Receipts and bank records for sums actually spent: deposits paid, equipment invoices and payments, the signed lease with rent transferred, payroll for retained staff, and business account statements showing the funds arriving and being used.
Spent money is easier to prove than promised money
There are two separate evidentiary tasks. Source of funds shows the money is lawfully the investor's: years of tax filings and financial statements for a professional practice, brokerage records for any liquidated investments, and statements for every account the money passed through. Commitment shows the money has gone into the enterprise and cannot come back: invoices and matching payments, the lease and rent receipts, payroll registers, licence and incorporation fees, and the business bank account showing the balance being deployed rather than parked. Where any sum remains in escrow or holdback, the agreement should be produced so the conditions can be read. A statement showing a large balance held personally proves neither task.
Hypothetical example: Vernon is buying a U.S. bicycle-repair shop with Canadian savings and a bank loan secured by his own assets. His first review should trace the money from earnings and loan approval through the account, closing statement, lease, equipment invoices, and operating account. Each document proves a different point: source, control, commitment, or use in the enterprise. He should retain executed contracts and proof of payment, not only estimates or unsigned proposals. The common error is presenting a healthy bank balance with no evidence that the money has left the investor’s control and entered a real operating business.