“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 for financing 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 tax accounts and 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, which can immediately separate you from other applicants they are considering.