With the UK still suffering from the 2008 credit breakdown, credit management continues to be a crucial issue.

Payment company Bacs have reported that in pre-recession 2007 small businesses were owed around £16bn in late and unpaid invoices, now the figure has risen to over £30bn. This is very much a vicious circle situation - if Company A is owed money by Company B then it may find it difficult to pay its own suppliers Company C, who in turn may have to delay paying other firms, and so on. One example I recall is a company that was owed £6000 by Tesco and had to use money it was planning to invest in machinery to pay staff wages instead.

The knock-on effect of being owed money means that managing cashflow effectively is critical to the survival of any business, especially smaller companies. Despite this, the day-to-day challenges of running a business often mean that the required focus on cashflow and credit management is overlooked.

Many businesses find that outsourcing the task of credit control is a very cost-effective way to implement a credit management strategy and ensure that customers pay them on time.

The Financial Management Centre is able to provide an efficient credit management service at extremely competitive rates. Their locally-based team have the experience, knowledge, tools and techniques to help you to improve cash flow, reduce bad debts and improve customer retention.

Following a comprehensive review of your existing credit procedures, your credit controller will help you with:

• Chasing debt and small claims proceedings
• Credit risk analysis
• Invoicing and other paperwork support
• Making it easier for customers to pay you
• Advice on establishing effective credit management procedures
• Training staff in credit management

Outsourced credit control is ideal for small businesses that don't have available resources in-house, or can be used to cover sickness or illness, or to complement an existing a credit control department during seasonal or peak times. What’s more, outsourcing to FMC means:

• Only pay for the level of involvement you need, from a few hours per month to full-time
• No employer responsibilities (income tax, NI contributions, benefits etc.)
• No need to arrange any sickness or holiday cover
• No redundancy costs or added administrative burden of employing more staff
• Experienced staff who will deal tactfully with your debtors
• The expertise and manpower of FMC’s whole network when required

Take advantage of FMC’s outsourced sales ledger and credit management service to help you to reduce your costs and overheads, increase your profits and maintain a healthy cash flow.