Your Virtual Credit Manager

JANUARY 16, 2024

If you sell on open credit terms, you need to plan on having to expend time and resources collecting from those customers that don’t pay when due. No matter how much effort you put into evaluating customer credit, some customers will not live up to your expectations. You need to be doing the right things.

Debt Collections 130

Debt Collections Collector Credit and Collections Bad Debt 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

For a small business owner or executive, navigating credit decisions can be challenging, especially when they clash with the goals of other stakeholders within the company. It's essential, however, for everybody to recognize that credit decisions also have broader implications across various aspects of company operations.

Accounts Receivable (AR) 130

Accounts Receivable (AR) Days Sales Outstanding Bad Debt Credit and Collections 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

NOVEMBER 5, 2024

A client, who rented heavy equipment to manufacturers and construction firms across a multi-state market area, was saddled with an accounts receivable (AR) growing faster than revenue. In other words, they weren’t collecting everything being sold.

Accounts Receivable (AR) 130

Accounts Receivable (AR) Credit and Collections Credit Management Default 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

AUGUST 15, 2023

Each past due account presents a unique set of circumstances. Consequently, your collection process needs to adapt to each situation if you are going to realize the best outcomes possible. Photo by Berkeley Communications on Unsplash In all probability, your accounts receivable (AR) portfolio conforms to the 80/20 rule.

Credit and Collections 130

Credit and Collections Accounts Receivable (AR) Credit Management Small Businesses 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

SEPTEMBER 24, 2024

Credit and collections management too often involves simultaneously handling multiple urgent tasks that demand immediate attention. This advice should resonate deeply for anybody involved in credit management, particularly in times of economic uncertainty. Do you need help assessing your customers’ credit risks?

Accounts Receivable (AR) 130

Accounts Receivable (AR) Credit and Collections Credit Management Default 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

The primary source of cash inflows for most firms are the receipts from payments of open customer invoices - i.e., your Accounts Receivable (AR). Other common inflows may involve rent you charge, royalties, and financing, all of which are easy to forecast. Chances are, they will be similar to the immediate past.

Cash Forecasting 130

Cash Forecasting Accounts Receivable (AR) Credit and Collections Invoice Disputes 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

AUGUST 29, 2023

Effective collections are crucial to maintaining a healthy cash flow and the financial stability of your company. If your business is struggling with cash flow or AR balances are growing, it could be a sign that your collections policy requires updating. If DSO is rising, you are falling behind.

DSO 130

DSO Credit and Collections Bad Debt Collection Effectiveness Index 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

JANUARY 2, 2024

Contacting customers to pay past due amounts (collecting) is an essential element of accounts receivable (AR) management. For most firms, late customer payments are a frequent occurrence and collecting them can be a difficult task. This post focuses on the aspect of collections that involves Credit Holds.

Bad Debt 130

Bad Debt Credit and Collections Accounts Receivable (AR) Credit Management 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

MARCH 19, 2024

If all your customers paid promptly — by the time the invoice was due — you would not need to do any collection work. Collections is a reactive process. The amount of collection activity with which you are tasked is directly proportional to your customers’ payment habits.

Bulk Transfer 100

Bulk Transfer Credit and Collections Bankruptcy Accounts Receivable (AR) 100

Your Virtual Credit Manager

MARCH 5, 2024

Finding the time and resources to accomplish all the collection activities required to do a good job is a constant challenge. Most small companies come up short because when there isn’t a dedicated employee responsible for credit and collections, the owner or CFO have more important things to do.

Past Due Invoices 100

Past Due Invoices Credit and Collections Collector Accounts Receivable (AR) 100

Your Virtual Credit Manager

APRIL 2, 2024

Commercial credit scores predict the likelihood of a business fulfilling its financial obligations, particularly regarding debt repayment and trade credit. Their greatest value, however, may be not what they can tell you about an individual company, but what they can tell you about your entire accounts receivable (AR) portfolio.

Credit Scoring 130

Credit Scoring Credit and Collections Bad Debt Credit Risk 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash Effective collections is the single most important factor for achieving reliable cash inflows. Effective collections can also reduce bad debt losses by compensating for a liberal or weak Credit Control function. The solution to the collections challenge therefore starts with Prioritization.

Credit and Collections 130

Credit and Collections Past Due Invoices Bad Debt Accounts Receivable (AR) 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

JUNE 11, 2024

My first exposure to the power of accounts receivable (AR) automation came in 1990 when I was credit manager at ERICO Fasteners, a mid-market, specialty metals manufacturer. The first month after we automated a few basic features to supplement our accounting package, we realized an increase in cash flow of 30 percent.

AR Automation 130

AR Automation DSO Collector Accounts Receivable (AR) 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

AUGUST 27, 2024

Imagine a world where extending trade credit was completely risk-free, and granting open terms of sale to business customers required no second thought. In such an ideal scenario, every customer would have both the ability and the integrity to pay their bills in full and on time, eliminating any need for a credit management.

Accounts Receivable (AR) 100

Accounts Receivable (AR) Credit and Collections Default Cybersecurity 100

Your Virtual Credit Manager

AUGUST 6, 2024

Extending credit is standard practice if you are selling to other businesses. In the world of business-to-business (B2B) commerce there aren’t many situations where you can require payment in advance or upon receipt of goods or services. Extending credit is therefore a risk versus reward equation.

Bad Debt 100

Bad Debt Credit and Collections Accounts Receivable (AR) Credit Risk 100

Your Virtual Credit Manager

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

Such a process also brings more certainty to the accounts receivable (AR) asset. And yet, at the end of each month, we felt both awkward and put out by the reality of having to chase clients for payments, even though we had worked around the clock so their businesses could succeed. Getting paid can be a pain.

AR Automation 130

AR Automation Accounts Receivable (AR) Credit and Collections Bad Debt 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

NOVEMBER 19, 2024

Chances are, there is a lot that needs to be done in terms of accounts receivable (AR) management between now and December 31st, especially if you are short of your Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) goals. Anything less, and you are wasting valuable time. it just might help them collect faster and pay you sooner.

DSO 100

DSO AR Metrics Credit and Collections Accounts Receivable (AR) 100

Your Virtual Credit Manager

MARCH 12, 2024

As a result, trade credit, where businesses extend financing to customers, is undergoing rapid advancements, but it also poses high risks, especially in assessing creditworthiness, dealing with economic fluctuations, and fraud. While these are excellent recommendations, they are a bit laden with consultant-speak.

AR Transformation 100

AR Transformation Credit and Collections Accounts Receivable (AR) Order to Cash 100

Your Virtual Credit Manager

JANUARY 23, 2024

Approving a customer for credit terms is merely the first step in an open credit relationship. Economic circumstances may cause you to tighten your credit policies and customer credit limits. Even more likely are changes to a customer’s business. Situations change, both for you and for your customer.

Credit Application 130

Credit Application Bad Debt Bankruptcy Credit Scoring 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

JULY 16, 2024

Once an order has been approved and fulfilled, the primary objective in terms of Accounts Receivable (AR) management is getting paid. Keeping these latter two groups under control requires collection efforts. Collections becomes more challenging when the customer objects. Some customers will always pay on time.

Accounts Receivable (AR) 100

Accounts Receivable (AR) Collector Past Due Invoices Credit and Collections 100

Your Virtual Credit Manager

OCTOBER 2, 2024

Accounts Receivable (AR) reflect a promise of payment at a future date. Though a paper asset, AR competes with Property, Plant and Equipment as well as Inventory for being the largest line item on a company’s balance sheet. Who performs the Credit & Collection activities — you or the finance company?

Past Due Invoices 130

Past Due Invoices Credit and Collections Deductions Accounts Receivable (AR) 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

To optimize the order-to-cash (O2C) process, it's crucial to understand the significant role Credit and Collections plays. This function must collaborate closely with sales, fulfillment, shipping/logistics, and accounting, all of which are integral to converting an order into cash.

Credit and Collections 130

Credit and Collections DSO Deductions Accounts Receivable (AR) 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

MAY 28, 2024

Next comes billing, followed by collections cleaning up all the garbage left by everybody that has gone before. If you remember the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, some seasons there was a parade during the closing credits. The collection role is a lot like that of the little janitor with the big mustache sweeping up behind the parade.

Accounts Receivable (AR) 130

Accounts Receivable (AR) Past Due Invoices Credit and Collections Collector 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

As a small business owner or executive, managing accounts receivable (AR) and navigating through various credit decisions is an integral part of the job. After all, credit and collections is essential to the performance of your order-to-cash (O2C) process and cash conversion cycle.

Credit and Collections 130

Credit and Collections Accounts Receivable (AR) Bad Debt Credit Risk 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

(Photo by Carlos Muza on Unsplash ) A Framework for Choosing Suitable AR Metrics Businesses should carefully assess their specific needs, objectives, and operating context when selecting metrics for accounts receivable (AR) performance measurement. Where do you need to improve? Like any metric, DSO has limitations.

DSO 130

DSO Days Sales Outstanding Credit and Collections Accounts Receivable (AR) 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

JULY 23, 2024

In every accounts receivable (AR) portfolio there are customers that almost always pay on time, other customers that pay within a reasonable proximity of the due date, and those that pay consistently slow. It usually only takes about six months to figure out the segment into which a new business customer will fall.

Credit and Collections 130

Credit and Collections Accounts Receivable (AR) Shared Service Center Small Businesses 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

MAY 14, 2024

Monitoring and tracking cash is a critically important activity for most small businesses (for more on that subject, check out “ Taking the Crystal Ball out of Cash Flow Forecasting ”). Why Are Metrics Needed if You Have an AR Ledger? it just might help them collect faster and pay you sooner.

AR Metrics 130

AR Metrics DSO Credit and Collections Accounts Receivable (AR) 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

Following the sharp but short Covid Recession, roughly 5 million small businesses closed shop in the first six months after the economic shutdown, but commercial bankruptcies did not begin increasing until May of 2023, ostensibly due to the government’s economic stimulus programs. it just might help them pay you sooner!

Bankruptcy 130

Bankruptcy Credit and Collections Bad Debt Accounts Receivable (AR) 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

JUNE 25, 2024

In order to maintain optimal cash flow, your accounts receivable (AR) portfolio needs to remain in good shape. That can be a constant battle because all the mis-steps made during the order-to-cash (O2C) process will accumulate in your AR, and given time, clog it up.

Bad Debt 130

Bad Debt Credit and Collections DSO Days Sales Outstanding 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

DECEMBER 27, 2022

This is why companies continue to sell to business customers that appear to be facing financial difficulty. For example, there are firms burning through their cash reserves that may still be considered worthy of credit on their next order, but not the order that comes in three months from now.

Credit Scoring 130

Credit Scoring Credit and Collections Accounts Receivable (AR) Credit Application 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

JANUARY 9, 2024

Then last week we looked at credit hold best practices. From a credit management perspective, these are largely reactive topics. In fact, once you decide to sell a customer on open credit, most of the accounts receivable (AR) management tasks that follow have a reactive component.

Credit and Collections 130

Credit and Collections AR Aging Accounts Receivable (AR) Deductions 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

APRIL 9, 2024

There has always been a strong correlation between the cost of funds and accounts receivable (AR) management. As interest rates increase, the cost of borrowing money also increases for businesses. In such a time of easy money, receivables management becomes less critical and credit policies tend toward laxity.

Credit and Collections 130

Credit and Collections Accounts Receivable (AR) Credit Card Payments Default 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

DECEMBER 5, 2023

This misguided search for a singular understanding applies to many things, including collecting Accounts Receivable (AR). Optimal Collection results are achieved by utilizing different collection techniques with different types of customers. Keeping it simple is the best way to optimize your results.

Credit and Collections 130

Credit and Collections Accounts Receivable (AR) Third Party Collections Credit Risk 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

AUGUST 11, 2024

Chapter 11 filings, used by businesses hoping to reorganize, have increased by 34 percent in the first six months of 2024 compared to last year. Chapter 7 commercial liquidation filings are up 28 percent and sub-chapter V small business elections are up a staggering 61 percent despite the filing threshold recently being cut in half.

Sub-Chapter V 100

Sub-Chapter V Bankruptcy Credit and Collections Chapter 11 100

Your Virtual Credit Manager

MARCH 21, 2023

Subscribe now Lessons to Be Learned Looked at from the perspective of somebody responsible for the management of a portfolio of accounts receivable (AR), the events surrounding the SVB collapse present a cautionary tale. Any enterprise extending credit to another business needs to have real treasury expertise.

Accounts Receivable (AR) 130

Accounts Receivable (AR) Bankruptcy Bad Debt Credit and Collections 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

DECEMBER 19, 2023

If you are an executive at a small or mid-sized business, chances are you are in the process of putting together a budget for 2024, or have already done so. Maybe you have factored in an incremental improvement in DSO, but how much thought have you given to how you are going to meet that budgeted goal?

DSO 130

DSO Third Party Collections Credit and Collections Deductions 130

Your Virtual Credit Manager

OCTOBER 3, 2023

The typical course of action on managing bad debt loss is to identify, then focus credit and collection activities on individual customers who are financially weak. This is a classic approach and when executed properly, it can enable a company to satisfactorily manage their credit risk.

Bad Debt 130

Bad Debt Accounts Receivable (AR) Credit Risk Credit and Collections 130