Tonnesen Accounting Services has become a recognizable name among SBA buyers who need a Quality of Earnings provider built for small-business acquisitions rather than broad outsourced accounting. The short version of this review: it looks like a strong fit for ETA-style deals where lender-readiness, proof-of-cash work, and practical communication matter more than big-firm branding.
This assessment is based on the factors that matter most in lower-middle-market and owner-operated acquisitions: SMB/SBA fit, lender-readiness, clarity of analysis, responsiveness, and likely value relative to small-deal budgets. In our review, the main differentiator was its narrow focus on SBA and ETA buyers rather than broad accounting services. That specialization is exactly why Tonnesen belongs in the conversation around the best QoE providers for ETA, even if some buyers will still want a larger firm for more complex transactions.
How We Evaluated Tonnesen Accounting Services
Tonnesen Accounting Services was assessed using six practical criteria rather than generic reputation language. First was specialization: whether the firm appears designed for small business acquisitions financed with SBA debt, where the diligence process needs to answer lender questions without turning into a middle-market consulting project. Second was scope usefulness: whether the reported service mix covers the issues buyers negotiate around, including normalized earnings, working capital, and cash verification.
Third was lender alignment. The SBA makes clear that lenders must document repayment ability and analyze historical cash flow as part of acquisition underwriting, which is why lender-friendly financial diligence carries real value in these deals, not just cosmetic value for the buyer's file. See the SBA's business acquisition guidance for the underwriting backdrop. Fourth was communication clarity, especially for first-time acquirers who need findings translated into purchase-price and risk decisions. Fifth was turnaround and availability, since boutique providers can be excellent but capacity-constrained. Sixth was fit for ETA buyers specifically, where a focused provider can be more useful than a large accounting platform.
I also weighed public signals carefully rather than treating them as proof on their own. Public records show the Florida LLC was established July 22, 2024 and remains active in state records, which matters because it suggests a newer firm operating in a fast-growing diligence niche rather than a long-established regional CPA practice; that filing can be verified in this Florida business record. A third-party provider profile also states the firm completes 25+ QoE engagements per month and supports more than $500 million in deals annually; if directionally accurate, that points to meaningful transaction volume for a boutique provider, as noted on this provider listing.
Who Is Josh Tonnesen?
Josh Tonnesen is a CPA who has carved out a niche serving the acquisition entrepreneur community. Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, Tonnesen Accounting Services has focused specifically on providing financial due diligence services — particularly Quality of Earnings reports — for buyers acquiring small to mid-sized businesses.
Josh is highly regarded in the ETA and SBA acquisition community for several reasons:
- Deep specialization: His firm focuses almost exclusively on buy-side financial due diligence for SMB acquisitions
- Community presence: Josh is active in ETA circles, search fund communities, and SBA acquisition forums, making himself accessible and visible to buyers
- Practical approach: His work is known for being thorough yet practical, focused on what matters for closing deals
- Buyer-friendly communication: He translates complex financial analysis into actionable insights that non-accountants can understand
For buyers moving from LOI to purchase agreement, legal structure matters alongside financial diligence. A useful companion resource is this guide from Lerner & Weiss APC, which explains buy-sell agreement issues that often intersect with diligence findings.
What Is a Quality of Earnings (QoE) Report?
Before diving deeper into Tonnesen’s services, it’s important to understand what a QoE report is and why it’s essential for SBA acquisitions.
A Quality of Earnings report is a detailed financial analysis performed by an independent third party that examines a target company’s historical earnings to determine whether they are sustainable, accurate, and repeatable. Unlike a standard audit, a QoE specifically focuses on:
Key Components of a QoE Report
- Normalized EBITDA: Adjusting reported earnings for one-time expenses, owner perks, non-recurring revenue, and other items that don’t reflect ongoing business performance
- Revenue quality analysis: Evaluating whether revenue is recurring, concentrated among few customers, or subject to seasonality
- Working capital assessment: Determining the appropriate level of working capital needed to operate the business and establishing a working capital peg for the purchase agreement
- Proof of cash: Reconciling reported revenue with actual bank deposits to verify that the numbers are real
- Expense analysis: Identifying unusual or unsustainable expense patterns
- Trend analysis: Examining whether the business is growing, flat, or declining
- Customer and vendor concentration: Assessing risk from over-reliance on any single customer or supplier
Why SBA Lenders Care About QoE Reports
SBA lenders use QoE reports to validate the financial health of the business you’re acquiring. A strong QoE report gives your lender confidence that:
- The business generates enough cash flow to service the debt
- The purchase price is justified by actual earnings
- There are no hidden financial risks that could cause the loan to default
- The working capital assumptions in the deal are reasonable
Many SBA lenders now require or strongly recommend a QoE report for acquisitions above certain thresholds, making it a near-essential step in the process.
Services Offered by Tonnesen Accounting Services
The core value of Tonnesen Accounting Services is not just that it offers QoE work, but that the service lines appear designed to answer the exact questions a buyer, lender, and deal team are asking before closing. A buyer is not paying for a stack of schedules in isolation; they are paying to understand whether stated earnings are real, whether cash flow can support debt, and whether the business will need more working capital than the seller implied.
Its Quality of Earnings work is most useful when the seller's books are usable but not lender-ready. In practice, that means normalizing EBITDA, separating true operating performance from owner add-backs, and testing whether revenue trends hold up under scrutiny. A good QoE should also surface red flags that affect negotiations: a customer concentration issue that deserves a holdback, margin compression hidden by inconsistent expense coding, or seasonality that changes how a lender views debt-service coverage. I tend to view proof-of-cash as one of the most important deliverables in smaller deals, because it is often where overstated revenue or sloppy bookkeeping stops being theoretical and starts affecting underwriting.
The financial due diligence scope matters just as much as the headline report. Proof-of-cash work, balance-sheet analysis, tax-return-to-financial-statement reconciliation, and aging reviews help answer whether earnings convert into actual collectible cash and whether liabilities are understated. Working capital analysis is especially important because it can move purchase-price economics more than many first-time buyers expect. If the peg is set too low, the buyer may effectively fund an immediate post-close cash need that should have been borne by the seller. The AICPA's financial due diligence overview is useful background on why these analyses matter in transaction settings.
Where the scope likely starts and stops is also important. Tonnesen appears oriented toward buy-side financial diligence, not a full legal, tax-structuring, or operational review. Buyers should not assume a QoE replaces customer calls, legal diligence, insurance review, or industry-specific technical work. Lender-facing formatting, in practice, usually means a report package organized so an SBA credit team can quickly trace earnings adjustments, review support for cash flow, and understand the implications for debt service and closing liquidity. In smaller acquisitions, that formatting can save days of back-and-forth.
Compared with what buyers usually get from other ETA-focused providers, this looks more specialized than a generalist CPA review and more right-sized than a large accounting firm process built for bigger sponsors. That does not automatically make it better for every deal, but it does make the service mix more relevant for owner-operated SMB acquisitions where practicality matters as much as technical depth.
Why Tonnesen Stands Out in the ETA Community
Reputation and Trust
In the relatively small world of ETA and SBA acquisitions, reputation is everything. Josh Tonnesen has built his through consistent delivery of quality work and genuine engagement with the buyer community. When first-time buyers ask for QoE provider recommendations in search fund forums, Twitter/X threads, or ETA communities, Tonnesen’s name consistently appears.
Right-Sized for SMB Deals
One of the biggest challenges in the SBA acquisition space is finding due diligence providers who understand the unique dynamics of small business deals. Large accounting firms often apply enterprise-level processes to SMB transactions, resulting in overkill analysis. Tonnesen’s firm is built specifically for this market segment, which means:
- Analysis focused on what actually matters for small businesses
- Understanding of SBA lender requirements and expectations
- Experience with owner-operated businesses and their unique financial characteristics
- A process that appears better matched to ETA buyers than a broad accounting platform
Practical, Actionable Analysis
The best QoE reports don’t just present data — they tell you what the data means for your deal. Tonnesen is known for producing reports that help buyers make informed decisions, whether that means proceeding with confidence, renegotiating terms, or walking away from a bad deal.
What to Expect When Working with Tonnesen
While every engagement varies based on the specific deal, here’s a general overview of the process:
- Initial consultation: Discuss your deal, timeline, and specific concerns. This is the stage where a buyer should explain the business model, purchase price, financing path, industry quirks, and any areas already bothering them — for example, customer concentration, weak month-end closes, or a seller who cannot explain margin swings. Before kickoff, I would want a buyer to know whether the report is mainly for lender support, price validation, or a broader go/no-go decision, because that changes how findings get prioritized.
- Engagement and data collection: Provide financial statements, tax returns, bank statements, and other relevant documents. In real deals, the document list often expands to include monthly P&Ls, balance sheets, general ledger detail, payroll summaries, sales-by-customer reports, AR/AP aging, debt schedules, and inventory reports where relevant. Delays usually happen here, especially when seller books are maintained on a cash basis, reconciliations are incomplete, or the seller's controller is still running the business full time.
- Analysis phase: Tonnesen’s team digs into the numbers, identifies adjustments, and flags potential issues. This is typically where earnings normalization, proof-of-cash testing, trend analysis, working capital review, and reconciliation work happen. Common issues that surface include unsupported add-backs, personal expenses mixed into the books, uneven revenue cutoffs, stale receivables, and unexplained balance-sheet entries. In deals like these, the handoff between seller books and lender underwriting is usually where timing gets squeezed.
- Draft review: Review preliminary findings and discuss any questions or areas needing deeper analysis. Buyers should expect some back-and-forth at this point, because draft findings often raise follow-up requests rather than final answers. A draft may identify that EBITDA is lower than marketed, that a major customer is less sticky than expected, or that working capital needs are materially above the seller's proposal. In my experience, this is the most useful stage for negotiation planning, because the report is still detailed enough to challenge assumptions before documents are finalized.
- Final report delivery: Receive the completed QoE report formatted for your lender and your own decision-making. Lender-ready financial diligence matters because SBA acquisition underwriting turns on repayment ability, historical performance, and reasonable support for projections; the SBA's loan program procedures make that broader framework clear. A final report should help your lender understand normalized cash flow without having to reverse-engineer the analysis from raw files.
- Follow-up support: Address lender questions and support through closing. Even a strong report rarely ends the conversation. Lenders may ask about specific adjustments, debt assumptions, or post-close working capital. Buyers should also be prepared for the report to influence purchase agreement language, transition planning, and whether additional reserves are needed.
A buyer can make this process smoother by organizing files before the engagement starts, assigning one point of contact for requests, and pushing the seller for clean monthly financials early. The more disciplined the data room is, the more likely the provider spends time on judgment-heavy diligence instead of spreadsheet cleanup.
Considerations Before Choosing Tonnesen
As with any service provider, there are factors to weigh:
- Availability: Due to his strong reputation, Josh Tonnesen may have limited availability during peak deal seasons. It’s advisable to reach out early in your process.
- Deal size fit: Tonnesen’s services are best suited for SBA acquisitions and small business deals. If you’re doing a large middle-market transaction, a larger firm may be more appropriate.
- Pricing transparency: As with many QoE providers in this space, pricing may vary based on deal complexity. Request a quote early to budget accordingly.
How GoSBA Loans Works Alongside QoE Providers Like Tonnesen
At GoSBA Loans, we see the financing and due diligence processes as two sides of the same coin. While providers like Tonnesen Accounting Services verify the quality of the business’s earnings, we ensure you have the best possible financing in place to close the deal.
Here’s how we work together to support SBA buyers:
- Financing expertise: GoSBA works with SBA lenders to find the best terms for your acquisition.
- Free business plan: We provide a complimentary business plan that SBA lenders require, which can free up budget for diligence.
- Lender coordination: We help coordinate between your QoE provider and your lender so that the diligence findings are properly communicated and any lender concerns are addressed quickly.
- Timeline alignment: We sync our financing timeline with your due diligence process to keep the deal on track and avoid unnecessary delays.
The best SBA acquisitions happen when strong financing meets thorough due diligence. We handle the financing side so you can focus on making sure the business is worth buying.
Final Verdict: Should You Use Tonnesen Accounting Services?
Best fit
Tonnesen looks best suited for first-time SBA acquirers, searchers buying owner-operated SMBs, and borrowers who need lender-friendly financial diligence rather than enterprise-style advisory. If your deal depends on translating messy books into a credible earnings story for an SBA credit team, this kind of specialization is valuable. It is also a strong fit for buyers who want a provider that appears immersed in ETA-style transactions instead of treating a sub-$10 million acquisition as a side project.
Less ideal fit
Another provider may be better if your transaction is unusually large, time-compressed, or operationally specialized. A larger firm can make more sense when the deal has multiple entities, complex inventory systems, construction accounting, healthcare reimbursement issues, or industry-specific diligence that stretches beyond standard small-business QoE work. Buyers who need urgent turnaround at all costs may also prefer a firm with a deeper bench, even if that means less specialization.
Questions to ask before hiring
Before engaging Tonnesen, ask how the scope handles proof-of-cash, working capital, lender communication, and draft-review timing. Ask what the typical request list looks like, who is doing the analysis day to day, how often SBA lenders push back on formatting, and what happens if draft findings materially change the purchase-price narrative. I would also ask where the firm draws the line between financial diligence and items the buyer still needs to cover with legal, tax, or operational advisors.
The tradeoff here is straightforward. A boutique specialist can offer tighter fit, more practical communication, and better alignment with ETA and SBA needs than a broader accounting firm. The flip side is bench depth, scheduling flexibility, and potentially narrower coverage outside core financial diligence. On balance, if you are buying a typical owner-operated business with SBA financing, Tonnesen appears to be a credible option worth serious consideration; if your deal falls outside that lane, specialization may matter less than scale.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Tonnesen Accounting Services a good fit for SBA loans?
Yes, it appears particularly well matched to SBA-backed acquisitions because the service emphasis is on lender-relevant financial diligence: normalized earnings, proof-of-cash, working capital, and report presentation that a credit team can review efficiently. That fit matters most when the target is a small business with imperfect books but solid underlying cash flow.
What does a QoE report usually include?
A typical QoE includes normalized EBITDA adjustments, revenue testing, expense analysis, working capital review, cash reconciliation, and risk commentary around concentration or trend issues. Better reports also explain what those findings mean for valuation, underwriting, and negotiation, offering interpretation and context rather than a list of adjustments.
How does Tonnesen compare with other ETA-focused providers?
The main distinction appears to be focus. Tonnesen seems built around buy-side diligence for SMB acquisitions rather than broad accounting services. For many ETA buyers, that is a strength. For larger or highly specialized deals, another provider with more industry coverage or a bigger team may be the better fit.
Will lenders accept this type of report?
In many SBA deals, yes — provided the report is clear, well supported, and aligned with what the lender needs to understand about historical earnings and repayment ability. Acceptance is still lender-specific, so buyers should confirm expectations early with both the provider and lender.
What can a QoE uncover before closing?
Common issues include overstated add-backs, revenue that does not tie cleanly to deposits, margin deterioration, underfunded working capital, stale receivables, and customer concentration that makes future earnings less stable than the CIM suggests. Those findings can change price, structure, or even whether the deal should move forward at all.
Should first-time acquirers hire a specialized provider or a large accounting firm?
For a standard SBA-sized acquisition, a specialized provider is often more useful because the analysis is focused on the issues that drive underwriting and small-deal negotiation. A large firm becomes more compelling when the transaction is bigger, more complex, or requires broader diligence beyond core financial review.
Ready to Get Your SBA Acquisition Financing in Order?
Don’t wait until your QoE is done to start the financing process. GoSBA Loans can get you pre-qualified while your due diligence is underway, ensuring a smooth path to closing.
Contact GoSBA Loans today to discuss your acquisition and get matched with the right SBA lender for your deal.
