Bankers will loan current debt up to about 75% of accounts receivable (found on last year’s balance sheet) and 50% of this year’s inventory. They estimate this year’s inventory by examining last year’s income statement.
Bankers assume in the worst case companies will have three to four months of inventory, and they will loan up to 50% of that amount. This works out to be about 15% of the combined value of last year’s total direct labor and total direct material, which display on the income statement. Because they know the industry is growing, as a final step bankers increase the borrowing limit by 20% to provide room for expansion in inventory and accounts receivable.