Managing credit and reducing associated risk can be daunting for many business owners. CFOs and CEOs look to controllers to manage day-to-day financial operations. They rely heavily on controllers for spearheading strategic planning related to the business’s financial health.
Managing credit and reducing associated risk can be daunting for many business owners. CFOs and CEOs look to controllers to manage day-to-day financial operations. They rely heavily on controllers for spearheading strategic planning related to the business’s financial health.
The scope of a controller’s responsibilities varies from one company to the next, but they all play a role in financial reporting and debt management: brokering loan agreements and collecting payments owed on behalf of the company. As organizations grow, it becomes more difficult to manually track customer payment histories, available credit limits, payment patterns, and review aging reports —all of which controllers need for guiding company leaders and decision-makers.
We have included some of our best practices and software tips for controllers so your financial team stays on top of credit processes and accelerates cash collections.
Optimize Credit Management Policies
A company’s billing and collections policy should be an extension of the business plan. Start by assessing your current policies for internal credit management and mitigating credit risk. What is your process for sending initial and recurring invoices? How are you maintaining a record of client data? Can you scale your credit management process?
On average, companies write off 1.5% of their receivables as bad debt. If you are running into issues with manual entries and the hassle of chasing down payments that have missed the deadline, automating your collections will free up your team and empower your business to make better decisions while mitigating the risk of bad debt.
Accounts Receivable Software
It may go without saying, but you can’t accurately manage your credit without understanding how much cash is coming into the business. By actively monitoring your receivables, you’ll identify outstanding payments and actionable items faster rather than waiting for major credit concerns to arise when payments remain overdue.
Efficiency should be top of your list when looking to improve credit management and collections. With accounts receivable software, you’ll see considerable efficiency, accuracy, and recordkeeping improvement.
With Sage Intacct Accounting, you’ll be better equipped to:
- Know what money is coming in (and what money isn’t!)
- Improve and streamline recordkeeping
- Strengthen internal controls
- Seamlessly integrate cash processes with other business systems
- Shorten invoice and payment cycles, increasing cash flow and decreasing credit liability
Real-Time Payment Tracking
Shocking as it may be, 93% of businesses experience late payments from customers. Delayed payments are one of the biggest pain points in credit management, which is why it’s so important to keep up with unpaid invoices. Often, manual invoice processing causes payment delays, exposes you to a heightened risk of fraud, and results in errors that strain supplier and customer relationships.
Sage Intacct helps streamline payment tracking with customizable workflows, real-time data, and automated decisions based on custom parameters, so you never forget to follow up on an overdue invoice. Controllers can set billing cycles and monitor risk thresholds at any given time for a more proactive payment tracking process.
Don’t let credit get you down or feel trapped within spreadsheets. With a cloud-based platform that supports credit management processes from end to end, you’ll be better prepared to promote long-term success. Contact Trusted CFO Solutions to learn how Intacct can help your team accelerate cash flow while accurately monitoring customer credit issues.
