What usually triggers a refusal
Rarely a single figure
In most cases it is not one single figure but a combination: an equity ratio below the bank's threshold, debt service the result cannot carry, documents that arrive late or incomplete, a balance sheet that shows the business as weaker than it is, or a facility that has been fully drawn for years.
Often the business is sound and the presentation is not. Sometimes, though, the refusal is factually right. The subject is then restructuring, not financing.
What can be changed in eight to twelve weeks
And what cannot
The presentation, the structure and the order. In concrete terms: working the figures up to bank format rather than tax-balance format, adjusting for one-off and non-operating items, a robust plan with proof of debt service, separating business and private assets, ordering the security, and a plan for which bank is approached in which order.
What cannot be changed: a business model that does not earn money, and an equity base that will not become viable without fresh capital.
Which documents are needed
For the start, no more than that
- the last two sets of annual accounts
- current management accounts with trial balance
- an overview of liabilities with terms and security
- the refusal or the correspondence with the bank
- for construction and trade businesses, the order book as well
No more than that. Further documents are only requested once a direction is apparent.
How the first contact works
Stated openly: no free consultation
There is no free consultation. The entry point is the chargeable initial analysis: balance sheet analysis and bank fit, meaning the figures you submit are evaluated to bank format together with a written assessment of what triggered the refusal and what can be changed about it.
The decision about any further engagement follows from that. We state the price of the initial analysis before you commission it.
Commission the initial analysis
Send the documents from the list. You receive the price and the scope in writing before we start.