With the end of the financial year looming, now is the time for businesses to clean up any outstanding payments. Here are some tips to smooth out the process and improve your cashflow. 1. Communicate clearly with debtors If you expect your customers to be disciplined with payments, it helps if you are meticulous with …
When the holidays are over and we return to work, one of the first things we need to get on top of is the status of our accounts receivable. Whether you’ve been really busy or closed over the holidays, this will inevitably be on your ‘to do’ list. For many businesses, getting through the holidays …
We’re well into the new financial year now, and many businesses would have reviewed their debt recovery processes and procedures, to ensure they maintain a healthy cash flow and minimise potential bad debts this year. When we are winning new business, it’s great for our P&Ls, however if we don’t follow up on our invoices …
Here’s a question to ponder: does your business have customised terms and conditions? If you are like many other business owners, the response is likely to be along the lines of “Umm, not sure”, or “we haven’t got around to that yet.” The truth is that updating T&Cs is one of those tasks businesses often …
Some debtors are stubborn, to put it kindly, and simply refuse to pay their accounts. So what should you do if you have unpaid debts and all your efforts are falling on deaf ears? Unless they are disputing the debt, we recommend lodging a default on the debtor’s credit rating. Why? You want to ensure …
‘Our Favourites’ We all love our customers who pay to terms, we don’t need to remind them, payment comes through before or on the due date and we all want more of these customers, these are our favourites. ‘The Busy Guys’ We’ve all learnt to manage the customers who ‘thought they’d paid’, ‘meant to pay’ or …
We are often asked, as a mercantile agency, how we approach collecting debt from individuals. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have produced a guideline. This guideline helps us to understand how the Commonwealth consumer protection laws apply to debt collectors, as well as in house …
Cash flow is the most important part of any business. Without it you simply cannot operate. One of the biggest hurdles with debtor management is ensuring your debtors pay you in a timely manner. Cash Flow Finance, or Invoice Finance as it is also known, can speed up the cash flow of a business if it sells …
When your business is not being paid for work that’s been completed or goods that have been delivered, do you think the next step is legal action? Do the costs of potential legal action mean that you are reluctant to engage a Lawyer? You don’t need to go to a Lawyer when you are in …
Su-Ann Loh is the Director of Dispute Resolution at Lewis Holdway Lawyers & lawyer to Kearley Lewis, mercantile agency. In this interview, Su-Ann shares the issues that she most frequently comes across, as well as her tips on how to avoid having debt collection issues. Su-Ann works across both organisations within the Lewis Holdway community, and therefore …
Private education is a prestigious and well renowned institution of the Australian Education landscape. Parents have a sense of pride to know their children attend a private school. The sense of community and belonging is stronger. Unfortunately this form of education comes at a cost, and many parents are racking up unpaid debt for their …
We may not want to be reminded, but Christmas is just around the corner and we need to think about what this means for our cash flow. Whilst many SMEs will be at their busiest, the holiday period is also a time when cash flow can be at its tightest. It is worth doing some …