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Why Now Is the Time to Prepare for Your IPO: 5 Key Steps to Get Ready

If your company is considering going public, there is no better time than now to start preparing for this significant milestone. The Initial Public Offering (IPO) journey is complex, time-consuming, and requires careful planning. To ensure your company’s success, it’s important to address the technical, financial, and operational demands of becoming a public company. Whether you’re just starting to explore the idea or are already on the path, preparing now ensures you’re ready when the time is right.

To ensure a smooth and efficient process, here are 5 key steps to consider before you go IPO.

1. Assessment & Preparation

The first step towards an IPO should be a detailed examination of the company itself whereby business leaders and investors consider whether going public is in the best interest of the company’s long-term success. Going public provides access to more capital for your business and increases its visibility in the public eye. However, going public comes with significant preparatory costs, the need to comply with various regulatory standards, and increased reporting requirements. Making sure that your business can meet these requirements and will benefit from its new stakeholders is crucial before deciding whether to go IPO.

2. Corporate Governance & Reporting Systems

A crucial step to going public, as well as maintaining a public listing, is to evaluate your corporate governance and reporting systems, processes and procedures. These are critical to maintaining a consistent and reliable accounting environment in order to comply with a public company’s financial reporting requirements. Before becoming a public company, companies should already be operating as a public company. Financial reporting during the IPO process and post-IPO will be a more refined and time-intensive process. Ensuring a sound financial reporting infrastructure will help to avoid costly errors, missing data, and incomplete disclosures that can significantly impact the reputation of the Company in the eyes of public shareholders.

3. IPO Timing

The timing of your IPO is also an important aspect to consider. The IPO process is time-intensive and must be approached with great care and consideration. Factors outside the control of the company, from general market conditions to geopolitics, can influence the timing of an IPO, as well as the performance of your stock post-IPO. Seasonal trends are another consideration, as it could be beneficial to choose a time of year when the company has historically performed well. Because there are many variables that can affect the timing of an IPO, it is imperative that companies are prepared in advance so they can execute on their IPO when the timing is right.

4. Training Your People

The transition to a public company will affect more than just your company’s procedures and reporting, which is why clear communication with employees to address concerns about the process is so important. Training will also be an invaluable part of IPO preparation and planning and will help train your business leaders to handle the increased accountability and responsibilities that a public company is expected to adhere to. Because key personnel in a company’s management group may be significantly drawn into the IPO process, it is important to ensure that the day-to-day running of the company is not negatively impacted.

5. Professional Advisors

Taking a company public will require significant assistance from highly qualified advisors. You must start early to seek and engage professional advisors to make the transition as seamless as possible while reducing, as much as possible, the impact on day-to-day business operations. Your trusted advisors will help you with everything from regulatory compliance to due diligence on risks that may impact the IPO. Financial advisors can also assist in helping assess the company’s readiness for the IPO and post-IPO financial reporting regimen, assessing the company’s valuation, and navigating the financial impacts of an IPO.

How Centri Can Help

If you are looking to go public, Centri is ready to support you with a team of cross-industry experts who will advise you and your business through every step of the IPO process. We will help with building an IPO plan as well as helping to mitigate the accounting and financial risks that come with IPO preparation to ensure that your business has a seamless and successful public market entrance. Contact us to learn more about how Centri can help your company with its IPO preparation.

This article was originally published on December 14, 2023. It was updated on June 17^th, 2025.

Christopher Mora

Chief Revenue Officer & Partner | Capital Markets Practice Leader | CPA

Christopher is the Chief Revenue Officer & Partner at Centri Business Consulting. He is the leader of the firm’s SEC Financial Reporting and Capital Markets Practice and specializes in the delivery of capital market readiness and financial reporting to clients across several industries, including fintech, financial services, life sciences, health/wellness, telecommunications, private equity, real estate, and construction. View Christopher Mora's Full Bio

Derek Kearns

Partner | SEC, Financial Reporting & SPAC Practice Leader | CPA

Derek is a Partner at Centri Business Consulting and the leader of the firm’s SEC, Financial Reporting, & SPAC Practice. He has more than 23 years of accounting experience in both public and private industries. View Derek Kearns's Full Bio