Commercial Collections Billing Practices Advice
Swiftness is the key to collecting past due commercial accounts because commercial accounts depreciate more faster than consumer accounts. In creating and implementing a billing system, a credit grantor should recognize that time is the safest refuge of any debtor. The more time they are given, the less likely they are to pay. Hence, sales documents should be explicit about payment terms, return privileges, interest charges on overdue accounts, guarantee and service costs. Various Commercial Collection Programs Used A series of letters used together with an account aging sheet or data printout will help to track slow-paying accounts. All systems should have an organized and mechanical follow-up of accounts at regular intervals, for instance, 30, 60 and 90 days past due. It is essential to establish regular billing and commercial collections procedures. Follow up on every account to the point where contact-or lack of contact-with the customer indicates some alternative action should be taken. Help Commercial Collections From The Beginning Built-in commercial collections controls at the time of sale often assist in receivables recovery and help avoid delinquencies. These include such items as sales contracts or a well-defined vendor's purchase order with conditions of sale clearly spelled out. Appropriate terms should be printed on sales documents (contracts, invoices, statements) clearly and without fail. Such terms will include notice of interest charged on overdue accounts and discounts granted for prompt payment. Internal control of receivables should include an aging which permits periodic evaluation. This should fit together with commercial collections routines. The time for referral to a professional commercial collection agency should come from the aging at 60 or 90 days past due, and sometimes sooner. After a first statement has gone unheeded, start your commercial collection procedure. Any program that permits three statements-or a two to three month time lag-before the first collection step is taken will result in a lower recovery ratio. Any procedures for handling slow-paying accounts should emphasize speed in contacting the delinquent bill payer. A company with a past-due account on your books is probably in the same condition with a number of other suppliers. The debtor may be on the verge of serious financial trouble, and the creditor who moves first is most likely to recover their money. Get free information and advice on commercial collections.
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The Top 10 Requirements for Your Business to Become and Remain Profitable
We live in a relentlessly competitive world. The daily pressure to work "better, cheaper and faster" can make even talented business owners and entrepreneurs lose site of first principles. As you cope with the decisions and details of running your business, focus on the fundamentals! Regardless of the type of business or the products or services you sell, here are my suggestions for the Top 10 Basics that will make your fortune:
What One Thing?
A few weeks ago I asked my readers what the most important issue was in their business. Hundreds responded with a variety of answers, but one of the most common was, "How do I get everything that needs doing done?"
Problem-Solving Success Tip: Use Your Time for Problems that are Truly Important
Use your time for problems that are truly important.
Selecting Top Talent: Improve Your Batting Average
I recently gave a presentation to a group of business and community leaders on how to select talent to grow their organization. Given the expense associated with recruiting top performers and the high cost of making poor choices, you would think that those responsible for hiring would follow a systematic process that results in high quality hiring.
Five Ways to Increase Profitability By Doing The Right Thing
1. Base your business in the Magic Triangle. Honesty, integrity, and quality are the three sides of the Magic Triangle of business success. Create the kind of company that stands for something more than the bottom line, and your bottom line will increase.
Stop Waste, Fraud and Abuse
Each year, businesses write-off six percent of revenue to waste, fraud and abuse. But why would managers throw all that hard-earned money away when there is a reliable way to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse using accounting policies & procedures to create internal controls.
Sarbanes Oxley 404 Compliance - How Nov. 15, 2004 Deadline Affects You
Fast Relief for Sarbanes Oxley Section 404 Compliance
You Didnt Use Brainstorming to Select Your Measures, Did You?
Introduction
The Permissive Environment is the Suspect
The permissive and participatory conduct which most
employees take for granted, eventually escalates into the
more serious assaultive behavior commonly referred to as
employee on employee workplace violence starts with
innuendos, a bad word, or simple jokes taken out of context
or used to inflame another. Initiation of a proper and
thorough investigation is possible under the auspices of a
Threat Assessment Team. Banter between employees if left
alone by supervisors becomes tense and often results in a
more aggressive response. The truth of the matter is that in
most cases this banter is perceived as harmless shop talk.
Business Innovation ? Organizational Culture
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.
Keeping Meetings On Track
We all have been in meetings with certain people who get our blood pressure to rise or just make us feel what a waste of time. Here are some of those people and hints on how you can maintain keep the meeting on track without coming across as a dictator or inept leader.
10 Ways New Managers Become Great Leaders
"It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead and find no one there." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
Get More Impact From Your Annual Conference
How can you get more attention for your conference and your association? Use some of these Power Marketing? tips and ideas. It won't cost much. It just takes a creative approach. The payoff can be huge. First, see everything as a marketing opportunity. Second, enlighten all staff and every member to realize their responsibility in marketing the association. Third, read "Secrets of Power Marketing".
The Inferno of the Finance Director
Sometimes, I harbour a suspicion that Dante was a Financial Director. His famous work, "The Inferno", is such an accurate description of the job that it cannot be otherwise. He is fervently hated by the workers. He is thoroughly despised by the other managers ("mean bastard" is his common nickname among them, mostly for scrutinizing their expense accounts). He is dreaded by the owners of the firm because the powers that he has often outweigh theirs. Shareholders hold him responsible in annual meetings. When the financial results are good ? they are attributed to the talented General Manager. When they are bad ? the Financial Director gets blamed for not enforcing budgetary discipline. It is a no-win, thankless job. Very few make it to the top and the rest retire, eroded and embittered.
Eight Skills of Highly Successful Consultants
With deference to Dr. Covey and his very popular Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (all habits that will make us better consultants!), here are eight skills that all of us as consultants can work on to improve. This article will start with three overarching skills, then describe five more specific skills to consider in your ongoing development.
Got A Meeting Planned? Ask This Question
Meetings ? they are a fact of our business lives. And while the number of meetings and the amount of time you spend in them may vary based on your job title, it is hard to argue that they are a significant part of business life today.
4 Simple Steps to Successful Delegation
Last month, my featured article was about creating a "Stop Doing" list. Hopefully, if you followed my suggestion, you now have a list of tasks that you are looking to delegate away. It seems a natural progression that I now disclose a few simple steps that will ensure your foray into delegation is a success.
Finding Proactive Solutions: A Key to Demonstrating Your Management Fitness
In my book Talking Points: 25 Tips for Clear, Credible Communication, Tip #17 states: "Managers and professionals in positions of responsibility got there by finding solutions to problems. They didn't rely on someone else to come up with the remedy. They worked to find solutions proactively." Those of us in positions of responsibility can demonstrate our management fitness by looking for and adding a proactive step whenever we encounter potential problems. Adding that proactive step demonstrates our ability to take responsibility for the outcome of situations. Nothing speaks "management" more than this.
The Seven Essentials of Business Communication
There are seven essential elements to successful business communication:
Innovation Management ? Innovation or Profit?
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.
|
