Most businesses, at some time or another in their lives, are going to need a bank loan. It could be for a number of reasons. Expansion is one. You might need to take on more staff and move to a bigger office.
You could also need to buy a new piece of machinery for your factory in order to speed up production or add another string to your bow. You might just have been made an incredible offer to buy up a lot of stock at crazy prices, but don’t have the cash in hand to do it. You might be owed a lot of money from customers, but they are taking too long to pay you and you need a bit of breathing space.
The list goes on. Whatever the reason, most businesses do need a bank loan from time to time. The problem is that, quite simply, the banks don’t trust you! Yes, they WANT to lend you money because they can charge high rates of interest, but they want to know that you will have the ability to pay them back. They want to know that when they lend you money you are not lying about your ability to repay. It seems harsh, but after all they are banks! ‘Nough said!
This is why you need us at Safe Harbor to provide you with audited financial statements in San Francisco.
What does that mean?
Audited financial statements in San Francisco means that your accounts have been inspected by a third party – us – and that the figures that you have supplied are true and accurate.
You might well wonder how we know that they are true and accurate. After all, you could tell us anything, couldn’t you?
It Doesn’t Work Like That
Nope. Sorry. It doesn’t work like that.
Let us suppose that a company tells us that it has $250,000 worth of products in stock, bought and paid for. If we are going to provide audited accounts in San Francisco that means that we are going to have to visit that company’s warehouse and physically check that the $250,000 of stock is there on the shelves. That is what “audited” means.
And that is why when you need a bank loan, they want audited accounts. In that sense, you can’t blame the banks. Otherwise companies could tell them anything at all – and some would – in order to get the loan.
Please understand that we are not suggesting for a second that, as a responsible business-person, you would do any such thing. We are simply trying to explain why the banks want audited accounts and what that entails. It means that we back up what you have said.
That way, your bank is happy and so are you, because you will get your loan.
Photo credit: Derek Giovanni Photography via Foter.com / CC BY-ND