Business Financing
2012 Business Financing Predictions
December 28th, 2011
“Here Are My Business Financing Predictions For 2012 And Beyond”
2011 has been an interesting year as the business financing market place continues to redefine itself since the beginning of the 2008 recession.
It was clear this year that business financing in general was starting to become more available and from more sources, but it also became clear that things were no where near where they were prior to 2008.
In fact, there have been so many changes in the dynamics of global finance, that it seems unlikely that things are going to return to what we got conditioned to with respect to business financing practices for the better part of two decades.
So my first prediction is that the world of business financing is going to continue to evolve in different directions that are going to be more in keeping with lender and investor risk management and in greater search for value.
One of the things I really noticed in 2011 is that there is a lot of money out there looking for a home, especially in the form of business financing in established and relatively secure economies. With all the global economic chaos of the past year, you may justifiably think that there are no sure bets anywhere in the world these days as the global financial network is highly intertwined across borders.
That being said, money is attracted to the best bets and the greatest opportunity to attract value.
And because of the recent recession, there has never been a better time to acquire assets at greatly discounted prices which is of great interest to those that hold and control the money supply.
My second prediction is that there is going to be lots of money available for the true value creators in the economy.
What this also says on the flip side is that speculative money is going to remain hard to find as lenders and investors are still trying to recover or still dig themselves out of the down turns in their portfolios.
The smarter money is on the smarter bets and for those individuals who can create the “add money and stir” type scenarios where all the elements of profitability and risk management are well thought out are going to likely have a sorts of financing options available to them.
Predication number three is that there are going to be more and more alternative forms of financing with unique risk management models out in the market place as sources of money continue to work towards filling the large gap that remains in what I will describe as the business sub prime lending market.
This is good and bad news in that many of these alternative sources can be quite anonymous and perhaps invisible in terms of their profile and working model as compared to the highly branded commercial financing entities that remain largely removed from higher risk opportunities.
The challenge here is while there are legitimate alternative sources out there, there is a lot of fraud and fee collecting entities as well who make more money collecting fees as they do on fund actually lent or invested.
Which leads into predication number four…more and more enders and investors are going to be charging up front due diligence fees to review financing and investing opportunities.
In the past, up front due diligence fees was something you would come across occasionally, but now we are seeing this more and more.
And what it amounts to is that business owners are going to have to pay for the time of money lenders and investors to review their requests and take their chances as to whether or not they actually get funding.
The process of business financing is becoming more and more of a hit and miss process as lender and investor criteria remains constantly influx, reducing any accurate predictability of what any one source of money may be able to do for you at any given point in time.
So in order to kiss some frogs, its going to cost money, especially for anything that does not fall under the lending/funding requirements of the “A” institutional lenders who may not charge an upfront due diligence fee, but many times still charge a commitment fee, which can basically work out to the same thing…it just happens later in the process when your hopes have been raised.
My final prediction is that business owners are going to be slow to react to the new world order of business financing and as a result there is going to be more upheaval in the economy as capital will fail to be in place when its supposed to be causing transactions to fail and businesses to collapse as business owners and managers hold on to old lending and investing axioms that no longer apply.
This creates tremendous opportunity for those that understand the change in the business financing markets and are either taking the time to educate themselves towards more effective business financing strategies going forward, and/or are prepared to invest in the experience of those that can help them navigate the landscape more effeciently.
Business FinancingDecember Business Financing Considerations
December 13th, 2011
“Once You Get To December, Business Financing Activity Quickly Starts To Slow Down”
The reality is that in the business financing world, not much is going to happen after December 15th in any given year and the progress on applications and funding requirements in the two weeks prior will not likely be moving at any great rate of speed either.
And once we hit the middle of December, everything basically comes to a stop until the second week of January.
So if you you’re just starting a search for business financing, or you’re in the middle of an application to one or more lenders, then be prepared for things to slowly grind to a halt in the days ahead.
While the same can be said for other industries as well, this is especially true in the field of business financing due to the number of individuals that can be involved with any one particular file.
And the more complex the financing requirements, the less likely anything will get completed from the middle of December through to the middle of January.
It only takes one key person in a deal to be away to prematurely grind things to a stop as well. That can be an accountant, lawyer, insurance broker, appraiser, environmental consultant, dealer, underwriter, and so on.
So even though the actual lender you’re dealing with may be open for business and ready willing and able to move the file forward, there can be outside elements that are required to be completed that will hold everything up until the new year when everyone is back in action.
The key message here is that December business financing activities can be very much like beating your head against the wall and the holiday time is more likely better spent on other things.
If this year marks your first experience with this sort of occurrence with your business financing activities, then please make a mental note of it for future years so that next time you will consciously get things started sooner, or at least allow for the down time and not try to push a rope up hill during the holiday season.
If you’re trying to get a deal funded and are near the end of the process, a full court press may get things done, but don’t count on it.
Being at the mercy of others is never any fun, but working to hard against what is inevitable is likely going to be even worse.
The year end time period is a good time for financial performance reflection and planning for the coming year. Much of anything else in the area of business financing is not likely to be fruitful.
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Business FinancingBusiness Finance Ready
November 30th, 2011
“Here Are Some Tips For Being Ready For Business Financing Applications”
One thing that many entrepreneurs are not not keen on is paper work and bean counter type activities that may drive them to the Aspirin or Tylenol bottle for headache pain relief.
But regardless of what a business owner or manager likes or believes is a good enough representation of their business, debt financing sources and equity investors have other ideas.
To this point, whether you are looking for business financing today or not, there is a certain degree of readiness that should always be in place so that there are no delays in applying for financing and there is no lost opportunities from a lack of basic information being available or presented to a source of capital.
For instance, one of the most basic requirements any lender or investor will ask for is the last two or three years of third party accountant prepared financial statements for the business.
If this is not always available and up to date, it should be as it will be very difficult to be considered without historical financials.
And if the amount being requested is over a couple of hundred thousand dollars, then the type of accountant opinion is also going to be important.
For small financing amounts, a notice to reader accountant statement can be sufficient to most lenders, but as the amount of financing requested and overall financing outstanding and the overall level of business complexity growths, the more importance will be placed on the accountants opinion through either a review engagement or audit.
These additional levels of verification cost more money, but these can also be the difference between getting serious consideration from the type of lender or investor you want to work with and missing out on a good business financing opportunity.
The same can be said for management accounting reports that show product margins, variance reports, and operating break even. Projections and forecasts of both cash flow and income are also going to be important to complete the picture of where the business is headed.
Having good records of company assets and reports of good standing with with respect to any government regulations can also be helpful.
These are some of the basics that relate to virtually every business and the more these items are kept up to date, the faster the business will be able to react to capital requirements.
Scrambling to get many of these items up to date can not only cause delays, but lead to mistakes and a poor representation of the business and your business management.
Having the basic core financial information for past, present, and future at the ready provides confidence to lenders and investors and can immediately separate you from other accounts they are considering.
Business FinancingAsset Based Loans
November 4th, 2011
“Asset Based Loans – When To Consider Them”
First of all, there can be many definitions of asset based loans.
For this discussion, we are referring to asset based loans in the context of a working capital facility that leverages the equity in accounts receivable at a minimum, but can also provide leverage on inventory, equipment, and even real estate.
The standard asset based loan or ABL type arrangement requires the borrower to open a joint account with the lender and that all funds paid to the business be deposited in this joint account.
The lender will, as they say, sweep the account every day and apply funds coming in to the balance outstanding on the loan. The borrower will request funds from the lender on a daily or weekly basis, depending on the requirements, to pay bills as they come due.
This is a highly simplified overview of how an asset based financing facility actually works from an operational stand point… each lender and financing scenario will have its own unique aspects.
Now back to the original question as to when ABL’s should be considered
There are two basic scenarios (with lots of variation within each one) where asset based loans can be considered to finance business operations.
The two scenarios include situations of growth and situations of financial distress…basically opposite ends of the lending spectrum.
In both cases, what is common is that the business requires high asset leverage to generate the cash needed to operate the business.
Under both these scenarios, conventional lending parameters may not provide sufficient leverage, causing the business to fail outright, or not be able to take advantage of growth opportunities immediately available to the business.
Most asset based loan facilities are born out of the inability of a conventional financing arrangement through a bank or institutional lender to provide the level of financing the business requires.
In highly stable companies with very strong balance sheets and cash flow, the ABL solution can be provided in house through the conventional lenders own asset based lending group. These institutional asset based lenders provide the higher leverage required at slightly higher rates than what their conventional business division would lend money out at. The large bank asset based lending programs are also only going to be available for growth and market development scenarios.
When a business cannot qualify for what we’ll call low cost institutional asset based loans, they turn to boutique lenders that provide ABL services at similar leverage, but at higher rates.
If a business is in distress, the asset based lender will provide higher leverage on assets and very tight cash management to give the business the best chance to turn things around or wind down the operations without destroying equity. Either way, this tends to be a short term solution until the business can once again qualify for a lower cost source of capital.
In situations of growth, the higher cost, traditional asset based lender will once again provide higher leverage at higher rates and serve as the senior lender until the business can qualify for a lower cost form of financing within a manageable range of leverage.
Unless a business is being funded by a low cost form of institutional ABL, the time period of business financing via an asset based loan is typically two or three years as the high cost of financing cannot be sustained over a long period of time in most cases.
Therefore, most traditional asset based loan providers are a form of bridge lender that does not expect to be financing the business into the long term.
Once again, there are many variations to these asset based loan programs, each with their own unique fit in the market place.
To better understand what type of asset based loan facility might be appropriate for your situation, you might consider utilizing the services of a business financing specialist that can help you navigate the landscape.
Business FinancingBorrowing Risks Related To Government Debt
October 28th, 2011
“The Ability To Borrower Money Is Directly Related To Government Debt In Arrears”
When a business starts to have cash flow issues, one of the first things that start to fall behind is government remittances for income tax, payroll deductions, and sales taxes.
The argument from the business owner is that there is no money available to pay these bills and still cover off wages and essential operating costs, so the government will have to wait.
And while this may very well be the case, the long term survival of the business is going to depend on having this be a short term scenario.
If it can’t be made short term, then a growing or consistent level of government arrears is likely going to start a death spiral for the business.
This is largely because you start the process of death by a thousand cuts.
Lets discuss further what can potentially transpire.
First, your existing primary business lenders will typically have a covenant that you are up to date with your government remittances. If you fall behind, at best they will charge you a higher interest rate until the remittances are brought up to date. At worst, they will demand repayment and kill your cash flow if you are utilizing any type of bank or institutional operating facility.
Second, if you want to try and restructure your existing debt, even if you have the cash flow and equity to attract more business financing capital, no lender is likely going to advance any new funds to you unless the government arrears are brought up to date. If there isn’t enough incremental capital available to do this, then restructuring will not be possible. Even if there is a way to restructure to get everything in order, it will likely involve moving to another lender, potentially a higher cost lender that works with company’s in a certain amount of financial distress, where the costs of transfer to the lender can be considerable, further putting you behind the eight ball.
Third, at some point the government will take action against you. Many times you can negotiate a repayment plan to catch things up, but if this goes sideways, then in many jurisdictions the government agency you owe the money to will step in and seize your bank account, register garnishee orders with your customers, and put you in cash flow management hell.
If you can keep the government stuff paid up to date, you improve your chances to maintain existing credit and improve your chances to secure incremental debt or equity financing.
When you’re behind with these accounts, your options are limited and in most cases non existent.
Having a plan to stay out of government arrears, or putting a plan in place to pay them up as quickly as possible is going to be important to long term survival of the business.
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Business FinancingBusiness Financing Specialist
October 19th, 2011
“What Exactly Is A
Business Financing Specialist?”
While there can be several different definitions to what constitutes someone calling themselves a business financing specialist, I’m going to give you my own spin based on my own opinion of the role.
To start with, a business financing specialist must be someone that is well versed in both finance and accounting with some direct experience working in a business.
The reason for these specific requirements is that the key to being able to assist a business owner or manager with their business financing needs is to first be able to understand exactly what is going on in the business and what their financing and credit profiles look like.
By having a solid background in business and finance, a business financing specialist can then determine what types of financing strategies will work and what types won’t work.
The second key requirement that a business financing specialist needs to possess is access to sources of debt and/or equity financing that providing business financing to the market that the business finance specialist serves. In addition to having direct access, the specialist must also be able to understand the lending/funding requirements of each and every source of business financing they work with and he or she must also stay up with their funding interests and criteria on an ongoing basis.
A business financing specialist is middle man (or woman), trying to connect borrower to lender, owner to investor, and so on. Without both sides of the equation, no amount of brilliant understanding of customer needs is going to do any good. The exercise here is to locate and secure capital that meets the requirements of the client.
If the business financing specialist or financing consultant cannot meet the client’s expectations, then he or she needs to work with the client to better define a financiable scenario or decline the engagement. Pushing a rope up hill is not an options. Either you have a workable engagement or you don’t.
The next characteristic of a business financing consultant is the ability to properly assemble information into a format and presentation that proactively addresses the targeted lender or investors key questions, concerns, and criteria. This is partially art and science which is developed over years of practice. The ability to tell the story properly separates the good consultants from the not so good.
The final main characteristic I will speak about is the ability to get a deal approved AND funded.
There is no consolation prize for getting close. Many times a financing deal will be 95% complete and fall apart at the last minute or level of sign off or both material and obscure reasons.
The ability to stay ahead of everyone else in the funding process, communicate on relevant and clear information on a timely basis, and problem solve issues as they arise are all keys to having business financing success.
The business financing or commercial financing process is not easy, and has even gotten harder since the start of 2008 when we have been pushed into a financial market place not seen since the second world war.
As a result, the need for business financing specialist is more prevalent now then ever.
It costs money to utilize this type of expertise, but that is no different than with other professionals including accountants, lawyers, insurance brokers, and so on.
The questions business owners and managers have to ask themselves are 1) do I know enough about the business financing process to do it myself; and 2) do I have the time to invest in the process or is my time better spent on core business activities?
Click Here To Speak With Business Financing Specialist Brent Finlay
Business FinancingEquipment Leasing Tax Advantages
October 12th, 2011
“Equipment Leasing Can Potentially Create Faster Asset Write Offs And Lower Income Tax Bills”
One of the first things I hear business owners say about equipment leasing is that they are going to be able to write their payments off and get a tax break from doing so.
While this may be true, its not always going to work like that for a number of different reasons.
First of all, only an operating lease that is properly structured can allow you to write off all lease payments as an operating expense.
An operating lease has a number of different rules, which can vary by tax jurisdiction, but for the most part, require the lease obligation to have at least 10% of the original asset value be outstanding at the end of the lease along with the lessee having an option at most to acquire the asset at the end of the lease.
This is in contrast to a capital lease where the lessee is obligated to purchase the asset from the leasing company at the end of the lease term for a predetermined nominal amount in most cases.
If a lease qualifies as an operating lease, the payments can be classified as an operating expense and a write off against earned income in most tax jurisdictions (check with your own accountant or tax adviser).
But what does that really gain you?
If you have a capital lease, you basically fall under the same guidelines as owned equipment, which can be financed by some combination of cash and third party debt.
With a capital lease, you depreciate the asset and write off the cost of financing, if there is any, just like you do with an equipment loan.
Therefore, an operating lease does not give you a greater write off so to speak, but it can potentially allow you to write off the allowable tax expenditures faster.
For instance, one of the situations where an operating lease can have a nice fit is in the financing of grain bins.
A grain bin is going to be depreciated over 10 to 20 years as it has a long potential useful life. So the capital cost of the asset is going to be applied against earnings over a long period of time, minimizing the tax write down that is available in any one year.
But if the grain bin (or granary if you want to be really accurate) is financed via operating lease with say a three year term, 90% of the capital cost and 100% of the business financing cost can be written off in three years instead of ten or more years.
The other key element for getting an immediate tax advantage from an operating lease is you have to be taxable with a higher marginal tax rate being more beneficial than a lower tax rate.
Bottom line, there can be tax advantages to equipment leasing, but you better go see your accountant first and crunch the numbers as there is automatic benefit to leasing and the lease payments are not automatic write offs either.
Click Here To Speak Directly To Business Financing Specialist Brent Finlay
Business FinancingRules For Shopping Commercial Financing Deals
October 6th, 2011
“Here Are Some Basic Rules To Consider When Shopping A Commercial Or Business Financing Deal”
As a business financing consultant my first response to the question of how to best shop around a commercial deal is not to.
There is a saying in the commercial financing world that shopping is death.
While this may be a bit melodramatic, there is a message carried with the expression that should be considered by all business owners and managers seeking business financing.
Unlike a personal credit or residential mortgage application that is evaluated on three to five readily available metrics, a business financing application can take a considerable amount of work to complete.
Each lender only has so much time and resources to invest in reviewing all the applications for financing they receive, so it only stands to reason that they are going to put their efforts into deals they think they can fund with borrowers that are committed to working with them.
The more a deal gets spread around, the more likely the lenders involved are going to become aware of this and when they do, there is a good chance they may automatically decline the deal and move on to the ones they feel they have a better chance at closing.
If you are shopping your own deal around, one of the tell tale tip offs to a lender that you are in full shopping mode is the inquiries on your credit report. Any type of application for business financing will require a credit check and when your credit gets putted and there are ten other lenders listed who have recently made inquiries, then its going to be pretty obvious to any given lender what you’re approach is and they will respond accordingly.
This may be a chance you are prepared to take, but keep in mind that the lender that declines you for shopping (even though they will never say that) could have been the best option available.
The other way shopping can go horribly wrong is through the use of financing brokers. Employing more than one broker plus submitting applications yourself will likely result in lenders receiving applications from more than one source. This again can instantly kill your options with a lender as they wonder how widely this is being shopped and how serious you are about their funding services.
As a business owner or manager, the most important thing for you to do is to manage your own deal. What that means is that you need to keep track of all the places your deal has been and if you have third party agents working for you, they need to tell you where they are planning to send the deal so that there are no instances where the same deal crosses paths.
The second part of managing your deal is not allowing a lender to pull your credit until the end of the application process. One of the ways to get them to move forward without pulling your credit at the outset is to provide a copy of your credit that you have procured yourself for your personal profile and the business profile. This won’t take away the lender’s need to pull your credit before anything is finalized, but it does allow them to make an assessment based on something reasonably current. By doing this, you are eliminating all the inquires to your credit that are dead giveaways to other lenders as to how broad this deal is being circulated.
The most important aspect of searching for business financing is to intimately understand your own financial and credit profile as well as the lending targets that are going to be interested in both at a particular point in time so you can hunt with a rifle instead of a shot gun.
The best way to do this is to work with a business financing specialist who can develop a detailed understanding of your profile and requirements and get you in touch with the most relevant lender or lenders right away so that you’re not wasting valuable time trying to cover the whole market with applications.
Business FinancingKeeping The Balance Sheet In Order
September 13th, 2011
“Managing Balance Sheet Structure And Ratios Is Key To Managing Business Capital”
Its hard to look at the news these days and not hear or read about someone in a debt crisis, whether it be an individual, business, or country.
A debt crisis typically occurs when there is more money going out than going in and debt is used to fill the gap or hole in the cash flow.
Debt is acquired by leveraging assets on the balance sheet.
In order for any business to be able to access business financing debt and/or not get their existing debt called, they have to manage their balance sheet so that it meets the requirements of the lender.
In times of recession and down turn this can be extremely difficult, especially for new businesses.
But for existing businesses, governments, and countries, how many debt crisis scenarios could be avoided if better balance sheet management was being practiced?
By keeping the balance sheet in order (working capital ratio greater than 1, debt to equity ratio less than 5, all debt payments up to date, etc.) the business retains its ability to borrow money for times of growth and times of distress.
In good times, debt needs to be paid down, and in bad times debt may need to be required to keep the business going until the economic forces change back in favor of making profits.
But if a business is always living too close to the edge, good times or bad, there is no margin for error, and this is when a debt crisis occurs.
Proper planning and proactive management of the balance sheet will not guarantee that your business will never fail or reach a debt crisis moment.
But it will increase the probability that you will survive unexpected economic events by providing you with the means to finance yourself out of problems to a certain degree.
And if you do fall into this type of debt financing need, its going to be important to pay back the debt and build up your buffer for future needs.
While this may all seem totally elementary, building debt is an easy trap to fall into.
When things are going well in the economy, lenders will bend over backwards to give you access to more debt, even if it works against the fundamental balance sheet principals you should be managing.
And when there is a down turn, there is little forgiveness for those that are over extended as they are typically the first casualties.
The fundamentals are always the fundamentals.
Sometimes you have to say no to an opportunity if its going to overextend you too far for too long of a period of time.
Some times you have to retreat and try to minimize the damage when things are going against you versus throwing good money after bad.
By keeping your balance sheet in order, you will always have better options to consider than if you don’t.
And if you plan to stay in business for a long period of time, the ups and downs are going to be inevitable, so maintaining a strong borrowing basis is not really an option, its a requirement, unless you like walking a financial tight rope every once in awhile.
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Business FinancingGetting The Most Out Of Available Cash
September 6th, 2011
“Is Your Business Using Cash As A Hammer Or A Nail?”
Even though we are living in a credit centric time where cash management is becoming more of an after thought, the power of cash or being in a cash position is and will always be considerable for those that know how to properly manage cash.
When I’m talking about cash, it can be actual cash in the bank or a revolving line of credit that has funds available against the approved limit.
In either cash, we are talking about the lowest cost form of money you have at your disposal and how you should be managing it.
When I speak of getting the most out of cash, its based on having a good working understanding of what the cash flow will look like over a period of time as well as cost/benefit relationships between receiving cash and making cash payments.
Everything thing in any business can be boiled down to two things … time and money. Everything you earn and spend will result in a cash transaction at some point in time. Everything you acquire or need to repay will have a specific payments required at a closing rate or scheduled payment date.
By understanding the expected inflows and outflows of your business in sufficient detail, you can determine how to best utilize cash to get more than face value.
For instance, paying suppliers within a discount period may provide a greater return on cash than buying an asset for cash that could have been partially or completely financed.
Collecting money sooner than later provides more cash in hand to apply in the business, but what types of cash or non cash incentives have to be provided to do so?
The first step in any form of serious and worthwhile cash flow management is to complete a cash flow forecast.
I recommend that any business forecast the future inflows and outflows of their business for at least 90 days, and turn it into a rolling forecast by updating it at least once a week, adding an additional week into the future and carrying forward and/or adjusting inflows and outflows that have not been resolved on schedule. Also, cash forecasting should be done in weekly time segments as monthly segments are too long an interval to match up inflows and outflows.
By going through this exercise at least once a week, you have a much better perspective of the cash that’s going to be available at any point in time as well as when cash may be short or in jeopardy of being short.
This can be extremely useful in situations of business distress and business growth.
In situations of distress, its going to be important to understand exactly when all commitments are going to be coming due, which ones can wait, which ones will require some servicing, and so on. Its going to be important to make sure that funds are available every pay period to pay salaries, otherwise everything will quickly grind to a halt.
In situations of growth, more capital may be required to fuel growth in the form of more inventory, more equipment, more working capital, more accounts receivable.
Properly utilizing cash to keep the balance sheet in order and leveraging cash to its fullest to secure cheaper forms of business financing can be instrumental in funding growth.
But getting greater mileage out of cash starts with weekly cash flow forecasting, months into the future.
The sooner you start to incorporate this type of discipline to your weekly routine, the sooner you will start seeing the benefits.
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Business Financing