Much of what you’ve suspected is being confirmed as reality:

• Of the small businesses that offer credit, 52% say customers are paying invoices more slowly than they were a year ago, and
• 24% of those same businesses report that they are slower to pay their own creditors.

Of course, these trends have initiated ripple effects through virtually every aspect of conducting business.

Purchasing and Procurement people are more likely than most to feel the squeeze.

According to Decision Analyst’s Small Business Recession Effects survey of companies with less than 100 employees, the good news is that conditions aren’t worse for small businesses.

For example, while 23% of small businesses say there’s not enough credit available for them, there are 77% of small businesses that are comfortable with available credit levels.

Small businesses were asked what steps they plan to take in the next three months to help reduce expenses.

Among the answers:

• Reducing supply orders: 29%
• Holding off on buying equipment: 23%
• Switching to less-expensive suppliers: 20%
• Increasing prices: 17%
• Reducing inventories: 16%

There are four areas where change — progress – is impacting the way that businesses collect receivables.

The focus for businesses is still the same: Collect the customers’ money. But changing economic conditions have created the need to modify the techniques for bringing in cash. What worked yesterday won’t work today; what works today might not work tomorrow.

1. Less Cash, Please. Believe it or not, it’s costing companies more money to accept cash. There’s the time it takes to handle and count it, the logistics of moving it from the business to the bank. Businesses that accept cash or rely on cash are paying higher insurance premiums. In addition to higher handling and logistics costs, there’s the simple matter that more people want to pay now with debit or credit cards.
2. Checks Aren’t the Answer. As more banks gain the capacity to scan customer checks and send electronic copies along as payments, the paperwork coming in and out of your business will begin to dwindle. This year, financial experts say, about 30 billion checks are in circulation. Ten years from now, experts expect that number to drop to 20 billion.
3.  Reconciliation (and not Tommy and Pam). Sure, you need to collect as much money as you can from customers. But you wouldn’t believe how difficult it can be in some cases to keep track of who paid what and when they paid it. If you can’t keep up with this, it makes it especially difficult to track down the real problems. You can begin planning now for ways to tighten up your remittance crediting functions.
4. One word, Benjamin — e-invoicing. The ultimate elimination of paper when it comes to billing customers. It started slowly, but momentum is starting to build. It’s a situation where success breeds success. More companies e-invoice customers; more customer become accustomed to it. Creditors and customers then both realize how much money and time can be saved by taking the invoice function on line. It might take a little while to fully catch on, but e-invoicing is here to stay.