How many hours does ZAF save on an FDD?
About 60 hours per engagement on the Excel build, roughly 85% less time. Move the slider to see what that means for your firm over a year.
| Task (per engagement) | Manual | With ZAF | Saved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trial balance import, translation and mapping | 10 h | 1 h | |
| Build P&L, balance sheet, cash flow and schedules | 14 h | 2 h | |
| Quality of Earnings: find and schedule adjustments | 12 h | 3 h | |
| EBITDA bridge and working capital analysis | 8 h | 1.5 h | |
| FDD commentary on P&L, balance sheet, cash flow and NWC | 12 h | 2 h | |
| Management questions list | 4 h | 0.5 h | |
| PDF and scanned statements into Excel | 5 h | 0.5 h | |
| Export to Word and PowerPoint, cover page and index | 6 h | 0.5 h | |
| Total | 71 h | 11 h | 60 h (85%) |
Illustrative estimates for a mid-market buy-side FDD on a single entity, based on the founders' engagement experience. Your numbers depend on data quality and scope.
Calculate your firm's savings
That is about — analyst working weeks returned to judgement work, or extra mandates without extra headcount.
Test it on your own TBOn a manual build, most hours go to work that needs no judgement: re-keying a trial balance into a hierarchy, rebuilding the same statements, reformatting, tying out, and rewriting the same commentary structure on every deal.
Import and Map TB, AI Map and Build FS produce the databook in minutes. Find Adjustments and the EBITDA bridge give QoE a head start. FDD commentary, management questions and one-click export finish the report. Seniors review instead of rebuild.
Hours saved: questions
How long does financial due diligence take?
A mid-market buy-side FDD typically runs three to six weeks. Around a week of that is the Excel build: mapping the trial balance, building statements and schedules, and writing commentary. That build is what ZAF Tools automates.
Where do the hours saved numbers come from?
They are illustrative estimates from the founders' own engagements at Big 4 and boutique level: about 71 hours of manual build on a single-entity FDD versus about 11 hours with ZAF. Multi-entity, multi-language or poor-quality data increases both, and usually increases the saving.
Does ZAF replace the analyst?
No. ZAF does the mechanical build: mapping, statements, schedules and first-draft commentary. Analysts and managers keep the judgement: which adjustments stand, what the commentary says, what goes to the client.
Measure it on your own file
Book a 30-minute live demo on your own trial balance, or request a trial for your team.