Debt Modification Accounting Evidence Director — Commercial Property

The mandate

The group has amended secured facilities through covenant resets, maturity extensions, partial repayments, lender substitutions, rate conversions and collateral releases across separate property vehicles. Treasury tracks commercial outcomes facility by facility, but Finance cannot consistently identify the accounting unit, compare old and new cash flows, allocate fees or distinguish modification from extinguishment. Quarter-end conclusions are becoming negotiation-dependent.

The engagement deliverable is a Debt Change Accounting Evidence Framework. It will define transaction population, accounting unit, lender continuity, cash-flow comparison, effective-interest recalculation, derecognition, fee allocation, embedded features, current-versus-non-current presentation, covenant disclosure and statement-of-cash-flows consequences. A transaction trigger will force review before amended terms become effective or fees are posted.

Milestone one in week two inventories affected instruments and unresolved fact patterns. Week five closes policy decisions, evidence standards and calculation controls. A portfolio reperformance and amended-quarter shadow close complete milestone three in week nine. At week thirteen, accepted memoranda, models, controls, trained owners and a previously unseen multi-lender amendment finish the deliverables.

Acceptance requires Treasury and Legal to reproduce executed terms, counterparties, fees and effective dates; Finance to reperform cash-flow tests and carrying-value bridges; and Internal Controls to trace sampled conclusions into journals and disclosures. The Controller signs only after client staff resolve eight unfamiliar combinations without a consultant conclusion or unlocked spreadsheet.

The client will provide original and amended agreements, lender consents, payment schedules, fee invoices, hedge documents, valuation inputs, covenant calculations, ledgers, prior papers, disclosure drafts and audit comments. Management retains accounting and financing decisions. Legal advice, debt negotiation, financing strategy, valuation opinions, hedge redesign, tax advice, covenant certification and audit opinion are excluded.

Why this is external work

Treasury owns lender negotiations and Finance owns accounting, but repeated bespoke amendments have overwhelmed the boundary between commercial chronology and technical analysis. A short external engagement can establish a common evidence discipline and test difficult cases without influencing financing terms, interpreting contracts legally or replacing management’s conclusions.

What you will own

• Reconstruct each facility’s original terms, amendment chronology, lenders, collateral, payment streams, fees and effective dates.
• Define accounting units and counterparty continuity before applying modification, extinguishment or partial-derecognition analysis.
• Control cash-flow comparison, effective-interest recalculation, gain or loss, carrying-value bridge and future amortisation.
• Allocate borrower, lender, adviser and third-party fees according to evidenced service and accounting consequence.
• Connect debt conclusions with covenant disclosure, classification, liquidity narrative, hedges and cash-flow statement presentation.
• Exercise a lender substitution, partial repayment, collateral release, fee waiver, rate conversion and delayed effectiveness.
• Transfer the framework after client teams reperform the portfolio and clear an unseen syndicated amendment.

Candidate qualifications

• Directed complex debt modification and extinguishment accounting for a listed property, infrastructure or leveraged corporate group.
• Reconstructed syndicated and secured facility histories across amended contracts, consents, payments, fees and lender populations.
• Applied quantitative and qualitative analysis to modifications, partial derecognition, effective interest and transaction costs.
• Connected debt accounting with classification, covenants, liquidity, hedges, cash flows and public disclosures.
• Maintained boundaries among Treasury negotiation, legal interpretation, valuation, tax advice, management accounting and audit.
• Delivered transaction controls and models that internal teams applied successfully to subsequent amendments unaided.

Non-negotiables

• The named director must lead Toronto evidence sessions and the final syndicated-amendment acceptance test.
• Direct public-company debt modification and extinguishment experience is required; treasury execution alone is insufficient.
• No current relationship may involve material lenders, debt advisers, external counsel or the appointed auditor.
• Management retains financing and accounting decisions; negotiation, legal, valuation, tax and audit services remain excluded.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe a debt amendment where lender continuity changed the accounting answer.
2. 49 words maximum. How did you allocate fees when one invoice covered negotiation, consent and third-party services?
3. 49 words maximum. Which syndicated amendment would you use to prove client ownership of the framework?