Quick answer
To read your business like a lender, work out six things from your bank statements: average monthly genuine revenue, how much it varies, your lowest balances and negative days, existing repayments to other lenders and the ATO, regular fixed costs, and what's left over. The leftover — after costs and existing commitments — is roughly what's available for a new repayment, and lenders want comfortable room within it.
Key points
- Count only genuine customer revenue — not transfers, loans or one-offs.
- Variability matters as much as the average.
- Existing repayments come off the top before any new one.
- Lenders want a buffer, not a repayment that uses every spare dollar.
- Doing this yourself first means no surprises in assessment.
Most business owners know their business inside out — the customers, the busy weeks, the supplier who’s always late. Fewer have looked at their business the way a lender does: as a set of numbers in a bank statement, stripped of context. Yet that’s exactly how an online application starts. Spending an hour reading your own numbers first means you’ll know roughly what’s realistic, spot problems before a lender does, and walk into the specialist call with confidence.
Business.gov.au’s guidance on applying for a business loan makes the same point: understand your income, expenses, debts and cash flow, and know the maximum repayment you can afford.
You’ll need six to twelve months of business bank statements and a spreadsheet or notepad.
Number 1: What is your genuine monthly revenue?
Go through each month and add up money that came from customers:
- card terminal and online checkout settlements
- marketplace and payment-platform payouts
- customer payments by bank transfer
- regular subscription or membership receipts
Then exclude:
- transfers from your own personal or other business accounts
- loan advances from any lender
- proceeds from selling assets
- tax refunds, grants and insurance payouts
- large unexplained deposits
What’s left is genuine revenue. Calculate the monthly average across the period. This is the number lenders anchor on for unsecured lending. If it’s noticeably lower than you expected, it’s usually because transfers or one-offs were inflating the raw deposits.
Number 2: How much does revenue vary?
Write down your lowest and highest genuine revenue months. A business averaging $60,000 a month that ranges from $55,000 to $65,000 is very different from one averaging $60,000 that ranges from $20,000 to $110,000 (both illustrative).
Lenders worry about the weak months, because repayments don’t stop when sales do. If your revenue is seasonal, that’s fine — but know where the troughs fall and how deep they go. It may point you towards a line of credit or revenue-linked product rather than fixed repayments.
Number 3: How does your balance behave?
For each month, note:
- the lowest balance
- how many days the account was negative or near zero
- any dishonour or overdrawn fees
A business that regularly scrapes the bottom of its account has little room for a new repayment, however strong its revenue looks. A healthy pattern shows a buffer that rarely disappears. If yours doesn’t, our guide to getting statements lender-ready has practical fixes.
Number 4: What are you already committed to?
List every regular payment to:
- other lenders (loans, lines of credit, equipment finance, leases)
- the ATO (payment plans, regular instalments)
- any other finance provider
Add up the monthly total. This comes off the top before a lender considers anything new. Pay particular attention to daily or weekly repayments to short-term lenders — several at once (“stacking”) is a significant red flag, and lenders spot it immediately.
Number 5: What are your regular fixed costs?
Add up the big recurring costs that don’t move with sales:
- wages, PAYG withholding and super — remembering that from 1 July 2026, the ATO says super is paid with each pay run under Payday Super
- rent and outgoings
- core software and subscriptions
- insurance
Then note your variable costs — stock, freight, ad spend, contractors — as a share of revenue. You’re building a rough picture of what each dollar of revenue leaves behind.
Number 6: What’s left over?
Now the key calculation:
| Line | Monthly (illustrative) |
|---|---|
| Average genuine revenue | $60,000 |
| Less variable costs | $27,000 |
| Less fixed costs | $24,000 |
| Less existing repayments | $3,000 |
| Available before any new repayment | $6,000 |
In this illustrative example, about $6,000 a month is left after everything. A lender won’t want a new repayment to use all of it; they’ll want a buffer for weaker months and surprises. Now repeat the calculation using your weakest month’s revenue. If the leftover goes negative, a fixed-repayment loan sized on the average month could cause trouble in the troughs.
This isn’t how any specific lender calculates capacity — each has its own policy — but it’s close enough to show you whether a request is comfortable, borderline or a stretch.
What else will a lender notice?
Beyond the six numbers, a lender’s analysis software and analyst will pick up:
- Gambling or lifestyle spending on the business account
- Personal top-ups that keep the business afloat
- Tax pattern — regular, irregular or missing ATO payments. See ATO debt and BAS in applications.
- Customer concentration — one payer making up most of the deposits
- Trend — revenue rising, flat or falling over the period
Each of these is better explained by you than discovered by them.
How do you turn the numbers into a request?
With your leftover figure and your weakest-month test, you can frame a sensible request:
- Purpose — what the funds are for and why now.
- Amount — what you need, not the maximum you think you could get.
- Repayment source — ongoing trading, a specific payment, a sale.
- Comfort — show the repayment fits within your leftover, with room to spare.
If the numbers say the request is a stretch, consider a smaller amount, a longer term, a product that flexes with revenue, or security that reduces the lender’s risk. If you’re funding growth, the payback test in funding ad spend and growth is a useful companion.
How often should you run this check?
Quarterly is a good rhythm, even when you’re not borrowing. It takes less time each time you do it, it shows trends early, and it means you’re always ready if an opportunity — or a problem — calls for finance. It also makes conversations with your accountant more productive. Many owners find it changes how they price, how they chase debtors and how much they keep in reserve, long before any lender is involved.
What if you’d rather not do the maths?
That’s what the specialist call is for. The online readiness check gives a quick sense of how prepared you are, and when you send an enquiry, the specialist can talk through these numbers with you before any lender sees your file. Even a rough idea of monthly revenue and existing repayments helps.
A worked example of the weakest-month test
Take the illustrative business above. Its weakest month brought in $44,000 of genuine revenue instead of the $60,000 average. Variable costs scale down to about $19,800, fixed costs stay at $24,000 and existing repayments stay at $3,000. That leaves a shortfall of about $2,800 for the month. The business survives because stronger months build a buffer — but a new fixed repayment of, say, $4,000 a month would deepen every weak month considerably. Seeing that in advance might lead the owner to ask for a smaller amount, choose a line of credit that’s drawn only when needed, or plan to build a reserve before borrowing. Either way, the conversation with a lender starts from realistic ground.
Which numbers should you prepare for the specialist call?
Bring four figures to the conversation: your average monthly genuine revenue, your weakest month, your total existing monthly repayments (including any ATO plan), and the monthly leftover you calculated. With those, a specialist can tell you within minutes which products are realistic, roughly what size of facility makes sense, and whether property security or a different structure would help. It turns a general chat into a focused one.
Ready to apply with your numbers in hand?
Knowing your numbers turns an application from a hopeful guess into a clear request. Start your 60-second online enquiry. There’s no credit check when you enquire, your details go to one specialist rather than being sent to a list of lenders, and a real person will help you match the request to what your numbers support. Please share accurate figures for revenue and existing repayments — that’s what lets us recommend the right option first time.
Frequently asked questions
Is this how lenders actually calculate what I can borrow?
It's a simplified version. Each lender has its own policy and models, but most look at genuine revenue, its stability, existing commitments and balance behaviour. Doing the arithmetic yourself shows you roughly where you stand.
What counts as genuine revenue?
Money from customers: card settlements, platform payouts, invoice payments and similar. Transfers from your own accounts, loan advances, asset sales and tax refunds are usually excluded.
How much buffer do lenders want?
It varies by lender and product. The principle is that a new repayment should fit comfortably within your spare cash flow even in a weaker month, not consume all of it.
What if my numbers look worse than I expected?
That's useful to know before applying. A smaller amount, a different product, property security or a short period of tidying up may give a better result than applying now.