry and a £20,000 credit note missing from the older deck extract. Both relate to that same year and scope in this hypothetical example.
Reconciliation: £1,200,000 − £40,000 duplicate − £20,000 credit note = £1,140,000. The schedule identifies the affected records, who checked them and which files will be updated. It does not simply rename the difference “other”.
Before changing documents, the appropriate finance reviewer must confirm the actual accounting treatment. If confirmed in this example, update the deck’s annual revenue, any chart based on it and the model’s historical starting point. Do not change a previously issued statement merely to make it match a presentation; explain the correction through the appropriate process.
Try three further cross-checks
Period check: label calendar-year, year-to-date and latest-twelve-month figures explicitly. A difference caused by dates should have a period bridge, not an invented accounting adjustment.
Scope check: identify whether a chart covers one company, a group or a product line. Flag eliminations or exclusions for the reviewer instead of combining inconsistent totals.
Definition check: distinguish signed orders, invoiced amounts, recognised revenue and cash received. Give non-standard performance measures a calculation and a reconciliation where relevant.
ICAEW’s Financial Due Diligence guidance describes the importance of reconciling management information to financial statements. A tidy folder structure does not replace that financial work.
Keep unresolved items visible
Create an exceptions log with an issue number, affected figure, explanation so far, missing evidence, owner and target resolution date. Mark a provisional answer as provisional. This gives the team a controlled way to answer questions without distributing several conflicting versions.
Use a master index to identify the current deck, current model and latest accounts, with dates and a brief change history. Restrict access to sensitive documents, agree the appropriate confidentiality arrangements and obtain advice on what can be shared. Do not upload personal identifiers or confidential client files simply to make a folder appear complete.
Prepare a controlled document handover
Use a short release sheet to turn the master index into an instruction for the team. These are suggested checks for your team, not a prescribed investor checklist:
- Fix the cut-off. State the date of the actual financial information, the forecast start month, reporting currency and companies covered.
- Name the current files. Record the deck, workbook and accounts filenames with version numbers. Include the relevant sheet or slide beside each headline figure.
- Resolve or flag differences. Link each reconciliation and open issue to an owner. State what remains provisional and what evidence is missing.
- Record the checks performed. Note who checked the figures, when and the scope of that check. A file labelled “reviewed” should not imply an audit or independent assurance.
- Control the release. Keep superseded copies in a clearly marked archive, identify the versions being shared and record the recipients. Agree access and confidentiality arrangements before releasing sensitive material.
Illustrative handover: after the finance reviewer confirms the £60,000 reconciliation above, the release sheet could identify “Deck v3, slide 8” and “Forecast v5, historical revenue tab”, each showing £1.14 million for the year ended 31 December 2025. Link both to the same supporting schedule. Record the correction and arrange an explanation for recipients who received an older pack. These fictional filenames illustrate version control; they are not a KBA client example.
Connect the funding request to the forecast
The British Business Bank’s pitch-deck guidance highlights explaining financial assumptions and how funding will be used. Trace the amount sought in your deck to the forecast’s funding receipts and planned spending. Label assumptions about timing, fees and any staged receipts. For a starting point, use KBA’s free cash-flow and fundraising workbook; a planning template does not replace your accounting records or the evidence behind your assumptions.
Build an ask-to-cash bridge before sharing the funding figure
The British Business Bank’s pitch-deck guidance says the financial ask should explain both the amount required and how the investment will be used. Source rechecked on 21 October 2026. Turn that explanation into a short bridge that connects the deck’s headline ask to cash entering the forecast and then to the spending and milestones it is intended to support.
- State the gross ask. Use the same amount, currency and funding round in the deck, model and data-room index.
- Show expected net cash. Identify separately any assumed transaction costs, staged receipts or amounts that will not be available for operating use. Mark estimates as estimates.
- Map each use of funds. Link every category to the relevant model line, month or period, assumption and owner rather than relying only on a pie chart.
- Connect spending to milestones. State what must happen, when it is expected and which assumption drives the timing.
- Record the downside response. Identify what management would defer, reduce or re-sequence if the round is smaller or later than planned. Do not present that response as an agreed commitment unless it is one.
Illustrative bridge, not client work: a fictional company seeks £750,000. It assumes £30,000 of transaction costs, leaving £720,000 of net cash. The model allocates £150,000 to product development, £240,000 to hiring, £180,000 to sales activity and £150,000 to working capital: £720,000 in total. If the deck instead labels the full £750,000 as operating uses, the team should resolve whether costs are inside or outside those categories before sharing the pack. These amounts demonstrate the control; they are not typical fees, advice or a recommendation.
Then test the same bridge with the funding receipt moved back by three months and with a smaller round. Check the lowest cash point, not just the year-end balance, and record the management action assumed in each case. KBA’s guide to modelling a delayed funding round gives a practical starting point. A downside case is a planning tool, not evidence that funding will arrive or that a particular response is achievable.
Release decision: do the uses add to the expected net cash, does each material line have a timing assumption and owner, does opening cash trace to the selected records, and do the deck and workbook show the same base and downside cases? If not, keep the item on the exceptions log instead of smoothing the difference into an unexplained total.
Prepare a short brief for KBA
In your initial enquiry, explain the funding purpose and target timetable, the companies and currencies involved, the latest period covered by your accounts, and whether you already have a deck and forecast. Identify the main difficulty: unexplained differences, missing information, an outdated model or investor questions. A summary is enough; agree a secure document-sharing method before sending confidential files.
Ask for a written scope covering the financial checks, deliverables, responsibilities and information needed. Identify separately any legal, tax or other specialist advice required. This helps agree what KBA will prepare and what your team or other advisers will handle.
Run a short mock investor review
Ask a colleague who did not build the model to pick one headline number and trace it to its source. Can they find the right file, identify the period and reproduce the total? Record where they get stuck and fix the explanation before adding more documents.
KBA’s fundraising and financial modelling support can help organise the financial information, alongside valuation and due diligence services where agreed. Request a consultation with your funding timetable and a summary of the documents available. Preparation supports a review; the investor makes the funding decision.