Throughout my dealings with business owners in the Norwest and Hills districts, the most common solution to the challenges I see around cash flow is the following; every company that grants credit to customers should have a simple structure of measuring debtors regularly, regardless of their size, and should be in a position to take prompt action to correct problem situations
Do you have a credit management plan?
As the owner of a business you should be able to answer “YES†to most of the following questions with an effective credit management plan in place.
- Do all our clients pay on time?
- Do I enjoy chasing overdue accounts?
- Do I have legally binding Terms & Conditions of Trade in place?
- Have all my clients signed off on my Terms & Conditions of Trade?
- Are we doing credit checks on our clients?
- Can I charge collection costs, interest and admin fees should a client not pay their account?
- Do our Terms & Conditions allow for legal costs to be charged to a client?
- Are we able to default-list a debtor?
- Are my Terms & Conditions up to date with all relevant legislation? Are we maintaining “best business practice†in our business?
- Are we utilising the PPSA (Personal Property Security Act)? Do we understand it? How does it help my business?
- Are we ensuring our clients do not treat us like an interest free bank?
Ideally you should be able to flip through your credit management policy to find out when you should be utilising the above scenarios with your delinquent debtors. If you answered “No†to some or most of these questions, then you should take immediate action by contacting EC Credit Control to discuss the solutions available for your business. Having a credit management policy can help you create a plan that gives you a guideline to combat each scenario you encounter, helping improve your cash flow, reducing your exposure to bad debt and countless hours of frustration.