Blog · Published 2026-10-18
A CIM review template: a checklist for buyers, with the page-level questions that matter.
A CIM review template is a fixed list of questions you ask of every CIM, so that each deal is read the same way and every answer points to a page. This one has nine sections. It follows the structure of a Deal OS brief, so you can fill it by hand or compare it with what software returns.
How to use it
- Copy the table into your notes, one copy per deal.
- For every answer, write the page number. An answer without a page is an impression.
- Mark each row one of three ways: confirmed by another document, contradicted by another document, or not testable with what you have. The third group becomes your request list.
The template
| Section | Ask of the CIM | Sample brief example (synthetic deal) |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Headline figures | Where do revenue, EBITDA, margin and net income appear? Do they agree everywhere, and with the tax return? | TTM revenue $6.21M on CIM page 6, gross receipts $5.95M on the tax return. |
| 2. Adjustments | List every add-back with amount, page and the document that would prove it. Which have none? | Adjusted EBITDA $1.42M presented; $90K of the add-backs rated questionable or unlikely. |
| 3. Customers | Compare every statement about concentration with the customer table. | Page 8 says no customer exceeds 15% of revenue; page 9 puts the top account at 22.0%. |
| 4. Definitions | Find how the CIM defines "recurring", "adjusted", "backlog" and other loaded terms, and whether the headline use matches. | Page 7 says about 78% is recurring; page 22 defines recurring as all revenue from accounts with an active agreement, repair work included. |
| 5. People and licenses | Who holds the licenses, who does the owner's work, who leaves if the owner leaves? | Page 14: the founder holds the state license under which all work is performed. |
| 6. Contracts | Which contracts carry the revenue, and what do they say on assignment or change of control? | Page 19: the seller has not reviewed assignment provisions across the contract base. |
| 7. Systems and data | What systems run operations and can the data be exported and tested? | Page 16: data export from the legacy system has not been tested. |
| 8. What is missing | What does the CIM refer to that you do not have, and what does underwriting need that it does not cover? | No fiscal-year EBITDA in the data room, so the SBA coverage test cannot run. |
| 9. Questions for management and the LOI | Turn every contradicted or untestable row into a question, with the page that raised it. | "What to confirm before LOI": revenue cut, Northgate contract, license successor, add-back support. |
Where software helps and where it does not
Rows 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 are comparisons across passages and documents, which is reading work software does well when each result opens to its source. Rows 5, 6, 7 and 9 need judgment about the people and contracts involved. Software can raise the question; it cannot interview the owner.
Run your first CIM through Deal OS to see the same structure filled in from your own document, or open the sample brief without an account. For what a CIM is relative to the earlier and later documents, read CIM vs teaser vs IOI.
Worked example from the sample brief
Rows 3 and 4 of the template filled in from the sample brief (Sentinel Fire & Safety, a synthetic deal), quoted from it:
- Row 3, customers. CIM page 8: "Its customer base is well diversified, with no single customer representing more than 15% of revenue." CIM page 9 lists Account A (Northgate Property Group) at $1,366,000. Against $6.21M of revenue that is 22.0%, and the brief marks the page 8 statement as false on the CIM's own numbers.
- Row 4, definitions. CIM page 7 says approximately 78% of revenue is recurring under multi-year inspection agreements. Page 22 defines recurring as all revenue from accounts holding an active inspection agreement, inclusive of any repair or call-out work. The brief asks for a revenue cut that separates fixed inspection billings from variable work.
The example is Sentinel Fire & Safety, Inc., a synthetic company built to show the product. Nothing in it describes a real business, and the same output shape applies to a real data room. See the whole thing at /sample-brief.
See it on a deal.
Open a real brief on a synthetic deal without an account, or check how a single deal is priced.
