Guarantees and sureties rarely show up in liquidity planning — and that is exactly what makes them dangerous. They tie up no cash until they are called, yet they consume your guarantee line and, in the worst case, your liquidity. A clean guarantee overview shows type, amount, remaining term and total exposure at a glance.
What is a guarantee overview?
A guarantee overview is the structured list of all of a company’s guarantees and sureties — with beneficiary, type, amount, term and issuing bank. It answers the two questions that always come up in a bank meeting: how high is your total exposure, and how much free guarantee line remains?
What types of guarantee are there?
A few types dominate in the mid-market — each with its own logic and risk:
Advance-payment, warranty and performance bonds secure construction and project business and often run for years. Rent guarantees replace a cash deposit. Customs and litigation bonds are rarer but large. For the overview, what matters is a consistent structure so amounts and deadlines can be compared.
Total exposure & line utilisation
Total exposure is the sum of all open guarantees. Against the guarantee line granted by the bank, this gives you utilisation — the metric that decides whether the next order can still be secured.
| Type | Exposure (€) | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | 720,000 | 48% |
| Warranty | 540,000 | 36% |
| Advance payment | 240,000 | 16% |
| Total exposure | 1,500,000 | of €2.0m line |
Just as important as the amount is the remaining term: expired warranty bonds that were never returned block your line for no reason. That is why a deadline alert before expiry belongs in any serious guarantee overview.
LiquidityLens keeps guarantees by type, total exposure and deadline — in the same financial status as banks, receivables and the 13-week outlook.
See the Liquidity Control Sprint