Friday, May 22, 2009

Accounts Receivable Factoring in a few words.

By Wade Henderson

There are many ways to effectively increase cash flow in you company in order to face the competitive business world. One of the most popular methods is Accounts Receivable Factoring. A company that uses Factoring sells their Accounts Receivable at a discount to a firm that will administer them and collects the money, in exchange the factoring company charges a fee and keeps a percentage of the funds collected.

Factoring is beneficial because you are hiring professionals to manage what your customers owe you and in the process you are reducing the cost and hassle of having your staff doing it.

Factoring is particularly attractive for small business because it enables them to increase the availability of funds that can be used for the day to day activities of the business. The assets that were once stuck in your accounts receivable could, through Factoring, be invested, used to pay liabilities and for payroll. The alternative is, of course less appealing: chasing after the customer to obtain the payment and other potential investments need to wait on him or her to honor their commitment.

When considering the benefits of Accounts Receivable Factoring, we suggest you study in detail what Factoring companies have to offer to you, what they ask in exchange and if it is an appealing path for your company to follow. Many companies have enjoyed the benefits of AR Factoring and yours could too.

Of course, you will need to pay for factoring. In order to be sustainable and profitable, the Factor determines a fee that will balance their costs of collecting your Accounts Receivable and the benefits they obtain. The cost of factoring will be an arrangement that shows the agreement of both parts in which different factors have been talked about. For instance, the cost for a company to factor $1000 in Accounts Receivable ranges between $650 and $900.

Interest rates determined by factoring companies follow the following considerations:

If your customers are financially steady or not. The objective of the factoring company is to make profit by delivering services. If the likelihood that your customers will pay their debt is low, then the Factor would you a big risk.

Amount of Accounts Receivable to be factored. It is more attractive for a factoring company to collect the most funds with the least of costs. They would apply a higher interest rate for amounts that are hard to collect or that result in low benefits.

The duration of the contract. The longer a commitment you have with a certain factoring company, the most likely they are to commit with you and give you a reasonable interest rate.

Make sure you study the pros and cons of factoring for your company, and when you decide to enjoy the benefits of Accounts Receivable Factoring do not forget to read the small print.

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