Many financing applications are declined not because the project lacks merit, but because the study submitted does not answer the questions a credit committee asks. A marketing study describes the opportunity; a bankable study demonstrates capacity to repay.
Six non-negotiable elements
- Sourced assumptions: pricing, market size and utilisation rates tied to verifiable references.
- A dynamic financial model that allows sensitivity testing on price, cost and utilisation.
- Free cash flow analysis and debt service coverage (DSCR).
- Multiple scenarios — base, conservative and stressed — not a single optimistic case.
- Capital and operating cost structures detailed enough to be reviewed line by line.
- Risk analysis with realistic mitigations, not a generic checklist.
The most common failure
Over-optimism on early-year growth. Credit committees read thousands of studies a year and immediately spot a model that assumes high compound growth with no operational basis. A conservative, well-evidenced study clears faster than an ambitious, unsupported one.
