In the last month, we have fielded two calls from people who assumed our training was too basic. Perhaps they attended an industry webinar or viewed one of our most basic online modules.
This is how we work with clients to customize training for type of lending and for the complexity of your borrowers.
Three ways we customize
1) Often, we use the case studies in my manuals. I have used these with lender/analysts in the Basic-to-Intermediate stage with great success. The way we ramp it up to ‘advanced’ is through the discussion and examples, which are geared to your type of lending, your guidelines and your team’s experience level.
2) For some clients, I replace the standard case studies with either our ‘Advanced Lending’ or our ‘AgLending’ case studies.
The advanced lending case study includes a 1040 with a single-owner LLC operating company as well as guarantor non-business income, an 1120S operating entity, a 1065 LLC with rental properties, partially owned by the guarantor and a K-1 from an operating company where the owner/guarantor goes from 15% ownership in one year to 30% ownership in the next.
This case study is complicated enough to have some bells and whistles but contained enough that we can complete it in class. We do two years in class and at your option, I can make the previous year available as pre-work.
The AgLending case study is based on a real borrower of one of my long-time clients, with their permission, of course. We changed information for confidentiality and adjusted the numbers a bit, but this is a real return. I even left the mistakes in because let’s face it, sometimes those returns just are not done right.
3) The third option is to customize by using tax returns derived from your own clients. You select two borrowers for case study development, one that is fairly typical and another that has some challenges. I create new returns with fictitious names and locations, combine elements from several different returns and adjust the numbers so our case study is no longer your borrower’s files. But it has all the elements we need to cover to meet your needs.
Your worksheets or software:
For every in-house training, whether delivered virtually or in person, I am happy to use the worksheets or software you have in place. You will work with me to develop the solutions to whatever case studies we use on your worksheets/software. Then I develop the fully customized Worksheet Packet that includes a Quick Reference Guide for your continued use.
A Joint effort:
In the training, senior and experience lenders collaborate with me to get the job done. While I can answer tax return analysis questions, this is a great opportunity to get on the same page in terms of guidelines, what you typically see, and how to treat different scenarios.
One day or two:
While most of my clients benefit most from the two-day training, occasionally there is a group that is so experienced, that the one-day focused on business entities is sufficient. Let’s talk about it.
