covenants are ratios with teeth — the table shows the headroom quarter by quarter, and the tightest one is the only number the room wants.
The credit agreement runs two leverage tests every quarter, and last week’s amendment added the second one — that block of the compliance table is still empty while the other sits finished right above it. Net leverage is debt less cash over LTM (last-twelve-months) EBITDA, and the covenant maximum steps down as the deal seasons, so the question is never "compliant this quarter?" but "which quarter pinches?". Build the missing test, flag every quarter, and hand the credit committee the tightest number on the page before the lender call.
Alt walks: tap Alt, release, then the letters in sequence — each key steps one ribbon menu. On a Mac, tap ⌥ and use the same letters (KeyTips, Excel 2024+).
Ctrl+R⌘R on macFill right from the cell to the left
Same as fill down, but across — one quarter’s formula becomes the whole year in two keystrokes.
Ctrl+C⌘C on macCopy
Copy starts almost every hand-off — grab a finished block once, then place it in the summary, the deck, or next quarter’s column.
Ctrl+V⌘V on macPaste
Plain paste brings everything: values, formulas, formats. Reach for Paste Special when you only want part of it.
Ctrl+B⌘B on macBold
Bold marks structure: titles, total rows, anything the reviewer’s eye should land on first.
Alt h b p⌥ h b p on macTop border
Top border above a total row — the accounting ruling that says “this line sums the ones above.”
functions you'll type: MIN()
the par-setting sequence, straight through:
seed B14 =(B5-B7)/B4 · ctrl+r across B14:F14 · copy B11:F12 · ctrl+v at B16 · B19 =MIN(B16:F16) · ctrl+b · alt h b p · ctrl+s