At the end of this course the participants will be able to:

• Work effectively with the fundamentals of accounts payable, accounts receivable, financial accounting, and the supply chain
• Understand and apply the fundamentals of effective transactional management systems
• Review and comment on payment methods and cash management
• Understand the need to incorporate risk and uncertainty into transactional processing and cash flow management
• Identify best practice across all industries by examining case studies from across the globe

• Finance Executives
• Accountants
• Others who are working within Transactional Finance, Accounts Payable or Accounts Receivable process or who wish to develop a practical toolkit to complement their existing professional or technical skills

Unit 1: An Introduction To Accounts Receivable:

• Working Capital and Cash Management
• Understanding “the cost of credit”
• The ‘order to cash’ process
• Understanding “risk” in “credit”
• Accounts Receivable and effective customer service
• Identifying underperforming areas to increase customer satisfaction

Unit 2: Customers and Trading Terms:

• Terms of trading
• Tools and techniques of financial analysis: ratios; trends; common size analysis
• The best performance measure – cash or profit?
• Financial distress and the Altman’s Z score-type analyses
• Trend analysis
• Value-added analysis of the financial statement

Unit 3: Developing Effective Strategies to Maximize Cash Collection:

• Identifying effective “pre-delinquency” collection campaigns
• Defining “post-delinquency” activities
• Customer sensitive collection strategies
• Collection techniques and letter cycles
• Appropriate internal and external escalation steps
• Using workflow management to maximize collector performance

Unit 4: Practical Collection Tools and Techniques:

• Eliminating barriers to payment
• Recognizing excuses and delaying tactics
• Providing solutions to non-payment
• Telephone collection techniques
• Negotiation skills for successful collections
• Building relationships with customers

Unit 5: Managing the Receivables Ledger:

• Developing effective internal relationships to maximize performance
• Setting targets and tracking performance
• Managing information that dazzles
• Defining meaningful KPI’s
• Latest Developments in Accounts Receivable

Unit 6: Accounts Payable, Financial Accounting, and the Supply Chain:

• Accounting and financial information: Accounts Payable in context
• Sources of finance
• The supply chain
• Financial position and financial performance
• Cash flow and Working Capital
• Why is cash flow so important?

Unit 7: Achieving World-Class in Accounts Payable Processes:

• Defining Best Practice in AP
• Moving beyond P2P
• Managing Risk
• Principles of Best Practice
• End to End AP Process
• Defining the issues in Accounts Payable

Unit 8: Improving Invoice Processing and Operational Management:

• Invoice Handling and Approval Processes
• Verifying invoice data
• Paying “low value” items
• How to avoid duplicate payments
• Making the best use of staff time: limiting telephone calls to AP
• Does Petty cash management belong in Accounts Payable?

Unit 9: Harnessing Technology in Accounts Payable Processes:

• Master Vendor File Management – getting it right from the start
• Travel & Entertainment
• Policy management
• Cash advances and employee reimbursement
• Process improvement through imaging and workflow
• Using the internet for AP effectiveness

Unit 10: Making the Payments and Maintaining the Relationships

• Communications & Customer Relations
• Payments status information for vendors and internal customers
• Improving Procure to Pay(P2P)Cycle
• Payments and Payment Solutions: Accounts Payable or Treasury?

This courses focuses on exercises, case studies, Excel workshops, and individual and group presentations.