The short note on due diligence names the parts of a report: the executive brief, the rating, the sources, the gaps, the alternatives, and the options. This note takes those parts one at a time, in the order a reader can use. The empty example on this site is the same list with nothing filled in. Nothing below is a finding about a real client.
Each section of a finished report opens with a short note on how to read that section and why it matters. Read that note before the table under it. The note is a guide. It is not itself a finding.
Cover
The cover names who the report was prepared for, the subject, and the date. On the empty example those lines are blank. In a finished report they stop you mixing up two pieces of work. Check the date against the source dates inside. An older report can still be useful, and it is no longer a picture of this week.
Executive brief
This is the one page for a reader who will read one page. It states the decision in front of you, the overall rating, and what drives that rating. Every point on that page is supposed to be explained later, with its source. If the brief says something the later sections do not support, treat that as a question, not as a second set of facts.
The overall rating on a finished report is Low, Moderate, or High. The empty example does not choose one.
Scope and method
This section says what was asked, which questions were answered, how the work was done, and what it could not cover. Read it before you lean on a finding. A finding outside the scope has not been checked as part of this work. A method line tells you what kind of source the work used. It does not ask you to skip the source list.
Subject profile
Each row is one finding about the subject, with its source. The subject is named only in a real report, after the work is agreed. Read a row as a claim plus a place to check it. A smooth sentence with no source is not finished.
Product and value chain
Read from raw material toward the finished product. Problems often show up at an earlier stage than the supplier you deal with directly. The section is there so you can see the stages and the exposures the sources support. It is not a promise that every stage in the world was visited.
Laws and regulations
A finished report can list rules that bear on the decision, with a status and a plain summary of what the rule says. Your counsel confirms how each rule applies to you. The plain summary is a reading aid. It is not a legal opinion, and this site does not list rules for a sample case.
Ratings
A risk score is likelihood times impact. Likelihood and impact are each a number from 1 to 5. The label you read in the brief is still Low, Moderate, or High. The numbers are there so you can see what drove the label. They are not a score of a company on this public page, because this page assigns none.
If a rating and the story under it disagree, ask which sources the rating used. Do not average the label into a new one of your own and treat that as the report.
Sources
Every finding links to its source. You should see when the source was published and when AetherVett read it. Open the source if the decision is important. The report's job is to point at it, not to replace it.
Gaps
Anything that could not be read or checked is named. The gap stays open. A gap is not a hidden failure of the subject, and it is not a clean bill of health. It is a named limit. Decide with that limit in view, or ask for the missing piece to be sought under an agreed scope.
Alternatives
Alternatives are other products, countries, suppliers, and routes, when you want another path if something goes wrong. Read them as options with trade-offs, not as a ranking. A second source can protect you when one path becomes difficult. The report lays the paths out. You choose.
Options for the decision
The decision is yours. This section sets options side by side: what each one changes, and what it leaves open. It does not tell you which option to take. If a sentence in this section reads like an order, read the sources and the gaps again. The stance of the report is to inform the choice, not to make it.
A last pass
After the sections, a person has reviewed the work before release. Use the report as information to consider. It is not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not list a fee.
Not legal, financial or other regulated advice.