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Billing quick wins

Billing quick wins How you bill your clients makes a big difference to cash flow. The way you bill has everything to do with how payment will be made. Are you giving your clients an easy excuse to not pay you?   1. State the payment terms Firms traditionally offer credit easily. Whilst new clients are accepted through a risk analysis process the voice of the Credit Controller is not heard enough. These processes should identify potential risks through references to available searches and past history including the firm’s own records. Before you offer credit make sure you agree and negotiate the terms of payment. You do not have to accept the 30 days from the end of the month the invoice was received. You are allowed to ask for a shorter term. What is important is that the client understands the terms and agrees to these terms before you start the matter. As a reminder, always ensure that the payment terms are listed on every bill. State the actual due date which is mo

Year end collection push

I am heartened by the many Collections projects we were involved with last year. These projects will have made a major difference to these firms final collection numbers and more importantly the effort required to collect these amounts. Law Firms Press to Get Bills Paid by Year-End http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304773104579270470475326780 The critical number in here was the drop in total recovery rates have dipped from 90% in 2007 down to 83.5% in 2013.   There are some simple measures to improve your Collections which firms can implement :- 1) Review payment terms. Consider 7 and 14 day accounts. 2) Look at your payment options do you make electronic payment easy? 3) Do you deliver bills electronically as PDF? They are faster and match the expectation of clients for quality and authorization. 4) Have you reviewed your client payment requirements? Some bill consolidation services are too expensive in the long run. Negotiate accordingly or leave these cl
Are you ready for  Much More Easier European Business? February 1st, 2014 is a day of great significance for banks and other organizations in the euro zone– it’s the deadline for single euro payments area (SEPA)-compliance, and it’s approaching fast. SEPA aims to create a single domestic market for euro payments through standardization and the development of common financial instruments and procedures. This will create a simplified, harmonized bank transfer system for the 32 SEPA countries, helping to reduce costs for all and improve the efficiency and speed of payments. Hopefully, your organization is already well underway with compliance preparations – such as replacing current account numbers with the common format of International Bank Account Numbers (IBAN), identifying areas and processes that will be affected by SEPA, and implementing message format changes for payment instructions and reconciliations. Timeframe’s Electronic Payment Solution OpenEFT, anticipated these m