The year is over and you probably have finished your income statement, balance sheet and perhaps even a cash flow statement.

Those are all good for your bank to see.  There is another schedule to prepare that could also help you toot your horn.

It is looking at it from the bank’s eyes.  How well do you do for the bank(s) last year?

• How much bank debt did you pay down?

• How is the cushion on your borrowing base?  Did it go up or down?

• How did you do on your covenants?  Did you build up cushion or did they get tighter?

• How much cash or other funds are invested with them?  Did this go up or down?

• What did they earn in interest expense, points, or unused line fees?

• What type of bank fees did they earn from treasury services?  Remember to include all sources, such as merchant accounts for your credit card receipts you collect from customers.

• What other types of fees did they earn?  For example, there may be inventory appraisals, audit fees or other non-treasury fees.

It is a good exercise to go through.  It can be eye opening to see how much is going on with your bank.  If you are splitting your services, it can help you assess if you need to consolidate or move some services around.

It’s good to show your bank too.  You earn points for showing that you look at things like they do.  If you have some results to show, you might as well take credit for it.  For example, maybe this past year you paid off more debt than any prior year.  In a year when many companies ran into default with their banks, that would be something to crow about.