IDS International HR Due Diligence Checklist
Assessing risk and finding value in mergers and acquisitions

Over the past decade this publication has been used by hundreds of companies. Now a new edition is available – updated, expanded and enhanced in the light of users’ experience.

Of all business situations, the most rife with uncertainty and risk is when two organisations are moving towards each other with merger – or acquisition – in mind. All too often, the human aspects of mergers are ignored until late in the process. And yet the chance of success or failure frequently hinges on people.

Increasingly, due diligence assessments are being extended to take fuller account of HR. Since its launch a decade ago, many hundreds of companies have used the IDS International HR Due Diligence Checklist to help them in this process. Now there is a new edition of the checklist, updated and revised in conjunction with consultants Cornwell Consulting. It provides a practical intelligence-gathering tool to help HR specialists get to grips with the challenge of conducting broad-based HR due diligence.

How does it work?

The publication contains a set of checklist, ordered to ensure that examination of a target company begins by looking at deal fundamentals, and access to data, followed by the cultural and business context. It then follows the logic of the employment contract from recruitment to termination. The publication aims to ensure that you do not leave any important – and potentially costly – aspect of HR policy unexplored.

What’s in the checklist?

Work through a series of structured checklists, either by desk research or local interviews, to answer questions covering all the key areas of concern, including:

• recruitment
• contracts of employment
• training and development
• pay, pensions and benefits
• performance and quality management
• working time
• equal treatment
• representation and communication
• security, safety and other liabilities
• termination
• retirement and pensions

View the contents list in PDF

Who uses it?

With over 100 pages of questions, the checklist provides a structured approach for HR professionals. It offers help for those:

• involved in exercising due diligence as part of an overseas – or domestic – acquisition
• undertaking a strategic review of personnel policies in another country or
• entering international HR management for the first time, using the checklist as an orientation tool.