What Is A Business Debt Schedule? – Forbes Advisor – Technologist

As you start taking on long-term debts to grow your business, it’s crucial to monitor your balances and monitor repayment. A business debt schedule tracks your business’s debts and allows you to stay organized and maintain accurate bookkeeping.

Beyond that, if you apply for additional financing in the future, your debt schedule can provide necessary information to lenders.

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What Is a Business Debt Schedule?

A business debt schedule, also known as a schedule of liabilities, lists your business’s long-term debts. These may include small business loans, business lines of credit and credit cards. Some other debts might be contracts, real estate leases, notes payable or any other long-term debts.

Your business debt schedule wouldn’t include short-term expenses, like payroll, accounts payable or real estate taxes. Instead, you’d account for these shorter-term obligations on your business’s balance sheet.

A business debt schedule gives you a bird’s-eye view of all the details of your debts. These include your original amount, current balance, interest rate, monthly payment amount and other essential information.

How To Create a Business Debt Schedule

To create a business debt schedule, gather all the important details of your long-term debts. This information includes:

• Name of creditor: This will be the bank, credit union, online lender or investor that holds your debt.
• Original loan amount: How much you borrowed initially.
• Date the loan originated: When you first borrowed the loan.
• Current balance: How much you currently owe on the debt.
• Interest rate: How much interest you’re paying on the loan.
• Loan payments: The amount you’re paying on the debt, as well as when payments are due.
• Repayment schedule: Whether you’re making payments monthly, biweekly or on another schedule and how long your repayment term is.
• Status of debt: Indicate whether the debt is in good standing or delinquent.
• Collateral, if applicable: Some loans are secured with collateral or a personal guarantee.
• Maturity date: The last date by which you need to fully repay the debt.

If there are any other pertinent details, such as loan fees or prepayment penalties, include these on your business debt schedule, as well. Consider which order to list your debts in, too—for instance, it could make sense to put more urgent debts at the top of your list.

Business Debt Schedule Template

You can download a business debt schedule from the Small Business Administration. Alternatively, you can create a table similar to the following to keep track of your business’s long-term debts:

Add columns to include all the essential information about your business’s debts. Your business debt schedule is a good place to keep all the vital information about your debt obligations.

How To Fill Out a Business Debt Schedule

To fill out your business debt schedule, you’ll need to collect information on each of your long-term debts. You can typically find information on your monthly payments, interest rate and maturity date on loan statements. If any details are missing, however, reach out to your creditor.

Update your business debt schedule as needed to ensure accurate financial records. Your business debt schedule can help you stay on top of debt payments and maintain the financial health of your company.

Reasons To Use a Business Debt Schedule

There are various ways that using a business debt schedule can help your business. Some of the main benefits include:

• Maintain accurate financial records. A business debt schedule can help you see how much money is going toward debt payoff each month, allowing your business to forecast and budget correctly.
• Avoid missing payments. By creating and checking in with your schedule of liabilities, you can stay organized and send payments to your creditors on time. Making on-time payments will improve your credit and prevent your loans from falling into delinquency or default.
• Prioritize debts. Reviewing all your business debts in one place allows you to strategize which debts to repay faster. If you’re able to make extra payments, for instance, you could prepay your loan with the highest interest rate.
• Taking on additional debt: Your business debt schedule will reveal how much you owe so you can determine whether your business would be able to take on an additional loan or line of credit.
• Fulfill lender requirements for a new loan. If you want to apply for another loan, a lender may want to see your business debt schedule when evaluating your capacity to pay back additional debt. Specifically, lenders will consider your debt-service coverage ratio (DSCR), which compares your company’s cash flow with your debt obligations.
• Identify refinancing opportunities. Finally, reviewing all your debts in one place can help you determine whether it would be financially beneficial to consolidate your debts or refinance them for better interest rates.