Margaret Shanley is a principal in CohnReznick's Los Angeles office and is also the National Director for the firm's Transaction Advisory Services practice. She has more than 15 years of professional experience assisting strategic and financial buyers and lenders in the performance of financial and business due diligence on platform, add-on acquisitions, and carve out transactions. She is also a member of the Firm's Private Equity and Venture Capital Industry Practice.

Margaret's specific areas of focus include profitability analysis by customer, channel, and product category to evaluate where a business is making or losing money; stress-testing financial projections and forecasts; identifying and evaluating one-time adjustments to earnings; assessing the quality and sustainability of earnings; assessing the true level of working capital and impact to purchase price; evaluating the quality and integrity of the financial reporting infrastructure and environment and recommending best practices; acting as a liaison between buyer and seller in the negotiation of potential purchase price adjustments; and preparing sellers for buyer due diligence.

Prior to joining CohnReznick, Margaret held managing director positions with Duff & Phelps, LLC, and RSM McGladrey, Inc., developing their middle-market transaction advisory practices. She began her career with Ernst & Young, Ireland and Boston, in the assurance practice. She also was as a corporate finance analyst with the largest electricity generator and supplier in Ireland, where she worked on a wide variety of strategic initiatives, including planning for the impact of market de-regulation. Articles she has authored and published in The Deal include Buying a Business, The Importance of Asking the Right Questions and Purchase Price Adjustment Mechanisms— What Are They and How Do They Work Best?