A public offering offers private companies with a lot of opportunities for growth, but also subject them to rules and regulation they weren’t required to follow as private companies. As such, it is crucial for companies to be aware of all of the potential risks and challenges before taking the plunge into public markets.

If your company is thinking of an IPO or not, developing a best-practice checklist should be the first step to make sure that you’re prepared for due diligence the process. A checklist for ipo should encompass everything from stakeholder alignment and due diligence to analysis and collection of financial data. A thorough checklist can help you to find and fill in the gaps in your company’s condition and where it should be prior to ringing the IPO bell.

If you’re planning to go public, it’s recommended to consult a tax professional to make sure that you are aware of the various types of equity compensation that could affect your tax bill, and to plan in a manner that is tax-efficient. For instance, if you’ve made an 83(b) decision, you should be aware that you could be liable to a significant increase in your taxable ordinary income on IPO day. Additionally, if you’re a shareholder with incentive stock options (ISOs) It is crucial to consider the possibility of an alternative tax liabilities that are minimal.

A checklist for preparing an IPO must also provide information regarding the regulatory compliance requirements that go along with an IPO which includes the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) registration and disclosure rules. Your IPO checklist should include all the steps needed to prepare and file your Draft Registration Statement/S-1, including submissions of both EDGAR files and iXBRL examples.