The aim of the Enterprise Recovery Zenith blog is to inform, educate and support all who read here. Your clicks and comments determine what's important and how we can help. Within the top 10, we may also recognize trends and what's missing that we should cover in future posts. Read on to see if there's something you missed this year.
Unless your business has a full-time bookkeeper or accounting department, your accounting records could be in a state of disarray. There could be inconsistencies and costly mistakes that could affect your business sooner than later. Even with an accounting department, the end of the year is a practical time of year to tie up loose ends and reconcile your records. Making good business decisions, paying taxes and preparing for the future requires proper, accurate and up to date information.
Freelancing can seem glamorous when you consider being your own boss and working from anywhere. You set your own hours, choose the type of work that you love to do and you don't have to answer to any boss. Freelance work also means that you have to handle all of the other work it takes to gain and retain clients plus continue to pay your bills. It can be especially frustrating when you have to track down client payments.
It can be challenging to strike a balance with a client who hasn't paid on time. You may be tempted to take it personally, question your own worth or be tempted to blow it off. If you and your client have an agreement that you will complete work and they will pay, you are absolutely right to remind them to pay. Your chances at a successful recovery depend on how you handle the situation.
It's okay to remind your clients that they owe you money. Here are some tips and sample payment reminder notices to help.
After sales and the delivery of goods or services, the accounts receivable department ensures that your company is paid. Getting paid on time and regularly affects positive cash flow so that vendors and employees are paid and the business continues growing. An accounts receivable specialist has certain defined responsibilities within the department.
September and October seem to be a swift slide right into the holiday season. If you're a busy small business owner, you may not have realized that the end of the year is coming up quickly. Instead of spending late December in the rush of the season, start planning ahead to get your financial statements and taxes organized now.
Tracking and collecting receivables is vital to your business' cash flow. Without a steady cash flow, your business may not have enough working capital for important expenditures. Set up an organized accounts receivable department with dedicated responsibilities to ensure a positive cash flow and success for your business.
Within your accounting department, there are responsibilities that can help or hamper your business' bottom line. Today we'll examine a relationship that is closely tied and could be the answer to negative cash flow. While your sales team greatly affects operations, it's the collections of those accounts that really determines the success of your business. When your accounts receivable team is not able to collect and are consistently writing off bad debt, it may be time to turn to your credit manager for answers.
The catch-22 of running a creative, digital marketing or ad agency is that it takes money to make money. While it would seem that bringing on more clients would increase cash flow, the challenge is having enough employees available to handle the client work. And if a client quits your agency, will you be laying off those employees? These are only a few of the thoughts that plague the mind of an agency owner when they're trying to get to sleep at night. Cash is king and must be available to keep the lights on, the employees happy and your clients on board for the long haul.
One of the best ways to get your invoices paid on time is to offer many ways for your clients to pay. Innovative payment technology is available and can help reduce staff, time or other resources needed to track down payments. Inspired by the B2C market, corporate payment technologies are leaning toward self-service, but also looking for ways to reduce the chances of payment fraud. Your accounts receivable department will thank you for making their jobs easier, including reducing the time spent waiting for checks to arrive.
