July 2016 – Korsell Corporate Consult

1. Collateral

Banks do lend money to startups. One exception is your business has to have hard assets it can pledge to back up a business loan. Banks look very carefully at these assets to make sure they reduce the risk. For example, when you pledge Accounts Receivable to support a commercial loan, the bank will check the major receivables accounts to make sure those companies are solvent; and they will accept only a portion, often 50 or sometimes 75%, of receivables to back a loan. When you get an inventory loan, the bank will accept only a percentage of the inventory and they will kick a lot of tires first, to make sure it isn’t old and obsolete inventory.

The need for collateral also means that most small business owners have to pledge personal assets, usually house equity, to get a business loan.

2. Business plan

There are exceptions, but the vast majority of commercial loan applications require a business plan document. Nowadays it can be short—perhaps even a lean business plan—but banks still want that standard summary of company, product, market, team, and financials.

3. All of your business’s financial details

That includes all current and past loans and debts incurred, all bank accounts, investment accounts, credit card accounts, and of course, supporting information including tax ID numbers, addresses, and complete contact information.

4. Complete details on Accounts Receivable

That includes aging, account-by-account information (for checking their credit), and sales and payment history.

(And if you don’t know what your Accounts Receivable are, then count your blessings. If you had any, you’d know. Or, read our guide to find out.)

5. Complete details on Accounts Payable

That includes most of the same information as for Accounts Receivable and, in addition, they’ll want credit references, companies that sell to your business on account that can vouch for your payment behavior. If you need to know more about Accounts Payable, just read our guide that explains things simply.

6. Complete financial statements, preferably audited or reviewed

The balance sheet has to list all your business assets, liabilities and capital, and the latest balance sheet is the most important. Your Profit and Loss statements should normally go back at least three years, but exceptions can be made, occasionally, if you don’t have enough history, but you do have good credit and assets to pledge as collateral. You’ll also have to supply as much profit and loss history as you have, up to three years back.

Regarding audited statements, having “audited” statements means you’ve paid a few thousand dollars to have a CPA go over them and take some formal responsibility for their accuracy. CPAs get sued over bad audits. The bigger your business, the more likely you’ll have audited statements ready as part of the normal course of business for reasons related to ownership and reporting responsibilities.

Having statements reviewed is a lot cheaper, more like a thousand dollars, because the CPAs who review your statements have way less liability if you got it wrong. Banks won’t always require audited or even reviewed statements because they always require collateral, assets at risk, so they care more about the value of the assets you pledge.

7. All of your personal financial details

This includes social security numbers, net worth, details on assets and liabilities such as your home, vehicles, investment accounts, credit card accounts, auto loans, mortgages, the whole thing.

For businesses with multiple owners, or partnerships, the bank will want financial statements from all of the owners who have significant shares.

And yes, as I implied in the introduction to this article, that’s leading to the personal guarantee. Expect to sign a personal guarantee as part of the loan process.

8. Insurance information

Since it’s all about reducing the risks, banks will often ask newer businesses that depend on the key founders to take out insurance against the deaths of one or more of the founders. And the fine print can direct the payout on death to go to the bank first, to pay off the loan.

9. Copies of past returns

I think this is to prevent multiple sets of books—which I think would be fraud, by the way—but banks want to see the corporate tax returns.

10. Agreement on future ratios

Most commercial loan include what we call loan covenants, in which the company agrees to keep some key ratios—quick ratio, current ratio, debt to equity, for example—within certain defined limits. If your financials fall below those specific levels in the future, then you are technically in default of the loan.

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Whether you’re just starting out, growing your business or seeking outside help, a well-thought-out business plan is the vehicle you need to get you there.

Why do you want a business plan? You already know the obvious reasons, but there are so many other good reasons to create a business plan that many business owners don’t know about. So, just for a change, let’s take a look at the less obvious reasons first and finish with the ones you probably already know about. Think of this as a late-show top 10, with us building up to the most important reasons you need a business plan.

15. Set specific objectives for managers. Good management requires setting specific objectives and then tracking and following up. I’m surprised how many existing businesses manage without a plan. How do they establish what’s supposed to happen? In truth, you’re really just taking a short cut and planning in your head–and good for you if you can do it–but as your business grows you want to organize and plan better, and communicate the priorities better. Be strategic. Develop a plan; don’t just wing it.

14. Share your strategy, priorities and specific action points with your spouse, partner or significant other. Your business life goes by so quickly: a rush of answering phone calls, putting out fires, etc. Don’t the other people in your business life need to know what’s supposed to be happening? Don’t you want them to know?

13. Deal with displacement. Displacement is probably by far the most important practical business concept you’ve never heard of. It goes like this: “Whatever you do is something else you don’t do.” Displacement lives at the heart of all small-business strategy. At least most people have never heard of it.

12. Decide whether or not to rent new space. Rent is a new obligation, usually a fixed cost. Do your growth prospects and plans justify taking on this increased fixed cost? Shouldn’t that be in your business plan?

11. Hire new people. This is another new obligation (a fixed cost) that increases your risk. How will new people help your business grow and prosper? What exactly are they supposed to be doing? The rationale for hiring should be in your business plan.

10. Decide whether you need new assets, how many, and whether to buy or lease them. Use your business plan to help decide what’s going to happen in the long term, which should be an important input to the classic make vs. buy. How long will this important purchase last in your plan?

9. Share and explain business objectives with your management team, employees and new hires. Make selected portions of your business plan part of your new employee training.

8. Develop new business alliances. Use your plan to set targets for new alliances, and selected portions of your plan to communicate with those alliances.

7. Deal with professionals. Share selected highlights or your plans with your attorneys and accountants, and, if this is relevant to you, consultants.

6. Sell your business. Usually the business plan is a very important part of selling the business. Help buyers understand what you have, what it’s worth and why they want it.

5. Valuation of the business for formal transactions related to divorce, inheritance, estate planning and tax issues. Valuation is the term for establishing how much your business is worth. Usually that takes a business plan, as well as a professional with experience. The plan tells the valuation expert what your business is doing, when, why and how much that will cost and how much it will produce.

4. Create a new business. Use a plan to establish the right steps to starting a new business, including what you need to do, what resources will be required, and what you expect to happen.

3. Seek investment for a business, whether it’s a startup or not. Investors need to see a business plan before they decide whether or not to invest. They’ll expect the plan to cover all the main points.

2. Back up a business loan application. Like investors, lenders want to see the plan and will expect the plan to cover the main points.

1. Grow your existing business. Establish strategy and allocate resources according to strategic priority. You can find more information about growing your business with a business plan by reading ” Existing Companies Need Planning Too.”

Month: July 2016

10 Things the Bank Will Ask When You Need a Business Loan