On 20 January 2015 Charles Thorburn announced a contribution by Björn Lindvall to The Funding Centre. Lindvall’s article described the information his firm used to assess an SME before approaching lenders. The records still make a practical checklist for preparing a discussion.
Five records, five questions
| Record | Question it helps answer |
|---|---|
| Balance sheet | What assets does the company control and what does it already owe? |
| Profit and loss account | Which activities produce a profit and how stable are earnings? |
| Cash-flow statement | When does that profit turn into cash available for repayments? |
| Aged debtors report | Which customers owe money, how overdue is it and how concentrated are the balances? |
| Existing debt schedule | Which lenders already have a claim, on what terms and with what repayment dates? |
Use the same reporting date wherever possible. If the cash balance in the accounts differs from the figure in the brief, record the date and the transactions that bridge them. In the funding brief you can mark each item as available or outstanding without uploading financial documents.
Sources and further reading
- Historical CreditSquare page (Wayback Machine) — checked 2026-11-08
- Lindvall’s account of the five records — checked 2026-11-08