Financial Background Checks

Are Financial Background Checks Worth the Cost?

Can I Find Credit History in a Financial Background Check?

In most circumstances where one is evaluating whether to invest or partner with and trust someone new, the truth and accuracy of their track record and representations is critical. This has created a bit of quandary on how to pursue. You don’t really need a traditional background check on the person inasmuch as you are certain that they are not a criminal or fraudster, and you also don’t need an asset search, because, although it will be somewhat insightful, it won’t give you the full picture of their financial performance. Rather, you need a financial background check, which combines key elements of the two and gives you a focused report that presents the available information related to their financial footprints.

If You’re Needing a Financial Background Check – Call the Trusted Professionals at ASG Investigations (248) 306-8800

What is a Financial Background Check?

A financial background check can be the deciding factor in you or your client’s decision to invest, litigate, merge, or fund. Our team of Michigan private investigators can take the hassle out of gathering, compiling, and analyzing both financial and background data and report it to you or your team. These investigations focus on both tangible, physical assets and the non-physical corporate assets to paint a full picture of an individual or corporate entity’s financial background.

A financial background check is not an automated, web-based database print out. Sadly, many people mistake a commercial database of public records as a “background check”. The information that these databases provide is valuable and is used as the starting point in a financial background check, but it is limited and really doesn’t give you an information edge. They certainly don’t give you a complete picture of one’s financial footprints. Financial Background Checks can give you or your firm the intelligence ended needed to calculate risk and make an informed decision. ASG transcends that limitations on access to information that most private investigators do. We have a team of subject matter experts in a variety of specialized investigative techniques like HUMINT, sophisticated open source digging, and data mapping to produce an unrivaled amount of quality data for our clients. In short, our clients can make much better decisions based on facts and have an edge over their opponents.

Despite generalized optimism for the future, past behaviors and choices are a strong precursor to future behaviors, events and actions. Trust should be earned.

Who Needs a Financial Background Check?

Private-equity funds, family offices and hedge funds are all buyers of financial background checks.

Whether making a new investment, contemplating a merger, considering a strategic partnership, or all out company acquisition, identifying potential risks, signs of deception, understating or overstating events or capabilities is crucial. Unlike financial due diligence, a financial background check from ASG not only helps to discover unknown or undisclosed information, it also greatly assists to learn about the character of the people you are engaging with. If you represent the funding for a deal, remember that the other party is focused on selling you and that often translates to doing whatever they can to look like the perfect opportunity. Unfortunately, this can result in embellishing the positive and failing to disclose the negative. A financial background check helps overcover the reality.

High Net Worth Individuals and Smaller Family Offices can all benefit from conducting financial background checks.

Regrettably, when individuals and smaller family offices invest, they can be among the easiest targets for the embellishers. Because individuals lack the large team of investment experts and the resources of hedge funds, hidden problems, behaviors and risks can go unnoticed, to your detriment. Fortunately, a financial background check can be your force multiplier and reduce risk and wasted time.

Executive team leadership

Screening a new hire has been the standard for decades, but don’t fall victim to simply conducting the bare minimum a criminal history background check. A financial background check can uncover lies and take a deep dive into a candidate’s financial background and asset history, in addition to including the basic searches. Know about potential issues for the company before they come out.

Attorneys (including those specializing in litigation, intellectual property, probate, corporate counsel)

Many times, attorneys need to know one important fact before they advise their client to pursue formal dispute resolution: is the opposing party collectible? In other instances, like when helping a client to enter into a new business deal with someone, attorneys want to know if the other party is legitimate and credible, particularly in their financial disclosures. A financial background check is the perfect tool for both of these scenarios and ASG has an extensive client base of attorneys who request these from us regularly.

What information can a financial background check provide me?

Financial background checks are designed to focus specifically on an individual’s available past financial decisions as well as their financial condition. This can mean how they managed companies, their personal finances, corporate or personal assets, and even human connections. These investigations can be carried out either with third-party (subject) knowledge or not.

As an investor, managing risk is key. Knowing the truth about potential business partner’s background and having those bona fides about can make or break your decision on how to proceed. Financial background checks give you and your clients the best of both worlds when it comes to background checks and asset searches. The time and money spent on a Financial background check can not only detect lies, but also protect your money and investments in a way nothing else can.

FBCs and can be one in the same. For instance, a private equity fund manager may be working on a new investment in which his firm will absorb a medium sized corporation but not force a change in leadership. This investment will only turn out to be worth it if the company’s projected value continues to increase, resulting in further profits. While the fund’s manager may have a team of excellent risk advisors who can project value and profitability both accurately and consistently, they may miss the mark when it comes to due diligence on the existing company’s executive team. Financial background checks delve into the financial history on an individual level and corporate level—with our help, private equity firms can have the intelligence edge needed to either address concerns in leadership, force changes, or make a final decision on whether the investment is worth the risk.

Corporate real estate investors and business executives often rely on loans through personal guarantee. These loans are generally given out with little to no credit requirement and minimal overhead, but do require the applicant’s personal assets (i.e., property, vehicles, accounts) as collateral to collect in the event that the loan cannot be paid back. Before entering into a personal guarantee, it’s important to know if a debtor has the collateral in the event of an untimely business failure. In situations with unlimited guarantees on high value loans, clients may even be interested on financial background checks for related parties like spouses, close relatives, or other dependents and stakeholders.

Are you, your business partners or client unsure that a new opportunity will the successful business venture it’s promised to be? Call us today to find out how our team of experts can design a financial background check specific to your needs.

ASG can give you the intelligence necessary and uncover and clarify financial assets and background about a person or a company, so your team can make an informed decision.

Online asset searches and background checks have their purpose, but they most certainly will not answer all of your questions. Hiring an expert does increase initial cost, but also answers specific questions about an individual or company—leaving the majority of the critical thinking and problem solving off of your plate and onto ours.