Where in the credit agreement are the reporting requirements?

In the affirmative covenants, usually the first section of that article, titled something like Financial Statements and Other Information or Reporting Requirements. The financial covenant tests themselves sit in a separate section, often in the negative covenants, and the form of compliance certificate is an exhibit at the back. Read all three together: the reporting section says when, the covenant section says what is measured, and the exhibit says what the certificate must state.

How many days after quarter end are financials due to the lender?

Forty-five days is the most common term for quarterly statements and sixty is close behind. Annual audited statements are usually due in 90 or 120 days. Your agreement governs, and the count runs from the period end, not from when your close finishes, so a slow close eats directly into the reporting window.

Does the lender need audited statements, or will reviewed ones do?

The agreement says. Larger facilities usually require audited annual statements with an opinion that carries no going-concern qualification. Smaller ones sometimes accept reviewed or company-prepared statements. If you have not had an audit yet and the agreement requires one, that is a conversation to have with the lender well before the first deadline, not after it.

Who does the reporting package go to?

The notices section of the agreement names the address, and in a syndicated facility the deliverables often go to the administrative agent rather than to each lender. Some agreements allow posting to a lender portal. Send it exactly where the agreement says, because delivery to the wrong party can mean it was not delivered.

What counts as an event that needs a notice?

Each agreement defines its own list. The usual ones are a default or event of default, material litigation, a change in senior management or auditors, a material adverse change, environmental or pension events, and changes to the borrower’s name or organizational documents. The word to look for is promptly, which is not defined by a number of days and is read strictly after the fact.

Can software build the lender package for me?

Vanward does not build it. The package is your financial statements and your certificate, and those come out of your close and your judgment. What software can do is keep the list of what is owed, show what is due next, and record exactly which files went to whom and when, so the history is not scattered across sent folders.

Guide

Lender reporting requirements: what a credit agreement makes a borrower send, and when

A credit agreement almost always requires four kinds of reporting: quarterly financial statements delivered with a compliance certificate, usually within 45 to 60 days of quarter end; annual audited financial statements, usually within 90 to 120 days of year end; an annual budget or projections near the start of each fiscal year; and written notice of defined events, such as a default, litigation, or a change in management, promptly after they happen. The list lives in the affirmative covenants, most often a section titled Financial Statements and Other Information, commonly Section 5.01. Each item is a covenant in its own right, so a late delivery is a breach even when the numbers inside it are fine.

By Vanward. Published 2026-09-24. Updated 2026-09-24.

Most finance teams know the quarterly package is owed. Fewer have the whole list written down in one place, with the day count and the recipient for each item, and fewer still can say on a given morning which deliverables went out for which period. That gap is where late reports come from.

The usual deliverables

Terms vary by agreement and by lender. This is the shape most middle-market and venture debt facilities share.

Deliverable	How often	Typical deadline	What it contains
Quarterly financial statements	Each fiscal quarter	45 to 60 days after quarter end	Balance sheet, income statement, cash flow, often comparative to prior year, certified by a financial officer
Compliance certificate	With each set of financial statements	Same day as the statements	The covenant calculations, a statement that no default exists, and any required disclosures
Annual audited financial statements	Each fiscal year	90 to 120 days after year end	Audited statements with an unqualified opinion, sometimes with a certificate of their own
Budget or projections	Each fiscal year	30 to 60 days after the year starts	The operating budget, often monthly, sometimes consolidating by entity
Borrowing base certificate	Monthly on asset-based lines	15 to 30 days after month end	Eligible receivables and inventory, with agings
Notices of events	When the event happens	Promptly, sometimes within a set number of days	A written description and what the company is doing about it

How to read the section

Find the anchor for each day count

Every deadline runs from something: the end of a fiscal quarter, the end of a fiscal year, the start of a fiscal year, or an event. If your fiscal year does not end in December, the quarters do not either, and a calendar reminder set for the wrong quarter end is a month off every time.

List the required items, not just the deliverable

"Quarterly financial statements" often means four statements, a comparison, and a certification by a named officer. Write each one down. The missing piece in a late package is rarely the balance sheet; it is the officer certification or the comparative column.

Note the recipient and the method

The notices section says where each deliverable goes. In an agented deal that is usually the agent, not each lender. Some agreements allow a portal, and some require a copy to counsel for formal notices only.

What goes wrong

The deadlines rarely surprise anyone. What surprises people is the annual item that comes once a year, gets forgotten, and is noticed by the lender first: the projections due in the first sixty days of the year, or the audit that arrives a week after the window closed. A second common failure is the package that went, but nobody can show what was in it, because it left from one person’s inbox and that person has since moved on.

What this looks like in Vanward

Each lender sits on a Debt compliance board under Close, with its obligations, the day count and anchor for each, and the next due date computed from the rule. Vanward can read the credit agreement and propose the obligations with the clause each rests on; a person confirms every line before it counts. Reminders go out ahead of each deadline, and each send is recorded with the exact files, the recipients, and the time. Vanward tracks the sends. It does not build the package and it does not calculate your covenants.

Questions founders ask

Where in the credit agreement are the reporting requirements?: In the affirmative covenants, usually the first section of that article, titled something like Financial Statements and Other Information or Reporting Requirements. The financial covenant tests themselves sit in a separate section, often in the negative covenants, and the form of compliance certificate is an exhibit at the back. Read all three together: the reporting section says when, the covenant section says what is measured, and the exhibit says what the certificate must state.
How many days after quarter end are financials due to the lender?: Forty-five days is the most common term for quarterly statements and sixty is close behind. Annual audited statements are usually due in 90 or 120 days. Your agreement governs, and the count runs from the period end, not from when your close finishes, so a slow close eats directly into the reporting window.
Does the lender need audited statements, or will reviewed ones do?: The agreement says. Larger facilities usually require audited annual statements with an opinion that carries no going-concern qualification. Smaller ones sometimes accept reviewed or company-prepared statements. If you have not had an audit yet and the agreement requires one, that is a conversation to have with the lender well before the first deadline, not after it.
Who does the reporting package go to?: The notices section of the agreement names the address, and in a syndicated facility the deliverables often go to the administrative agent rather than to each lender. Some agreements allow posting to a lender portal. Send it exactly where the agreement says, because delivery to the wrong party can mean it was not delivered.
What counts as an event that needs a notice?: Each agreement defines its own list. The usual ones are a default or event of default, material litigation, a change in senior management or auditors, a material adverse change, environmental or pension events, and changes to the borrower’s name or organizational documents. The word to look for is promptly, which is not defined by a number of days and is read strictly after the fact.
Can software build the lender package for me?: Vanward does not build it. The package is your financial statements and your certificate, and those come out of your close and your judgment. What software can do is keep the list of what is owed, show what is due next, and record exactly which files went to whom and when, so the history is not scattered across sent folders.

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