Bank finance articles and tips

Payment processing is a key part of every small business' operations, from local retail to business-to-business services. As most modern retail stores and restaurants have made the transition from cash and check payments to cash and credit card, check processing is still an issue from time to time. Should retail businesses accept checks? If they do, they face the hassle of depositing these checks along with the risk of accepting checks that may be backed by insufficient funds. Business to business companies, educational institutions, utility companies and many others routinely accept large volumes of checks, which greatly increases the risk of insufficient funds and time that must be spent processing these checks....

Carrying out company credit checks on potential and existing clients should be an everyday part of business life however many companies are still leaving themselves open to the threat of bad debt by not carrying out such checks. Conducting credit checks through company credit reports will usually provide a credit score - allowing businesses to make better informed decisions about whether to extend credit. However whilst carrying out such checks sounds like common sense, less than a third (31%) of UK companies perform a credit check before trading. And this looks unforgivable when you consider that almost half (47%) of UK businesses have lost money in the last year when trading with another company.

Whilst these figures are shocking, we'll now look at some of the other reasons why reviewing company credit reports and other credit checking tools is vital to ensuring your business' success....

One of the most frustrating aspects of owning a medical staffing business is that healthcare providers oftentimes insist on extending payments beyond 45 days. In fact, it's not uncommon for a large medical facility to cut checks 60 days or later after services have been rendered. Naturally, a consistent history of 'staff now and get paid later' can wreak havoc for any new or growing staffing company. In effect, it causes the agency to be invoice rich and cash poor, which means that a healthcare staffing agency has a lot of outstanding receivables and little cash in the bank to show for it.