Capital Refinery
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The Add-Back That Wasn't

THE ADD-BACK THAT WASN'T — IC pre-read: 'Adjusted EBITDA $46.5M — five add-backs, all permitted under §1.01.' Six months later, audit committee, calmly: 'Two of those have recurred every quarter.' Analyst, defensive: 'Yes, but technically permitted—' Partner cuts in: 'The cushion you sold us is 23 bps narrower than you said.'

Add-back quality is a fact. Not a definition.

'Permitted under §1.01' is a definitional answer to a question the audit committee will ask differently. The credit agreement allows the add-back. The recurrence is what bites. Definitions don't hide financial facts forever.

This is what decision continuity prevents — not by writing the memo for you, but by keeping the memo testable.

Don't trust the dashboard. Trace the numbers yourself.

Three downloadable deal packs across the lifecycle. Every KPI cites its source cell. Open kpis.csv, follow the citation, the number matches.