Legal
Handing over the same thing every quarter
The same list, four times a year, always in a rush and always hunted down in the same different places.
Whoever finances you comes back on a fixed cycle: at renewal, at review, at year end. **The list is nearly always the same and is nearly always hunted from scratch**, because months pass between requests, the person asking changes and so does the person answering. It is probably the most repetitive documentary work a mid-sized company does, and the least organised precisely because it is repetitive.
Why it costs the same every time
| What is asked for | Where it usually sits | Why it takes time |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts and filings | With the accountants | They have to be asked |
| Corporate documents | In an old folder | Nobody remembers which |
| Policies and guarantees | With whoever signed them | Who may have left |
| **The same as last year** | **In a sent email** | **Nobody filed it as an archive** |
Important
**What turns this into an afternoon rather than a week is keeping what was SENT, not only what was received.** It is a small, counter-intuitive shift: the folder you need is not the one with the company's documents, it is the one with «what we sent last time and when». With that in front of you the next request is resolved by comparison; without it, it is resolved by reconstruction — the same work already done three months ago.
How to stop starting from zero
- 1
Keep each submission as a dated file
What was asked, what was sent and to whom.
- 2
Know where the always-included items live
It is nearly always the same six or eight documents.
- 3
Know which of them expire
And find out before they are asked for, not when they are.
- 4
And do not let it depend on one person
It is the work that concentrates most on someone who is one day on holiday.
Watch out
The request never arrives at a calm moment: **it arrives when a transaction is under way and there is a deadline**. That detail changes the calculation. Gathering the documentation is not hard; it is that it is asked for exactly when there is least room, and a week's delay on a renewal or a drawdown has consequences that are not documentary. All the value of having it in order is collected on those specific days.
Worth knowing
What documentation a lender may require, at what intervals and what is entailed by what is signed on submission **depends on the facility and the contract, and is settled by your adviser**. Here we cover the organisational part: how not to redo the same work four times a year and how to know what was submitted last time.
›Is last quarter's submission usable?
As a starting point always; as an unreviewed answer, almost never.
›Can I ask my accountants to keep it ready?
Yes, and it is worth agreeing in advance rather than in the week of the request.
›Is it worth setting up for only four times a year?
Four times a year is exactly the frequency at which nobody remembers how it was done.
A real case
The situation
The lender asks for the same list and it is hunted from scratch.
What you do
- Keeps each previous submission with its date and contents
What you get
You start from what was sent last time.
The situation
Documents are split between the accountants, management and an inbox.
What you do
- Gathers the company file in one place
What you get
The submission stops depending on three people.
The situation
A corporate document expires and it is discovered with the request pending.
What you do
- Warns about expiries before they happen
What you get
Renewal happens with room to spare.
The situation
The person who always prepared it is on holiday.
What you do
- Keeps the file accessible to the team
What you get
The request does not wait for someone to return.
The situation
Nobody knows exactly what was submitted at the last renewal.
What you do
- Stores what was sent as a file rather than an email
What you get
You can compare instead of reconstruct.
The situation
The request arrives with a transaction under way and a short deadline.
What you do
- Keeps documentation current continuously
What you get
The deadline is met without stopping everything else.
This article answers
- documentation the bank requests every quarter
- facility renewal documentation
- asked for accounts and guarantees again
- organising what the lender asks for