Posts Tagged ‘Invoices’

Demystifying Small Business Billing Solutions

February 7th, 2012 admin

Seventeen percent of small business owners stay up at night worrying about cash flow, according to the inaugural Western Union® Payments Small Business Barometer.  Most small businesses know they need a better way to manage their cash flow, and finding a billing and receivables solution can be overwhelming…

Eighty one percent of small businesses do not have an A/R system in place and 36 percent say they don’t use an A/R solution because they don’t understand it… but there is help.

Would you be interested in publishing or discussing the tips below for small business owners geared to help them find the right solution for their business… and sleep well.

Demystifying billing and receivables solutions for your small biz

Cash flow:  86 percent of business owners report neglecting to invoice a customer in the past year (Western Union Payments Small Business Barometer) and 43 percent say 5 percent or more of their customers are late in payment on an average month.  Keeping on top of receivables and payments is possibly the most critical activity for a business and one that many report dropping the ball on.  Look for a solution that helps your customers by accepting a spectrum of payment options online (even if you don’t have a website), from credit cards, to electronic checks – at midnight, on a Sunday, instead of solely during your business’ hours.

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Can Accounts Receivable Factoring Help Your Business

February 2nd, 2012 admin

Writen by Marco Terry

Are you stuck with great but slow paying clients? It is interesting how your biggest asset (great clients) can also be your biggest liability. But that is how business is. And as an owner you must adapt.

Whether you like it or not, slow paying customers are here to stay. As a rule of thumb, commercial clients pay their bills in 30 to 60 days. And lately, the trend has been deteriorating. So, what do you do if you have slow paying receivables.

Many owners try to go to the bank to get a business loan. Not surprisingly, few business owners get business loans. As a rule, banks will only finance companies that have long and established histories. This is not your case if your company is new or emerging from tough times.

If your biggest challenge is that you cannot afford to wait up to 60 days to get paid by your customers, then the solution is accounts receivable factoring. Most commonly known as factoring, this type of financing eliminates the usual wait to get paid. It provides you with the necessary funds to pay suppliers, meet payroll and take on new business opportunities.

And how does factoring work? Simple:

1. You finish the work and send an invoice to your client.

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Top Tips For Small Businesses To Survive The Recession

January 29th, 2012 admin

Here are some tips for small businesses to survive the recession …. courtesy of the everywoman network:

1) Know your cost base.

What costs are fixed (ie, costs that you HAVE to pay) and what are variable (ie, that are essentially optional or that fluctuate with sales). Splitting costs in this way will help you to pay what needs paying and cut back on what doesnt.

2) Good credit control

Dont let your clients use you as a bank, if they want a loan for goods or services – thats where they need to go! You should be paid to the terms on your invoice, or earlier. Start a policy of telephone chasing outstanding invoices when they are X days overdue, then follow it up with a letter. Make sure your invoice terms are clear on your invoices.

4) Asset finance

Think about whether you really need to pay upfront for an asset or piece of equipment, could you lease the equipment? perhaps over the short term until you are sure its required or that your business finances can support a longer term commitment.

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Preventing Internal Theft

January 20th, 2012 admin

This just in from Laurie Owen, Senior Vice President of Business Resource Services out of Seattle. They were at our ASBDC national conference and offer up this interesting article by way of follow-up.


A convicted felon shares his story and the steps you must take now to protect your business from internal theft.

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop in the normally chatty group of jewelry store owners. The presenter spoke quietly, even a bit nervously. His message, however, had everyone in the room mesmerized. The topic was employee theft, the venue a business performance group, and the speaker, a convicted embezzler and someone known to one of the members. Although his former employer was not a jeweler, the circumstances and the impact of his actions hit close to everyone one in the room.

Our speaker, whom I will call Ted, shared with the group how he managed to steal over $500,000 over the decade he was employed with a family-owned food supply company before he was caught and ultimately sent to prison.

He started as an hourly employee doing odd jobs, then graduated to warehouse worker, and eventually worked his way up to general manager.

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Ideal Finance for Your Business

January 19th, 2012 admin

A perfect combination of discipline, hard work and proper training can take your business to new heights helping you in accomplishing the desired success. Discipline is needed in every area in an organisation ranging from managing the employees, maintaining the environment of the organization, coordinating the work in the organisation or the finance.

Maintaining discipline in the field of finance is the primary function of every businessman. It is truly said that money moves the world around. And the same applies to the world of business. Every business needs adequate finance for its smoother running and managing it is a tough task. Need for funds may arise anytime in a business, in such circumstances, commercial secured loans can be the best source of finance for the UK businessmen.

Commercial secured loans as the name indicate are tailored for businessmen who need funds for commercial purpose. These loans are very flexible and come in variety of structure to meet the diverse needs of the UK businesses.

An important feature of commercial secured loans is that the borrower needs to put a security against the loan. Any of these – commercial property, equipments, invoices or order books can work as collateral against the loan.

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Cut Business Costs: Some Helpful Tips

April 11th, 2011 admin

Making your business run efficiently is always going to be an on-going activity. From the cost of raw materials to everyday running costs, there are numerous ways in which you can make your business work more cost effectively, putting you in a stronger position for the future.

Cutting costs doesn’t mean that your product or service offering has to be affected or suffer as a result. It is possible to reduce the operating costs of your business without impacting the quality of products and services that customers receive.

Raw Materials
First and foremost, if your business requires raw materials to function then compare the prices of different suppliers to ensure you are getting the best deal.

For a printer this could involve liaising with paper merchants or ink suppliers whereas a cafe owner may want to check with their food providers. Whatever the material, the principle remains the same.

You may find that buying in bulk helps to reduce costs or committing to a long term contract with one supplier can lead to discounted prices. If you pay shipping or postage costs, see if there is any room for negotiation on these.

Office Space
If you’re rattling around in an office space that’s too large for your requirements then downsize.

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How factoring can raise cash for your business

January 25th, 2011 admin

How factoring can raise cash for your business

Small businesses often find it hard to improve their cash flow, with some business owners even tempted to use their own savings to raise finance. Banks are often wary of lending money to small businesses or start-ups, preferring larger companies with a proven track record. In reality, many small businesses would be more profitable if they could improve their cash flow, or afford to expand at critical times. Invoice factoring, also known as invoice financing, is the perfect solution if an ordinary bank loan is not suitable.

What is factoring?

Factoring is the process whereby cash is raised against your invoices. If you raise an invoice, instead of waiting 30 or even 60 days for your customer to pay, you can receive up to 90% of its value from a factoring company in as little as 24 hours. This is a form of loan, but instead of you paying it back, the factoring company receives payment of the invoice from your customer.

The fee that you pay for this service is a certain percentage of the invoice value. Again you don’t actually pay this fee; it is deducted from the invoice before payment is passed over to you.

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Three Powerful Tools To Ensure Good Cash Flow Into Your Business

December 20th, 2010 admin

Cash flow problems are often cited as the number one reason for business failure, and so ensuring that your businesses cash flow runs as smoothly as possible is key to running any business large or small. But what are the options for improving cash flow, and are there any tools that can be used to achieve good long term cash flow?

For any business providing products or services to other businesses on credit e.g. not cash sales, factoring can be a powerful tool for improving cash flow.??Through the factoring of its sales ledger a business is in essence selling its invoices to a third party, the factor. In return for which the factor will make available a pre agreed percentage of the total value of the invoice, before it is due for payment by the customer, with the balance to follow once the customer has paid in full.

A factor will usually handle day to day maintenance of the business’ sales ledger, in effect providing an outsourced sales ledger administrative function. Factoring is akin to a floating overdraft the limit of which is based on the amount of business a business is doing, in addition to outsourced sales ledger processing.??The percentage of each invoice to be advanced varies on the factor, the business in question and the agreement they have, but will usually be up to 85% of the value of the invoice.

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Advantage of having a Virtual Assistant for Small Business Owners

March 22nd, 2010 admin

A lot of home-based business may not hire an employee to work at its home, therefore outsourcing your business task to a virtual assistant is a great way to solve this problem. A VA can lighten the workload to a home-based business owner with various task that you do not like to do or task that you simply do not have the time to do it yourself.

A VA only charges on the hours consumed on the time required to do such work. Except for the general administrative task such as general work processing, a VA can help you on the following 14 tasks to make your business run smoother and lighten your workload.

1. Desktop Publishing, using desktop publishing software to produce eye-catching documents such as business cards, newsletters, brochures and email champagne.

2. Transcription, if you have a recording of a meeting or an interview, ask your virtual assistant to transcript it into a document.

3. Writing, whether it is writing business letters or writing up articles to submit to directories to expose your business, a VA is ready to do the job.

4.

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