Due Diligence Questionnaire (DDQ)

What is a due diligence questionnaire (DDQ)?

A due diligence questionnaire (DDQ) is a structured list of questions a buyer, investor, or partner sends to a company to gather the information needed to evaluate a deal or relationship. It turns due diligence into an organized, comparable process, covering the company's financial, legal, operational, security, and compliance position in one document.

A DDQ is used to verify facts before a decision: an acquisition, an investment, a fund allocation, or onboarding a vendor. The requester wants evidence rather than assurances, and the responder wants to answer accurately and quickly, because a slow or vague DDQ delays the deal.

Who sends a DDQ, and why

• Acquirers send a DDQ to a target company before an M&A deal.
• Investors and limited partners send one to a fund or company before investing.
• Buyers send one to a vendor before onboarding, as part of vendor due diligence.
• Partners send one before a joint venture or major agreement.

The types of DDQ

The structure is consistent, but the emphasis shifts with the purpose.

Investors and funds often follow standard formats such as the ILPA DDQ. For those contexts, see our VC and private equity DDQ guide.

The main sections of a DDQ

Example DDQ questions by section

Financial

• Provide audited financial statements for the last three years.
• What is your revenue, recurring revenue, and growth rate?

Legal and compliance

• List any current or pending litigation.
• Which regulations apply to your business, and how do you comply?

Commercial

• Describe your market position and main competitors.
• What is your customer concentration by percentage of revenue?

Technology and security

• Do you hold SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001 certification?
• How is customer data encrypted, and what is your incident response process?

For a fuller sample, see our DDQ example and the complete guide to the DDQ.

How the DDQ process works

DDQs are usually rolled out in phases: financial and legal first, then commercial and operational, then technology and security. The responder appoints a coordinator who routes each section to the right leader, the CFO for financials, counsel for legal, the CTO for technology, and answers are organized in a data room by workstream. A comprehensive DDQ typically takes two to four weeks to complete, with follow-up rounds for clarification.

How to respond to a DDQ well

• Answer precisely. Give the exact figure, date, or status, not a general statement.
• Attach evidence. Certifications, audited statements, and policies outweigh prose.
• Flag what is unavailable. An honest "not applicable" is safer than a vague answer.
• Keep answers current. A figure true last quarter can be wrong now, and a wrong DDQ answer carries real risk.

DDQ vs RFP and RFI

A DDQ verifies an existing company or deal; an RFP selects a vendor from competing proposals. See our full breakdown of DDQ vs RFP. An RFI, by contrast, gathers early market information to build a shortlist.

Answer the DDQ once, reuse it on the next deal

DDQs repeat across deals, but the answers sit scattered across finance, legal, security, and operations. Inventive AI pulls them together:

• Reads the DDQ and drafts each answer from your connected knowledge, with a citation and a confidence score.
• Flags anything outdated or unsupported instead of guessing.
• Keeps every answer current, so the next DDQ starts from proven content, not a blank page.

It is SOC 2 Type II compliant and does not train public models on your data.