Applying for a Loan: Financial Documents to Give Your Lender

Business Plan. A good business plan is like a blue print for your company. A business plan contains a description of your company, and includes information such as your target market, competition, organizational structure, employees, operating procedures, and financial information.

Balance Sheet. A balance sheet lists your company's assets, liabilities, and capital (owner's equity) as of a given date. Your company's assets, minus its liabilities, equals its capital.

Income Statement. An income statement (also known as a profit and loss statement) lists your company's income and expenses, and shows how much money your company has made (or lost) during a given time period.

Sales Forecast. A sales forecast is your estimate of future sales. Most businesses try to predict sales using three different figures: the "best-case" scenario, the "worst case" scenario, and the "most likely case" scenario.

Cash Flow Statement. The cash flow statement shows when your company expects to get the money that is owed by its customers, and when the company expects to pay out the money that it owes to others. Because it is done on a monthly basis, it shows when the company will have extra cash that it should keep for future month's bills, and when the company may need to borrow to meet expenses.

Operating Budget. Your company's budget is a projection of its income and expenses, and projected income (or loss) over a given period of time. It differs from the Income Statement because the Income Statement reflects your company's actual income, expenses and profit (or loss) over a given period of time.