Public offerings provide private companies the chance to make huge gains in growth, but it also subjects them to rules and regulation that they weren’t required adhere to when they were private firms. It is crucial that companies know all the risks and obstacles they may face before making the transition to public markets.

If your company is thinking of an IPO or not, creating an ideal-practice checklist should be the first step to ensure you’re prepared for the process. The checklist for preparing for an IIPO should include everything from due diligence to stakeholder alignment to the gathering and analysis of financial data. A thorough checklist will enable you to discover and close gaps between where your company is at and where it must be before ringing the IPO bell.

If you’re thinking of going public, it’s a good idea to consult with an expert in tax to make sure you’re aware of the different types of equity compensation that can impact your tax burden, and prepare in a manner that is tax-efficient. If you have made an 83b) option, you could have a substantial increase in the taxable ordinary income when you go public. If you’re the owner of an incentive stock options (ISOs), you should prepare for the possibility of being be subject to alternative minimum tax.

A checklist for ipo should also contain information on the requirements for compliance with regulatory regulations that come with an IPO. This includes the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules regarding disclosure and registration. Your ipo preparation checklist should also include the necessary steps to prepare and file your Draft Registration Statement/ S-1, which includes the submission of both EDGAR and iXBRL instance files.

IT due diligence checklist