Field exam automation that finishes the groundwork before the examiner gets in the car
Exam reports in days, not weeks, every test traced to its workpaper.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Field exam automation does the groundwork of an asset-based lending field exam — the roll-forward, the tie-outs, the ineligibles, dilution, the samples and the first draft of the report — as soon as the borrower's data download arrives. Field Exam Automation runs a 39-step exam program with six agents and stops only where a person must look, so the examiner's time on site goes on judgement.
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A field exam is how an asset-based lender proves the collateral behind the revolver is real. Before any judgement is made, someone has to read the borrower's data download, roll receivables forward from the last exam, tie the aging to the general ledger and the borrowing base certificate, recompute the ineligibles, work through a year of credit memos, pick the sales, cash and verification samples and age the inventory. A typical exam template runs to 50–75 worksheets.
So the first week goes on building workpapers, the site visit goes on finishing them, and the report goes on a manager's desk for review weeks after fieldwork. Meanwhile the patterns the exam exists to catch — credit-and-rebill refreshing the aging, invoices billed before they ship, returns authorized but not yet credited, slow stock left on the certificate — sit in the data until someone gets to them. Until the next exam, the lender may be advancing against receivables that are older, disputed or not yet shipped.
Estimated split for a quarterly exam of a distributor, by hand and with the solution.
Six agents run the exam program before fieldwork and stop only where eyes are needed; the examiner confirms on site and the manager signs.
Tamsin Industrial Supply, a Toledo distributor on a $35.0M revolver, sent its Q3 data download on Friday afternoon: 14 files, cut-off 30 Sep. Fieldwork starts Tuesday at 09:00. Here is the exam, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Owen's exam list shows 31 of 38 borrowers due this quarter, one overdue, and a median of 3 days from fieldwork to report against 19 days in 2025. Tamsin Industrial Supply is at the top: data in and ready to prepare, fieldwork Tue 13 – Thu 15 Oct, report due Thu 22 Oct.
Gail Prentiss, Tamsin's controller, uploaded 14 files on Fri 9 Oct at 16:48.
Thirty-nine steps in eight areas, from receivables to the borrowing base, tick through on a bar that fills green, red and amber. Twelve steps in, the program stops on the sales test: of 40 September invoices sampled, 37 agree with the shipping log and 3 have no shipment at billing. Two Meridian Conveyor invoices, billed 29 and 30 Sep, left the dock on 2 Oct; a Morrow Truck Bodies invoice for $55,060 was drop-shipped by the supplier.
Sample selector: “Morrow's order was drop-shipped by the supplier; only the carrier's proof of delivery can clear it — that needs you on site.”
Owen holds the three invoices for the shipping office on Tuesday at 10:30 and the program finishes. Everything that needs no eyes is done; the seven steps that do — the opening meeting, bills of lading, memo approvals over $10,000, the floor count, the slow bays, the bank statements and the exit meeting — become his site day, Tue 13 – Thu 15 Oct.
The exam overview shows what each agent did and how long it took: 41,862 sales lines, 9,114 receipts, 1,206 credit memos and 18,412 SKUs read; four samples drawn; five findings raised. Availability as certified is $19,693,554. After the findings it is $817,126 lower.
The 30 Jun aging of $18,412,560, plus $31,846,200 of sales, less cash, credit memos and write-offs, rolls to $18,645,640 — equal to the 30 Sep aging and line 1 of the certificate. The ledger control is $56,500 lower: cash received 30 Sep, applied on 1 Oct, already deducted as unapplied cash.
Never forces a tie — an unexplained difference stays open on the workpaper.
On 28 Sep, 14 Holloway Packaging invoices for $186,240, first dated 15 Jun – 1 Jul, were credited and rebilled with new dates. Re-aged to their first dates, 54% of Holloway's balance is over 90 days — past the 50% cross-aging limit, so all $342,600 is ineligible. Without the rebill, true dilution is 3.9% for the quarter and 5.5% in September; nine Ardent Robotics returns for $214,800 are authorized but not yet credited.
The analyst never calls a pattern fraud — it raises it for the examiner.
Every one of 18,412 SKUs is aged by last sale. $1,064,300 at cost has had no sale in 12 months, but the certificate excludes only $612,000 — the borrower counts only SKUs with no sale in 18 months, while the loan agreement says 12. That is $452,300 more ineligible, and $226,150 less availability. Sixty SKUs, weighted to value, are planned for the count on Wednesday.
Summary, collateral and availability as certified and as examined, and five findings, each with its workpaper and recommendation. Excess availability falls from $2,743,554 to $1,926,428 — below the $2,500,000 springing level, so the fixed-charge coverage covenant is tested on the September financials.
“Marcus Bell and Ruth Okafor see this before the borrower does.”
Owen confirms each finding against what he saw: Gail Prentiss confirmed the June invoices were reissued at Holloway's request with terms still running from June; both bills of lading for Meridian are signed by the carrier on 2 Oct; 7 of the 9 Ardent returns are in the receiving bay. Unticking a finding drops it, but it stays on the workpaper with his reason.
Owen submits on Thu 15 Oct at 17:20. Denise signs off on Fri 16 Oct at 08:42 — one day after fieldwork. Owen then sends the five borrowing base changes to Ruth Okafor, the senior credit officer, with the workpapers behind each change.
Agents draft; they never issue a report or change a borrowing base.
The same Tamsin exam, seen by the four people who carry it — the examiner, the manager who signs, the credit officer who approves and the portfolio manager who talks to the borrower.
Six agents run the exam program before fieldwork and stop only where eyes are needed; the examiner confirms on site and the manager signs.
Reads the borrower's download — ledger, journals, agings, perpetual, shipping and RMA logs, certificates — and maps every file to the exam.
Rolls receivables forward from the last exam, ties the aging to the ledger and the certificate, and recomputes every ineligible from invoice detail, with cross-aging.
Measures dilution by month and reason, finds credit-and-rebill and treats it as a rebill, not dilution, and reads the RMA log for returns not yet credited.
Chooses each test sample with its method, seed and coverage, and pre-tests it against shipping logs and verification replies.
Ties the perpetual to the ledger, ages every SKU by last sale, plans the test counts and runs the cost test.
Drafts the field exam report — every finding cites its workpaper — computes the borrowing base impact and tests the springing covenant.
Confirms each finding; manager signs off, credit approves changes. The agents propose; a named person decides.
The examiner can ask about anything in the exam in plain words — or tell it what to add to the site plan. Every answer points to its source.
Why is all of Holloway Packaging ineligible?
On Mon 28 Sep, Tamsin credited 14 Holloway invoices first dated 15 Jun – 1 Jul and rebilled them the same day for the same $186,240. Measured from their first dates they are 91–107 days old, and Holloway's own reply says its terms still run from June. That puts 54% of Holloway's $342,600 past 90 days, above the 50% cross-aging limit, so the whole balance is ineligible — −$291,210 of availability.
What happens to availability if the findings stand?
Availability falls from $19,693,554 to $18,876,428. Excess availability becomes $1,926,428, below the $2,500,000 springing level, so the fixed-charge coverage covenant is tested on September's financials.
How does Tamsin compare with the rest of the book?
Tamsin is now in the top quarter of the 12 distributors for dilution (3.9% against a median of 2.6%) and days sales outstanding (58 against 47). Against its own last four exams every measure of age has risen. Credit-and-rebill has been found at one other borrower this year, Fenwick Millwork in August.
Add the Ardent returns to Tuesday's agenda
Added for Tue 15:00 with Gail Prentiss: the 9 return authorizations for $214,800, when the credits will be issued, and whether the $38,600 Ardent disputes is part of the same lot. I have also asked receiving to have the returned couplings ready to see.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
The tests every exam runs and the rules it is judged by are settings, changed in plain choices and versioned on the audit trail.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Past due ineligible | Over 90 days from invoice | Over 90 days from invoice · Over 60 days past due · Over 120 days from invoice |
| Cross-aging | 50% of a customer's balance past due | Any share from 25% to 75% |
| Dilution trigger, rolling 3 months | 5% | 4% · 5% · 6% |
| Sales-to-shipping test | Over $100,000 + 34 random | Over $100,000 + 34 random · Over $50,000 + 25 random · 60 random |
| Verification coverage | At least 50% | At least 40% · 50% · 60% |
| Slow-moving inventory | No sale in 12 months | 9 · 12 · 18 months |
| Report due | 5 business days after fieldwork | 3 · 5 · 10 business days |
| Exam frequency | Quarterly, ratings 4–6 | Quarterly, ratings 4–6 · Semiannual, ratings 1–3 · Monthly, workout |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample exam data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (ABF Journal, “An overemphasis on work papers has caused field exams to lose focus” — 50–75 worksheet templates; two weeks or more to review an exam). People, lenders and borrowers named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Field exam automation does the groundwork of an asset-based lending field exam — the roll-forward, the tie-outs, the ineligibles, dilution, the samples and the first draft of the report — as soon as the borrower's data download arrives. Field Exam Automation runs a 39-step exam program with six agents and stops only where a person must look, so the examiner's time on site goes on judgement.
It rolls receivables forward from the last exam and ties the aging to the general ledger and to line 1 of the certificate, recomputes every ineligible from invoice detail using the loan agreement's definitions, and compares the inventory aged by last sale with the certificate's exclusion. Availability is recomputed as certified and as examined, and the springing covenant is tested.
It looks for both. The dilution and credit memo analyst matches credit memos to new invoices for the same customer, items and amount, and ages rebilled invoices from their first date. The sales-to-shipping test checks each sampled invoice against the shipping log, so invoices billed before they shipped show up before fieldwork.
No. The agents never edit the borrower's data, never issue a report and never change a borrowing base. Each change to eligibility or reserves is approved by a credit officer, and the portfolio manager tells the borrower.
Yes. The examiner confirms every finding on site and can drop one only with a reason that stays on the workpaper. The field exam manager signs off every report before it reaches credit or the borrower.
By the rules in settings — for the sales test, every invoice over $100,000 plus a random draw from the rest. Each sample records its method, seed and coverage, and a selected item can be replaced only with a recorded reason.
Yes. Past due and cross-aging, the dilution trigger, the reserve for returns not yet credited, sample sizes, verification coverage, test-count tolerance, slow-moving inventory, the report deadline, sign-off and exam frequency are all settings, versioned on the audit trail.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements — your exam program, loan agreement definitions, report format and a sample of past data downloads — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on one of your own past exams first.
We'll run Field Exam Automation on a past data download from one of your own borrowers.