What the readiness assessment covers
An IPO readiness assessment tests the business across the areas a regulator, an exchange and an investor will examine: financial reporting and track record, governance and board composition, internal control, tax and legal structure, systems, and the quality of management information. It produces a position, not an opinion on whether to list.
What a readiness assessment usually finds
Rarely a single obstacle. More often a set of items that individually look manageable and collectively add eighteen months: historical financials prepared on a basis that will not satisfy a reporting accountant, related party arrangements that need unwinding, a board without the independence the code requires, and no documented control environment. Each has a lead time, and the lead times do not run in parallel.
How the assessment is run and reported
Four to six weeks, working from documents and management interviews rather than a questionnaire. The output is a gap register with an owner and an estimated duration against each item, a roadmap sequenced by lead time, and a clear statement of what must be true before advisers are appointed. Exchange selection is addressed where the choice is genuinely open.
