Has your Credit Control adapted to change ?

Regular readers may recall that at the very start of the pandemic, we wrote about how your Credit Control procedures may have to change to adapt to the differing work patterns of your suppliers.

Whilst the advent of ‘flexible’ or ‘hybrid’ home working can be beneficial for both the employee and the business, it can often be detrimental to a Supplier’s credit control.

Most importantly, it can be detrimental to the time it takes to recover your monies.

The Government’s new declaration that you should work from home where possible, has once again led to frustrations and inabilities to contact the relevant payment personnel, the bi-products being both a delay in payments and the inevitable squeeze on cash-flow.

So what can you do to legislate against these delays, maximise the recovery of your monies and maintain your cash-flow.

1. Make sure that your invoice holds ALL the correct information.

• List the info and descriptions correctly, that the price is as quoted and the invoice is dated correctly.
• Include and highlight your complete bank details :  bank name, sort code, account number and account name.
• Declare your payment terms and most importantly, the date for payment.

2. Make sure that your database holds ALL the correct information.

• Make sure you have not only the customer’s contact information but also those of the Accounts contact – They may be different.
• Include an alternative Accounts contact who can arrange payment, just in case your primary contact becomes ill.
• Have a contact to escalate the matter to, such as an FD or MD and have both the company and personal contact info for them.

3. Have a ledger to hand to see what invoices are owed…. and action it !

• Move into the modern age and email all of your invoices and statements, don’t trust the Post Office to do your job for you.
• Be proactive with your ledger, don’t delay when an invoice is overdue. If the invoice is fair, it deserves to be paid.
• If there’s a legitimate query, rush to resolve same, don’t give an opportunity to delay payment any longer than is necessary.

Don’t worry if your current processes don’t include all of these, simply adding something to your procedures makes them better than before. Alternatively if your already experiencing these delays and are being forced to spend more and more time on your essential credit control functions then don’t dismay, help is at hand.

Corp & Comm are here to help you with free advice, guidance and support on all things related to credit management.

Simply email us at admin@corpandcomm.com, or contact us on (01535) 65 45 94.