With all the moving parts of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), governmental licenses often get lost in the shuffle. Lack of federal oversight on licenses might lull businesses into a false sense of security, believing the ramifications of noncompliance to be tolerable at worst.

But part of an M&A subject to the whims of thousands of licensing jurisdictions should not go ignored. Cities want to know who is doing business within their borders. Counties are going to have safety concerns that vary by industry. The risk is death by a thousand cuts, which can serve to cripple post-acquisition momentum or result in significant business disruptions.

“Putting out tiny little fires all over the country—is that what you want to be doing after your M&A?” said Alan Ruttenberg, senior product marketing manager at Avalara, a tax compliance software provider.