Receiving payments from customers is an important part of any business. But it can also be a hassle. Trying to keep track of who owes you money, chasing down payments, and dealing with late payments can all be time-consuming and frustrating. We'll walk you through the best ways to get paid quickly and easily.
The strength of your accounts receivable team depends on the strengths of the individual team members. Ideally a company would be able to hire multiple employees to handle the different areas of accounts receivable: billing, credit, and collections. But the reality is that many companies only have the bandwidth to hire one or two general A/R specialists.
In the past decade alone, technology has changed the heavy duty aftermarket industry landscape. With big-box companies like Amazon getting into the game, small to midsize businesses need to do everything they can to compete and attract new fleet business, while still maintaining their existing customers.
Just as any business has its slow and busy seasons, seasonality can also affect accounts receivable -- in workflow and cash flow. The best way to be ready for the highs and lows is to forecast properly and take action to help business ride out the dips and valleys. Rather than be caught unaware of possible payment lags, the best policy is to stay informed and proactive.
Developing strong vendor relationships is crucial to the health of your business and can have a big impact on its success. Vendors benefit businesses in many ways by providing knowledge and expertise, and by supplementing your business offerings. Partnering with vendors to fill in the gaps in the supply chain keeps costs down and business processes running more efficiently. This can be invaluable in the face of disruptions. Vendors also help companies remain on the cutting edge and improve overall quality. As such, it’s important to build and maintain strong vendor relationships.
At Interstate Billing Service, we take the security of clients and customers seriously. Fraud prevention is an industry-wide concern impacting businesses worldwide. There are many areas of vulnerability which require extra vigilance. Here are just a few items of concern and suggestions for best practice worth passing along.
Most business owners understand that effective financial management is key to their success. But lack of knowledge, frustration, and even avoidance can add up to accounting mistakes that derail future growth.
Protect your business and reduce your stress by avoiding these five costly accounting errors.
Attending trade shows and industry conferences, whether online or on site, can accomplish a lot at once: learning, networking, sharing, and getting leads. However, most trade shows aren’t cheap, and the bigger and better they are, the more expensive they run. Pricing shouldn’t be the only deciding factor, however, and many events offer early bird or group discounts.
All business owners eventually discover that dealing with late payments goes with the territory of running your own business. While in a perfect world all customers would pay on time, every time, the reality is: situations happen beyond our control. Employee absences, lost checks, and miscommunication can all contribute to late payments, delinquent accounts, and the subsequent lag in cash flow.
When you’re thinking about boosting your business’ bottom line, here’s the real bottom line: without adequate cash flow, business will fail. Cash flow is more than just keeping enough cash in the coffers, it’s about how much foresight and control you practice over your company’s finances over the long-term, even when business is hard to predict.
