Run the three debt-security lanes

Three separate Linden Peak holdings carry the same $500,000 face amount, five- percent coupon, six-percent effective yield, and dates. Their first interest rows match. Their period-end reporting does not.

Keep classification evidence outside the formula

HTM requires supported intent and ability. AFS is the debt-security lane that is neither HTM nor trading under the supplied facts. Trading has its applicable fair-value-through-earnings treatment. A management label, budget column, or desired earnings result cannot establish any category.

Once classification is supplied, compare the layers:

"Unrealized" does not answer the reporting-location question. A trading gain enters earnings before sale. For AFS, fair-value balance-sheet measurement can coexist with a noncredit change in OCI. HTM does not recognize ordinary market movement, yet it still requires the applicable credit analysis.

Use the comparison as a control

The three-lane example should show equal coupon cash, interest revenue, discount amortization, and ending amortized cost before classification-specific layers. If those columns differ, the workbook has changed more than classification. If the final reported amounts do not reconcile to the specified basis, it has lost a layer.

Exit check

For each case bond, cite the supplied classification memorandum and complete a one-row report-location matrix. Separately list any evidence that would be needed to challenge the conclusion. Do not turn the challenge list into a new classification without authority.