The Owner's Desk
Who do you ask before you commit?
The Owner's Desk keeps the capital side of your business current between engagements: what you can borrow, how much covenant room is left, and whether the move you are considering is fundable. Free for clients of The Lending Lab; annual, quarterly or monthly for everyone else, with no lock-in.
What it is for
The calls owners make on their own, and probably should not.
None of these are emergencies. They are the ordinary decisions of ownership, and each one moves your capital position for years.
“The landlord has offered to sell us the building.”
Owning the premises changes your balance sheet, your borrowing capacity and your rent line all at once. Usually the rent stops being an expense and starts being debt service, and whether that helps depends entirely on the numbers.
“A competitor is quietly for sale.”
The question is not whether you want it. It is whether your existing business carries the debt that buying it creates, and what happens to your covenant headroom the day it settles.
“The bank has offered to extend our facility.”
An offer to lend is not evidence you should borrow. What matters is the position you are left in if the next year is worse than this one.
“We are thinking about a second site.”
A second site is a multi-year cash flow decision dressed up as a lease decision. The downside case is the one worth modelling before you sign.
Cadence and fees
Free for clients of The Lending Lab
For everyone else the tiers are fixed and on the page. The benefit is for being a Lending Lab client, not for any finance outcome, and you are free to use any broker.
Annual
A yearly read on what the numbers now support.
$1,850
a year
- One full capacity review a year, rebuilt from your current financials
- Covenant headroom brought up to date
- A written read on what the numbers now support
- Email access between reviews
Quarterly
Close enough to catch a move before it is committed to.
$850
a quarter
- Four reviews a year, each against the latest actuals
- Covenant headroom tracked quarter to quarter
- The covenant figures worked each period, ready for the certificate your lender asks you to sign
- The next move costed before you commit to it
- Ad-hoc calls whenever a decision comes up
- Priority turnaround on any fixed-fee work you order
Monthly
For owners moving fast enough that a quarter is too long.
$1,450
a month
- A monthly review against the latest actuals
- Rolling capacity and covenant position
- Every planned move modelled before it is committed to
- Ad-hoc calls whenever a decision comes up
- Priority turnaround on any fixed-fee work you order
Fees are shown excluding GST, with the GST-inclusive figure beside them. GST applies at 10%.
- No lock-in. Cancel with 30 days' notice at any tier.
- Ad-hoc calls are included, not metered. If you are calling constantly, we will tell you a different tier fits better.
- Fixed-fee work ordered alongside the programme is quoted separately and in writing, as always.
- The programme is analysis and advice on your own numbers. Arranging a facility is separate work, quoted separately in writing before it starts.
What we cover
- What the business can borrow today, rebuilt as the numbers move
- Covenant headroom, and how much room is left before it bites
- The covenant figures your facility tests, worked each period and ready for the compliance certificate you sign for the lender
- Whether the next move is fundable, before you commit to it
- Buying the premises versus continuing to rent
- Expanding, and what the downside case actually costs
- What a credit team will make of your file if you go asking
What we do not, ever
- Management reporting packs and monthly accounts
- Tax advice, BAS agent services and bookkeeping
- Financial statement preparation
- Audit or any assurance opinion
- Arranging credit, or recommending any particular facility
That list is the product, not a disclaimer. Your accountant keeps the compliance work and the reporting, and most of what we do sends more of it their way rather than less. How we work with accountants.
Deliberately narrow
One side of the job, done properly.
A virtual CFO runs your whole finance function, and the going rate reflects it. This covers one part of that job, the part almost nobody covers: what your numbers support, what a credit team would make of them, and whether the move you are weighing up survives a bad year.
It is the same analysis that sits behind the Debt Capacity Assessment and the Growth Scenario Model, kept current instead of rebuilt cold each time you need it.
Already had the modelling done free as a Lending Lab client? That was a snapshot, true on the day it was built. The Desk is the standing version: the read rebuilt on a cadence as the numbers move, the covenant certificate figures worked each period, an open line for the decision that will not wait, and priority turnaround on any fixed-fee work. And for Lending Lab clients, the Desk itself is free too.
Is the problem the numbers, or having nobody to think with?
This works on the business's numbers and hands you a workbook. If what you actually want is a standing conversation about running the place, with someone in your corner between sessions, that is The Sounding Board.
Want a straight read on your deal?
Book a free call with Nick. Bring the numbers you have, and we will tell you the right service level and the fixed fee. No obligation.
Common questions
Yes. The Owner's Desk is free for clients of The Lending Lab, at any cadence. The benefit is for being a Lending Lab client, not for any finance outcome: nothing about it depends on a loan being approved or a deal proceeding, and you are always free to use any broker. For everyone else, the tiers are fixed and on the page.
No, and it is deliberately narrower. A virtual CFO runs your finance function: reporting, month end, often the accounting itself. The Owner's Desk covers one side of the job, the capital side, which is the side almost nobody else covers. What can the business borrow, how much covenant room is left, is the next move fundable, and what would a credit team make of the file. Your accountant keeps everything else.
No. We do not prepare management reports, monthly accounts or financial statements, we do not do tax, BAS or bookkeeping, and we never will. Those stay exactly where they are. Most of what we do generates work for your accountant rather than taking it, because a client planning a purchase or an expansion needs their structure and tax position looked at.
Annual suits an owner whose position changes slowly and who wants a yearly read on what the numbers now support. Quarterly is the common choice: close enough that a move gets checked before it is committed to, without a standing meeting every month. Monthly is for owners moving fast enough that a quarter is too long, usually mid-acquisition or mid-expansion.
The call you want to make before you commit to something. A landlord has offered to sell you the building. A competitor is quietly for sale. Your bank has offered to extend and you are not sure whether to take it. Those are the calls this exists for, and they are included rather than metered. If you are calling constantly, we will tell you a different tier fits better.
No. Thirty days' notice at any tier, and no minimum term. Fees are payable for the period you are in and nothing beyond it. We would rather you stayed because the reviews are useful than because a contract said so.
Yes, and they are quoted separately in writing as always. What the programme changes is that the base work is already done and current, so a piece of fixed-fee work usually starts from a warm file rather than a cold one, and it gets priority turnaround at the quarterly and monthly tiers. For Lending Lab clients, the debt and capacity modelling itself is free.
No. It is analysis of your own numbers and a view on what they support. We do not provide financial product advice, tax advice or legal advice. The programme itself does not include arranging a facility either: that is separate work on a separate fee, quoted in writing if and when you want it. Where a decision needs your accountant or your solicitor, we say so and flag exactly what to ask them.
The Owner's Desk provides commercial analysis and advice on your own figures. It is not tax advice, legal advice or financial product advice, and it is not credit advice. Arranging a facility is separate work on a separate fee, and the subscription does not include it.