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CARIGNAN · E-2 FIELD GUIDE

What records explain retained earnings well enough for a reviewer?

Sources checked:

THE DIRECT ANSWER

Filed business and personal tax returns, financial statements, corporate minutes or resolutions authorizing distributions, bank statements showing each transfer, and the receiving account's records. Include the ownership documents of the existing company. The set should let a reader follow one continuous line from revenue earned to money spent in the new enterprise.

Fix the breaks in the chain, don't hide them

Missing pages, an unexplained round-number deposit, or a transfer routed through a personal account will attract questions. Most of these can be supplemented — a bank letter, a corrected resolution, an accountant's reconciliation — so raise them with your representative while there is still time to gather evidence. Where a payment came from a third party or a loan, be ready to explain the arrangement and what secures it.

Bring ownership records, the funding history, purchase or formation agreements, and the provisions governing any loans or escrow. Include the signed agreement and explain every veto or consent right affecting budgets, hiring, borrowing, contracts, or management appointments. Signed office lease with deposit paid, purchased monitoring hardware and licences, a funded U.S. business account, professional-liability insurance bound, and executed client agreements all show commitment.

Have the new company pay business expenses from its own account, with invoices addressed to it, so the ledger reads cleanly later.