Purchase investments for companies in accordance with company policy.

I need a purchase file for the corporate treasury team by Friday. Build a workbook that lists available investments, compliance flags, expected return, and approval status in that order, then send it to Nina in treasury and to Sam in legal for sign-off. Before sending, confirm each instrument has a compliance cell populated and that purchase amounts sum to the approved allocation of $7.5 million.

Before I send the investment purchase workbook to Nina in treasury, make it easy for compliance and the CFO to greenlight buys. Put total allocation used and leftover cash on the first sheet, surface any instruments with compliance exceptions in red, make the expected return and liquidity columns prominent, and flag investments with counterparty limits that would make legal hesitate.

I prepared the purchase workbook and everything sums to the $7.5 million allocation, but one instrument has no compliance flag and Sam in legal is refusing to sign. I don't know whether this is an omission or a true exception for that instrument. I have the investment prospectus, counterparty list, and our policy table in the file. What is the most likely diagnosis and which three checks will prove if it's a policy exception or just missing data?

We keep getting legal holds the day before settlement because investments arrive without clear compliance flags or counterparty limit checks. Over the last four quarters this has delayed allocations and strained relationships with portfolio managers. What three procedural habits or sheet-level controls should we put in place so future purchase workbooks consistently pass treasury and legal without last-minute holds?