---
title: For banks & SBA lenders | Countabl
description: Projections built from the business rather than backward from the loan amount, historicals that tie, and assumptions documented well enough to underwrite.
image: https://www.countabl.io/hubfs/og-image.png
---

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[Countabl.](https://www.countabl.io/)

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[Notes](https://www.countabl.io/notes) [Tools](https://www.countabl.io/tools)[Calculators](https://www.countabl.io/tools)[Know Your Numbers](https://www.countabl.io/tools/know-your-numbers)[Finance Team Cost](https://www.countabl.io/tools/finance-team-cost)[Glossary](https://www.countabl.io/tools/glossary)

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Have a borrower in mind?

taylor@countabl.io

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For banks & SBA lenders

# A file that underwrites *the first time.*

Projections built from the business rather than backward from the ask. Historicals that tie to the tax return. Assumptions documented well enough that your credit memo has something to cite. We do not opine on credit and we never see your decision.

Other partner types

[You do the tax returnCPA & tax firms](https://www.countabl.io/partners/cpa-firms)

You underwrite the fileBanks & SBA lenders

[You sit on the boardFunds & angels](https://www.countabl.io/partners/investors) [You're selling the companyM&A & fractional execs](https://www.countabl.io/partners/advisors)

[The full partner overview: boundary, mechanics, team →](https://www.countabl.io/partners)

What actually happens

## How a file costs you *a week you did not budget.*

Each one arrives looking like a documentation problem. None of them is.

Every one is a preparation problem, and every one is ours to fix before the file ever reaches your desk.

Built to the number

Projections reverse-engineered to the ask

The model hits coverage because it was built to hit coverage. Growth is a straight line, margin never moves, and nothing behind it survives the first real question.

The send-back loop

Three rounds before the file is complete

Each round costs a week and costs the borrower patience, and the borrower is irritated at you rather than at whoever built the spreadsheet.

Nobody can defend it

Assumptions with no owner

The workbook came from somewhere. The borrower did not build it, cannot explain the revenue build, and guesses when asked. That is a preparation problem, not a documentation one.

The division of labor

## Who owns what, *written down.*

We are on the borrower side of this line and we intend to stay there. Nothing below puts us anywhere near your credit decision.

You keep

- **✓**The credit decision, entirely
- **✓**Structure, pricing and covenants
- **✓**Your underwriting standards and checklist
- **✓**The borrower relationship

We take

- **→**Projections tied to historicals, with a revenue build
- **→**Assumption memos a credit analyst can follow
- **→**Direct answers to your analyst's questions
- **→**Monthly close and post-close covenant reporting

What we never do

- **×**Income tax preparation, tax planning, audit or attest work
- **×**Any opinion on the credit decision
- **×**Contacting your credit committee for a borrower
- **×**Work we would not put our own name on

Use this before the file reaches you

## What actually sends *a file back.*

What a credit analyst finds in week one. Send them to a borrower before they build anything and you will spend fewer weeks in the send-back loop, whoever ends up preparing the file.

- **▲**Debt service coverage that clears by a rounding margin
- **▲**No bridge between the interim financials and the last filed return
- **▲**A revenue build that cannot be traced to units, price or pipeline
- **▲**Owner compensation in the projection that does not match what the owner takes
- **▲**Interim financials a full quarter out of date
- **▲**Add-backs asserted in a narrative with no schedule behind them

Borrow this line

“Before you send me projections, have someone who does this every month build them from your actuals. It will save us both three rounds.”

Reframes preparation as the borrower’s job rather than yours, without naming anyone. If they ask who, we are on the borrower side of that line and we never see your credit decision.

Free · no email required

## What you can send a borrower *today*

Nothing here asks your borrower for an email address. A referral that turns into a lead-capture form makes you look bad, not us.

[Note Financial projections for an SBA loan: what lenders actually want Send it to a borrower before they build anything. It is the single cheapest way to avoid the first send-back. Read it → *send as-is*](https://www.countabl.io/notes/sba-loan-financial-projections) [Checklist · PDF Diligence-readiness checklist What has to be true before a lender or buyer opens the file. Short enough to read before a call, ending in the questions a borrower should be able to answer out loud. Your logo in the header on request. Download → *co-branding on request*](https://www.countabl.io/hubfs/countabl-diligence-ready-checklist.pdf) [Calculator Break-even calculator Runs in the browser with example values filled in. Useful for a borrower who has never separated fixed from variable cost. Open it → *no signup*](https://www.countabl.io/tools?t=be)

How it works

## How a referral *actually* goes

Only the first step is yours.

01

Yours

You send an intro email

That's the whole ask. No form, no portal, no partner tier, and no agreement to sign.

02

Within a week

We scope it in one call

Thirty minutes with the founder. If we're not the right answer we say so on that call and tell them what is.

03

Same conversation

They see a fixed price first

Tiers and scoped projects are published on our site, so they see the price before they talk to us.

04

Once, then never again

You hear from us

A short note confirming what we're doing and where the boundary sits. After that we don't put you in a nurture sequence.

No referral fees,  
in either direction.

We don't pay for introductions and we don't accept payment for ours. If we send you a client, it's because they need what you do. It keeps the advice clean, and it means there is no referral fee for you to disclose.

## Have a borrower whose file *is not going to make it?*

Send them over before the third send-back, or send us the situation first and we will tell you whether it is fixable. Neither costs you anything.

Book 30 minutes

No prep needed. We will tell you on the call if we are not the answer.

→

Send us the situation

A real reply, not a sequence

taylor@countabl.io

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[See how the work actually runs →](https://www.countabl.io/how-it-works)

[Countabl.](https://www.countabl.io/)

Financial operating partner for founder-led and owner-operated companies: bookkeeping, cash management and fractional CFO. Based in New Orleans.

[Book a 30-minute call →](https://calendly.com/tdwhite/countabl-customer-discovery)

[taylor@countabl.io](mailto:taylor@countabl.io) [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/countabl/)

Services [Services & pricing](https://www.countabl.io/services) [How it works](https://www.countabl.io/how-it-works) [Who we work with](https://www.countabl.io/who-we-work-with) [Partners](https://www.countabl.io/partners)

Free tools [Calculators](https://www.countabl.io/tools) [Know Your Numbers](https://www.countabl.io/tools/know-your-numbers) [Finance team cost](https://www.countabl.io/tools/finance-team-cost) [Finance glossary](https://www.countabl.io/tools/glossary)

Company [Team](https://www.countabl.io/team) [Notes](https://www.countabl.io/notes) [Book a call](https://calendly.com/tdwhite/countabl-customer-discovery)

© 2026 Countabl · New Orleans

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Countabl provides financial operations and advisory services, including sales-and-use tax compliance. We are not a CPA firm: we do not prepare income tax returns and do not provide tax planning, audit, or attest services.

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