How to Use Invoice Factoring and Survive the Recession
January 19th, 2009. Published under Finance. No Comments.
Its official the British Nation is now in financial recession and businesses need to have a robust map to navigate this economic downturn or they are destined to go out of business.
The difficult trading conditions over the Christmas and New Years holiday season saw a record level of shops go into insolvency
The following stores and Companies, to name a few, have gone into administration. Wedgewood the fine China and tableware manufacturer has gone along with Savvi, USC the Fashion store and MFI the furniture retailer.
Another victim of the recession has been our beloved Woolworths that went into administration just before Christmas and saw its final stores close on the 5th of January 2009, which has left 27,000 people facing redundancy.
Businesses wishing to survive the recession need to have 4 things; credible management team, a viable business core, a valid business plan and appropriate funding say The Turnaround Management Association
Traditional sources of finance have been restricted to very low levels due to the Credit Crunch and lack of liquidity within the money markets. This constriction of lending has brought about a Cash Flow squeeze on UK plc.
Company Directors with an eye on survival should immediately have a plan to reduce expenditure within the business. Carefully review expenditure to identify any areas of your business where savings can be made. Meticulously going over the Companies expense to find areas where costs can be cut. You should look at Telephone Charges and Tariffs, Utilities, Trade Suppliers, transport costs. The accumulation of a number of cost saving can be remarkable.
Cash Flow within a business is vital at any time but even more so in a recession and having access to working capital should be at the top of any business owners list. Funding a business with invoice factoring, which is increasingly popular for small to medium businesses. While not suitable for all Companies, the huge benefit of debt factoring is that rather than have money tied up in invoices that are yet to be paid, you can receive an initial payment up front, typically 80% – 85% of the gross value, and the remainder when the customer pays the invoices to an invoice factoring provider, less the service fee which has been negotiated with them. However, if the customer defaults on payment, then the factoring company will recover the money provided to you initially from any further invoices which are factored. This can lead to erratic cash flow if customers are poor payers or they go into insolvency.