// START HEREFOUR DOORS · 12 READING ORDERS
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What a newcomer does need is an order.
FOUR DOORS · 12 READING ORDERS
Everything on this site is free and none of it is a course: no modules, no completion percentage, nothing to enrol in. What a newcomer does need is an order. Below, for each of the four readers the site is written for, the pages a senior banker would hand you, in the sequence they would hand them, with one line on why. Skip what you already know.
GETTING IN
You're preparing for a commercial banking interview, or moving into credit from somewhere else.
FROM UNIVERSITY
- 01What Jobs Banks Hire ForA graduate application asks you to pick a direction first. This is the board you are picking from.
- 02Commercial vs Investment BankingBefore you prepare from the wrong genre: what a credit or relationship role actually tests.
- 03Corporate vs Commercial BankingThe floor above commercial: what changes when the borrower has a treasurer, and what does not.
- 04Credit Analyst vs UnderwriterThe same seat in the American vocabulary, with a translation table for the whole lending line.
- 05What a Commercial Banker DoesThe job in a week, not the job description.
- 06How Banks WorkThe machine the job sits inside, in three words.
- 07Credit Analysis for BeginnersThe first read of a file, in the order a desk does it.
- 08Commercial Banking Interview QuestionsEvery question by the signal the panel is listening for.
- 09The Interview QuizRehearse it. The quiz scores the temperament, not the trivia.
- 10The Case WalkthroughNinety seconds, five sentences: how the case question is answered in the room.
- 11The Assessment Centre CaseThe pack, the clock, the written answer and the group exercise — scored the way a desk scores.
- 12Issue 04 · Highview IndustriesA file that gets a yes, and why.
- 13Issue 01 · Pacific Premium FoodsThe same request, declined. Read the two side by side.
- 14The Free Sample CaseOne fully worked case, free, with the interviewer's angle on it.
- 15Career PathWhere the first seat leads.
FROM ACCOUNTING OR AUDIT
- 01From Audit to a Credit DeskWhat you bring, the question that changes, and the audit habits to unlearn first.
- 02How Banks WorkYou know the numbers. This is the machine that lends against them.
- 03How Banks Approve Business LoansThe change of mind this move needs: from whether the numbers are right to what they mean for a decision.
- 04GlossaryThe desk's words for things you already know by other names.
- 05Issue 04 · Highview IndustriesYour first file. A yes, with the working shown.
- 06Issue 01 · Pacific Premium FoodsThe mirror file: same ask, opposite answer.
- 07Cash Conversion CycleThe arithmetic you can already do, pointed at a lending decision.
- 08From the Syllabus to the DeskEvery mechanism you learned for an exam, pointed at a lending decision.
- 09The Revolving Credit FacilityThe product most working-capital files are about.
- 10The Interview QuizWhere a panel will probe an accountant: judgment, not reconciliation.
- 11Credit Analyst vs Credit Risk AnalystTwo seats an accountant is offered under one word: one makes the call, the other sets the standard.
- 12Credit Analyst vs Financial AnalystThe same statements read for the opposite question — and the reflex an accountant has to retrain.
- 13Credit Analyst InterviewThe questions for the seat you are aiming at.
- 14The First 90 DaysWhat the first quarter in the seat actually tests, once the interview is passed.
- 15The Free Sample CaseA whole worked case, free, in the format the paid pack uses.
FROM A STUDENT TO AN ACCOUNTING FIRM
- 01Commercial Awareness, the Lender's WayThe question every graduate panel asks, answered in the order a lender reads a business.
- 02From the Syllabus to the DeskWhat the syllabus teaches, pointed at a lending decision.
- 03The Groundwork · The BorrowerOne-minute files on reading a business: earnings, cash, balance sheet, business, assurance.
- 04Issue 04 · Highview IndustriesA clean set of accounts asking for more. A yes, with the working shown.
- 05Issue 01 · Pacific Premium FoodsThe same request on a file where every needle points the other way.
- 06The Bank in Your Audit FileConfirmations, covenants, waivers, going concern — from the bank's side of the file.
- 07The Assessment Centre CaseThe pack, the clock and the written answer, scored the way a desk scores.
- 08The PlacementWhere your reading sits against a senior banker's, before a panel finds out.
- 09From Audit to a Credit DeskFor later: the road most of this site's readers took in.
FROM A BRANCH
- 01Commercial vs Retail BankingYou know the branch. This is what changes upstairs: a person reads the file instead of a scorecard.
- 02How Banks LendYou know the bank. These are the business facilities, one file at a time.
- 03The OverdraftStart with the product you have already sold, read from the credit side.
- 04Credit Analysis for BeginnersThe first read of a set of accounts, in order.
- 05Issue 06 · Kowhai Retail GroupA retailer and a seasonal facility: a file you will recognise.
- 06Portfolio Manager vs Relationship ManagerTwo seats the move can lead to, and how differently each one is measured.
- 07Relationship Manager InterviewThe seat most branch bankers move into, and what its panel asks.
- 08The RM ScorecardWhat the job is measured on once you are in it.
- 09Analyst to RMThe fork from the credit side: what changes, and the three tests of being ready.
- 10The Interview QuizRehearse the temperament the panel is scoring.
- 11The Free Sample CaseOne whole case with the senior banker's read, free.
ON THE DESK
You're on a lending desk, first book or fifteenth year, and want your read against a senior's.
READING A FILE
- 01Issue 11 · The Term Sheet WarThe current file. Call it before you read the senior's read.
- 02All case drillsThen the shelf, newest first. Every file asks for your call first.
- 03The Three DiagnosticsRun a real request through the calculator and read the written diagnosis.
- 04The Learning MapEvery subject a credit course covers, each beside a file where it decides something.
- 05Cash Flow AnalysisThe statement a desk reads first, and why.
- 06Assessing a Working Capital RequestThe whole assessment in order, before the two files that show it.
- 07Working Capital Case StudyTwo files, opposite answers, and the order to read a file in.
- 08Temporary or Permanent Working CapitalThe question under most facility increases.
- 09Debt Service Coverage (DSCR)The ratio that turns the cash flow into a yes or a no — and how its definition moves it.
- 10Leverage and Capital StructureHow much debt, against what carries it — and whether it can come down.
- 11LVR, Security and CollateralThe second way out, and why it is worth less than it says.
DECIDING AND WRITING IT UP
- 01Testing Borrower ForecastsWhat to do with the numbers the borrower wrote.
- 02Management QualityThe part of the file that is not in the file.
- 03How Banks Price a LoanWhy this loan costs this price — and which parts the grade decides.
- 04Writing a Credit PaperThe same decision, written for the approver who was not in the room.
- 05The Eight FrameworksThe names for what you have been doing, one per chapter of the book.
- 06The DeskYour judgment record, issue by issue, against the senior's.
SPECIALIST FILES
- 01Property Development FinanceA loan repaid by something not yet built: a whole development, read by its lender.
- 02Drawing a Development LoanThe build month by month: the certificate, the cost-to-complete test, the builder, the settlements.
- 03Agricultural LendingA farm reads its price off the world. The lender reads it at a poor season.
- 04When the Milk Price FallsA season that goes wrong on price, on a published farm: the breakeven twice, and what each side can do.
- 05Problem Loans and WorkoutWhen the first way out fails: the early signs, the standstill, the options.
- 06Banking ToolkitsWhen a sector file lands: the desk reference for it.
- 07The Highbank UniverseLast, the world all of it happens in — and how far along it you have got.
FOR BORROWERS
You're the founder, owner or CFO whose facility is up for review.
BEFORE YOU BORROW
- 01How Banks Read YouThe order a bank reads your business in, and four files read from your side.
- 02The Five-Step ReadRun your own numbers the way the bank will, before it does.
- 03Preparing a Loan ApplicationWhat to send, the question each piece answers, and the request written as arithmetic.
- 04Line of Credit vs Term LoanWhich shape of debt the need calls for, and what a line carrying a floor tells the bank.
- 05Fixed vs Floating RateA risk allocation, not a prediction: how much of a rise your cover can carry, and who should hold the rest.
- 06Equipment Loan vs LeaseWho owns the asset at the end, who carries the residual, and how the bank reads a lease.
- 07Pricing and FeesEverything you pay, compared at the way you use the money.
- 08Personal GuaranteesWhat the guarantee actually does, and the one thing to do before signing.
- 09What the Bank Holds as SecurityEach instrument, what it is worth to the bank, and how you get it back.
- 10Reading Your Facility LetterThe approval as a contract: every clause, what it is for, and which to negotiate before signing.
WHILE YOU HAVE A FACILITY
- 01The Annual ReviewThe meeting that decides most facilities, and what to bring.
- 02The Monthly PackWhat to send, what to leave out, and why the day it arrives is read before the numbers.
- 03Audited, Reviewed or CompiledWhich level of accounts the bank needs, how it reads each, and what it checks that no accountant signed.
- 04Loan CovenantsWhat you signed, what it measures, what happens at the line.
- 05Why Your Bank Repriced Your LoanFive reasons a margin moves at review, two of them yours to change.
- 06Before Your Loan MaturesA maturity is a new credit decision; the six months before it are yours to run.
- 07Refinancing and Switching BanksWhich reasons for leaving travel, and what leaving costs before it saves.
WHEN IT GOES WRONG
- 01When the Bank Says NoWhat a no means, and what it usually needs to become a yes.
- 02When Your Loan Goes to WorkoutThe letters, the new banker, the review, the standstill and the ways out, from your side.
- 03Bank Loan vs Private CreditWhen a fund is the right bridge after a no, and when it only adds a dearer claim on the same cash.
- 04Problem Loans and WorkoutThe same process from the bank's side of the table.
BY SECTOR
- 01Manufacturing, Read by a BankIf this is your sector, the four questions the bank will ask first.
- 02Exporters, Read by a BankIf you sell abroad: the currency question before the credit question.
- 03Guarantee vs Letter of CreditIf you trade or contract: the promise that pays, and the promise that is only called.
- 04Retailers, Read by a BankIf you sell through stores: the season, stock with a date on it, the leases, and profit that parts from cash.
- 05Logistics, Read by a BankIf you run a fleet: the contract's break clause, the customer that grew too large, the margin under fuel and wages.
- 06Farms, Read by a BankIf you farm: the milk price you will not choose, and the breakeven under it.
- 07When the Milk Price FallsIf the forecast is cut mid-season: the breakeven twice, and the conversation to have before the limit.
- 08Developments, Read by a BankIf you build to sell: equity first, presales, and the cost cushion.
- 09Drawing a Development LoanIf you are building: what the lender checks every month between the first draw and the last settlement.
- 10Issue 11 from the CFO's chairYour bank matched the price and kept the structure. The other bank would lend more against the same warehouse. It is Thursday.
- 11Every case file has a chair for youEach single-borrower file on the shelf is also read from the borrower's side.
HOW A BANK WORKS
You hold the shares, read the results, or just want to know what a bank actually does with your money.
- 01How Banks WorkThe three-word bank: deposits, loans, payments.
- 02The Highbank UniverseThen one bank in particular, with a book of borrowers you can walk down.
- 03How Banks Approve Business LoansOne loan, followed through the machine.
- 04How Banks Manage Credit RiskWhere the losses are meant to stop, and who watches.
- 05Corporate Lending and Credit RiskThe same question at a larger table, where the company's balance sheet carries the credit instead of the owner's.
- 06How Banks LendThe products, one file each, in plain words.
- 07GlossaryThe words, defined once, by someone who used them for sixteen years.
- 08Issue 08 from a buyer's chairYou signed off the plan and paid the deposit. The build waits for presales, and your contract is one of them.
- 09Issue 08 · Basalt Ridge DevelopmentsThen the same file from the bank's chair.
- 10The Eight FrameworksHow bankers think, named, one per chapter.
- 11How Bankers ThinkThe whole of it, in a book.
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