Before you begin

Before you start working on your credit vetting and collections process with this checklist, read our article, Make sure your clients pay up with financial management systems that work. This will give you the context you need to understand why a credit vetting and collections process is so important, and what you need to know before you begin.

Ensuring critical functions are in place

At Old Mutual, we support business owners like you because we recognise the important role you play in fuelling your local economy.

This checklist is designed to assist you, the business owner, with the most critical function within your business: getting paid.

Use this checklist as a guide to ensure the following critical functions are in place in your business:

1. Negotiate the best credit and debtor terms within your business
   1. Develop a plan to get clients to pay earlier
   2. Develop a plan to ask suppliers to extend their payment terms
2. Credit vet your customers
   1. Perform a credit check
3. Collect your cash
   1. Work with your accounts department to always invoice on time
   2. Track who has and who hasn’t paid you
   3. Put a system in place to ensure you or your accountant follows up on late payments
   4. Determine a process of when and how you will hand over bad debts to collections agencies
4. Insure yourself
   1. Work with your broker to determine what coverage suits your business needs best

DOWNLOAD THE TOOL