--- title: "Financing and Lender Readiness for BC Businesses" url: https://www.everstonecpa.com/financing-and-lender-readiness description: "Financing and lender readiness: what a lender actually reads, the covenant reporting that keeps a facility in place, and how to ask with a forecast." type: service-or-info updated: 2026-10-08 summary: "Lender readiness means the statements a lender relies on exist and arrive on time, the covenant reporting is produced rather than scrambled for, and any request is supported by a forecast showing the purpose, the drawdown and the repayment. It is the difference between a renewal that is routine and one that is a negotiation." faq_count: 4 publisher: EverStone CPA Inc., a Chartered Professional Accountant firm registered with CPA British Columbia and CPA Alberta service_area: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba language: en-CA contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online --- [Home](https://www.everstonecpa.com/) [Fractional CFO & controller](https://www.everstonecpa.com/contract-cfo) Financing and lender readiness CFO deliverable · Lenders # Financing and lender readiness Updated 8 October 2026 Asking a lender for a facility with a forecast showing what it is for and when it is repaid is a different conversation from asking because the account is low. This is part of the **fractional cfo** half of a [fractional CFO or fractional controller engagement](https://www.everstonecpa.com/contract-cfo). [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online) [See the full comparison](https://www.everstonecpa.com/contract-cfo) **Quick answer:** Lender readiness means the statements a lender relies on exist and arrive on time, the covenant reporting is produced rather than scrambled for, and any request is supported by a forecast showing the purpose, the drawdown and the repayment. It is the difference between a renewal that is routine and one that is a negotiation. ## Lender readiness: what a lender is actually reading - **Year-end statements** at the level the facility requires, which is stated in the agreement rather than negotiable afterwards. - **Covenant calculations**, produced on schedule and reconciled to the statements. - **Receivable and payable ageing**, because concentration matters more than the total. - **A cash forecast** covering the term of what is being asked for. - **Consistency between periods**, which is what builds the credibility the numbers themselves cannot. Where the facility calls for assurance rather than a compilation, that is a separate engagement and it has its own preparation — [audit and review readiness](https://www.everstonecpa.com/audit-review-readiness) covers it. ## Covenant reporting stops being a scramble A covenant breached because the reporting was late is the same as one breached on the numbers, from the lender’s side. Most covenant packages ask for figures a business already has, on a date it can predict, which makes lateness the avoidable failure. Producing the package as part of [the monthly pack](https://www.everstonecpa.com/management-reporting) rather than as an annual event costs almost nothing extra and changes how the relationship reads. ## Asking for money well The three questions a lender asks are what the money is for, how it will be repaid, and what happens if the plan is wrong. A [thirteen-week cash forecast](https://www.everstonecpa.com/cash-flow-management) and a twelve-month view answer the first two directly, and a sensitivity on the forecast answers the third. Businesses that arrive with those three answers borrow on better terms than businesses with the same financials and no plan, which is the part owners are most often surprised by. ## Who this is for, and who it is not **A good fit:** a business with a facility to renew, a covenant package to report on, or a purchase, a building or an expansion to finance. **Not a fit:** a business with no debt, no plans to borrow and no external reader of its numbers, where this is preparation for something that may never happen. We say so on the first call rather than quoting for work you do not need. ## Common questions about lender work **Do you talk to the bank for us?** Where you want us to, yes, and it usually helps. What we do not do is advise on which lender or which product, which is a broker’s role rather than a CPA’s. [Ask us →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) **Our lender wants audited statements. Can you do those?** We prepare you for that engagement but do not perform it — auditing a file we prepared is a self-review. We work alongside the firm that does. **How far ahead should we start?** A year before a first audit, and at least a quarter before a renewal. Both are cheaper with lead time and expensive without it. **Is this included in the monthly fee?** Covenant reporting inside the monthly pack is. A financing project with a model and a lender package is scoped and quoted on its own. ### Starting fees Every fee is fixed in writing before any work begins. - **Controller or CFO support** controller from $1,650, CFO from $2,750 a month *This page* - **Monthly bookkeeping, GST/PST filing included** from $325 a month - **Payroll, remittances, T4s and ROEs** included in monthly bookkeeping - **Books, payroll and the year-end T2 together** $500–$700 a month - **Corporate year-end and T2 return** fixed fee, quoted in writing - **Personal tax return (T1)** from $125; self-employed or rental $275–$500 - **Catch-up bookkeeping** from $2,200 per year of records - **One-off advice call with a CPA** $225 plus GST [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=cfo#enquiry-form) ## Talk to a CPA about this One Chartered Professional Accountant, start to finish. Fixed fees, quoted in writing before any work begins, and no obligation from a first conversation. [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online) [Ask a Free Question](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) Email info@everstonecpa.com ★★★★★ “…have been completing my bookkeeping, taxes and financials for the last 2 years and they have been amazing. Thank you!” R. H. · Google review --- Source: https://www.everstonecpa.com/financing-and-lender-readiness Prices: https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing · Contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online