Claybrook & Associates is an accounting and financial consulting
firm specializing in performing the complex financial investigations,
analysis and management advisory services necessary to assist banking
clients in their evaluation and administration of loans typically collateralized
by accounts receivable and inventory.
Our Approach
Claybrook & Associates brings over 20 years
of experience in identifying and recognizing financial irregularities.
Because our consultants have experience in conducting fraud investigations,
we provide a unique outlook to all features of our business and the services
we offer. We consider every interaction with a company as an opportunity
to better understand the nuances of its financial situation. This approach
lends itself well to the assistance we provide our banking clients, especially
as it relates to performing field examinations prior and subsequent to
loan approval, troubled loan services, loan workouts and collateral management.
Our Services
Field Examinations
Claybrook & Associates frequently conducts field
examinations as part of our banking client’s loan evaluation process.
During the examination, we inspect published financial statements, as
well as provide a qualitative assessment of the prospective lender’s
books and records. This inspection is especially helpful in the case
of new creditors to the bank; especially companies that lack strong financial
performance over an extended period of time and those that only prepare
compiled or internally generated financial statements. We expand the
company’s financial records by gathering supplemental information,
frequently for loans typically collateralized by accounts receivables
and inventory. As part of this review, we evaluate the internal accounting
controls and financial systems that support the company’s financial
results so that we can interpret better to highlight strengths and weaknesses
in these systems.
While the specific services are tailored to the individual
needs of each client, they generally include:
Identification of points of interest
that relate to the pending loan,
Design a customized work program,
Conduct
an evaluation of each company, executing the work program and reporting
areas of concern as they are discovered,
Modification of procedures
as the information is collected and evaluated,
Reporting the results
of our examination that references key documents that provides
an illustrative view of the company’s financial
reports.
Troubled Loan Services and Loan Workouts
Claybrook & Associates researches transaction history between a
company and its customers to better understand the origins and evidence
of the dispute in order to more effectively make a case for maximum collection
amounts. This is done so that research costs are used in the most efficient
manner possible to maximize our collection efforts. In such instances,
Claybrook & Associates adopts a fiduciary obligation to maximize
the client’s interest, much as an attorney advocates as effectively
as possible on behalf of their client.
In the case of loan workouts, Claybrook & Associates is retained
as a third party to ensure that the cash collected is correctly applied
to specific items of collateral. In the case of insolvency of a creditor,
Claybrook & Associates steps in to liquidate the assets to maximize
the recovery. Because of the depth of our liquidation experience, Claybrook & Associates
initially attempts to understand how inventory would be sold under usual
circumstances and then arranges non-distressed sales or returns inventory
to suppliers.
General services relating to troubled loans include:
Control over cash received and focusing
those funds to satisfy the obligation to the lender
Development and
implementation of procedures to control the billing and collection
cycles
Books and records inspection
Site inspection
and employee interviews to understand how the loan has been administered
Evaluation of company’s financial condition
Cash requirement forecasting
Collection realization
estimates
Operating expense containment
Realization
of assets under guarantee agreements
Collateral Management
Claybrook & Associates steps in to physically manage
the collateral and perform the following services:
Create detailed reports of collateral
Physically
take possession of the documents representing the collateral
Reconcile
sales and collection reports to the collateral held
