Lenders ask for the same things every time. We put the financials, projections, and supporting documents together so the package holds up under review.
Loan applications stall for boring reasons. A balance sheet that doesn't tie to the tax return. Projections nobody can explain. A debt schedule assembled from memory. Underwriters are not trying to catch you out, but they will stop when the file raises questions. The fix is preparation, and it happens before anything gets submitted.
Baum's Accounting Services has sat on both sides of this. Years inside a mortgage bank's finance seat taught the firm how a credit file actually gets read, and years as a construction-company controller taught it what operators are really trying to finance. Baum's Accounting Services works with borrowers across Kentucky and beyond on SBA 7(a) and 504 requests, conventional term loans, lines of credit, and equipment financing. The support is preparation and documentation, not brokering.
The core of it is a file a lender can move through without coming back to you five times. Historical financials cleaned up and consistent across periods. A projection model with assumptions written down and defensible line by line. A current debt schedule, an accounts receivable and payable aging, and a personal financial statement organized the way the lender wants it. Add the narrative that explains what the money is for and how it gets repaid, and the package tells one coherent story. We also field the follow-up questions during underwriting, which is usually where owners run out of patience.
Credit decisions come down to a handful of things, and none of them are a surprise once you've seen the inside of a bank. Debt service coverage. Leverage against equity. The trend line in revenue and margin over three years. Whether the collateral is real and whether the guarantor has anything behind the signature. Where owners lose ground is inconsistency: the interim statement that contradicts the year-end, the add-back nobody documented, the projection that jumps sharply with nothing behind it. Preparing the file means finding those problems first and either fixing them or explaining them before an underwriter has to ask.
No one can tell you how a credit committee will vote, and anyone who does is selling something. What preparation controls is the quality of what you hand over: whether the numbers are accurate, whether the story is consistent, whether the questions get answered quickly. Baum's Accounting Services does not broker loans, does not take a commission from lenders, and does not have a preferred bank to route you toward. We will help you compare what different lenders are asking for and what the terms actually cost the business over the life of the loan. The decision is the bank's.
Closing is the start of a reporting relationship, not the end of one. Most business loans come with covenants, and most borrowers discover them the quarter they trip one. Debt service coverage ratios, minimum equity, limits on additional borrowing or distributions, deadlines for delivering financial statements. Tracking those alongside the monthly close means you know where you stand before the bank does, and you have time to talk to them if a number is heading the wrong way. That conversation is very different when you start it. The same reporting also makes the next request easier, because the file is already current.
No, and be careful with anyone who will. Approval sits with the lender and depends on their appetite, your industry, the collateral, and conditions nobody controls. What preparation does is remove the avoidable reasons a file gets set aside. We can also tell you honestly when the numbers suggest waiting a quarter or two before applying.
Baum's Accounting Services doesn't prepare or file income tax returns. Your CPA firm handles that. What we do is make sure the financial statements you submit reconcile to the returns your preparer filed, so the lender isn't looking at two versions of the same year. If those two sets of numbers currently disagree, that gets sorted out first.
Earlier than most people think. If the books are current and the reporting is solid, a few weeks is often enough to build the package. If there's cleanup to do, or if the last two years need to be restated to make sense, plan on longer. Starting the conversation before you pick a lender also means the financials get built once instead of reworked for each one.
Other work in this area that tends to come up in the same conversation.
What the business is worth and what's driving that number, whether the reason is a sale, a partner buyout, or planning ahead.
Read moreTurning where you want the company to go into a financial plan with the numbers, timing, and funding attached to each step.
Read moreFinancial statements, budgets, and reporting formatted to what the grantor requires, plus the tracking they'll expect afterward.
Read moreBook a consultation. You will leave the call knowing what shape your numbers are in.
Book a Consultation
