It's Your Money... So Get Paid! Credit Management for Small Business

A Note From the Authors

About the Authors

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part 1-HOW CREDIT CAN AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS
Introduction
Chapter 1 Getting paid what you are worth
Chapter 2 What is credit?
Chapter 3 How can credit affect your cash flow?
Chapter 4 Should you make sales on credit?
Chapter 5 How can good credit management and control help your business?
Chapter 6 Consumer and commercial credit
Chapter 7 Can you afford to give credit?

Part 2 THE PROCESS OF APPROVING CREDIT
Chapter 8 What you should know about your credit customers
Chapter 9 Establishing your Trading Terms and Conditions
Developing your basic Trading Terms and Conditions
How to protect your legal rights
What can go wrong will go wrong
Your next step
Sample Trading Terms and Conditions
Chapter 10 How to prepare a credit application
Why you should have a credit application
What to include in your credit application
What do you do with your completed credit application?
Sample Credit Application
Chapter 11 Is your customer a credit risk?
Searches you can make
Reference checks
Do you give your customer credit and how much?
Account approval checklist
Sample letters

Part 3 THE DEBT-COLLECTION PROCESS
Introduction
Chapter 12 Planning your debt-collection process
The people factor in debt collection
Prevention is better than cure, so plan, plan, plan
Getting your collection policies and procedures set up
Keeping and using good records to streamline collections
Knowing who owes you what and for how long
Using 'Day Sales Outstanding' (DSO)
Which debts to go first
Look for early-warning signals
Other matters to consider
Summary: How to prevent or minimise bad debts
Chapter 13 Managing your debt-collection process
What has (or should have) already been done
What to do if and when a customer won't pay
Sample reminder stamps, stickers and letters
Chapter 14 Using outside help in debt collection
When should you seek outside help to collect a debt?
Using a debt-collection agency
Using a small claims tribunal to get action
Taking legal action: engaging a solicitor

Appendix: The Consumer Credit Code
The Consumer Credit Code
What is credit?
The documents required in credit transactions
Enforcement of a credit contract under the Code

A glossary of credit terms

Recommended reading

Index

A practical and accessible guide to credit management for Australian small businesses. This edition focuses on the challenges of getting paid when a business allows credit to customers for goods and or services sold. TIt's a staggering fact that one in five small business failures are directly attributable to the overuse of credit-specifically collections and bad debts.

Effective credit management is critical to good business management. While making sales is important, it is not until you actually have the money in your bank account that you can pay your bills, pay your staff, buy new equipment, or even pay yourself!

In It's Your Money... So Get Paid, Alan Williams and Julian Campbell guide you through the basics of setting up your credit management system and controlling the process. Written in the straightforward style that typifies the Big Ideas for Small Business series, it illustrates the process in an accessible and uncomplicated way.

In Part 1, you will learn how giving credit can affect your business and determine if you can really afford to give credit. You will be able to develop a good credit management system and learn how to control it effectively to help your business prosper.

Parts 2 and 3 are guides to actually developing your processes for approving credit and collecting your debts. You will learn how to establish your trading terms and conditions, prepare a credit application form, plan and manage your debt collection process and know how to obtain outside help.