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What is a branding theme in Xero and why would you use it?

Automate your accounts receivable with uCollect and Xero - online MYOB & Xero training courses by EzyLearn

Branding themes are just a fancy word for templates and you can create as many as you need in Xero. The biggest reasons to use different branding themes is if you use different payment methods or you have different brands within the business.

A major benefit when using branding themes is you can allocate a different theme for selected customers. For example if you have a set of customers that allow you to deduct payment for their invoices using a service uCollect you can allocate a branding theme in Xero that doesn’t give them the option to pay that invoice but instead shows a message for them NOT to pay and that the payment will be made automatically.

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The first moment Credit Risk happens

Credit risk is the probability of not getting paid, simple. Some business owners think that just having some special clauses in their terms of trade is all they need to do but there’s more involved.

When you offer anyone credit you are entering into a whole separate debt agreement. It’s no longer just providing goods and services and the warranties which come with that. When you offer credit (to anyone, even friends) there is an expectation that the borrower will repay the loan in good faith – in other words as quickly as possible. But many things can get in the way and the credit component of the transaction can get awkward.

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What does voluntary administration look like?

Mentor Education ASIC notification of Voluntary Administration and Creditors Meeting - will students be notified

I wrote earlier this week about Mentor Educations fate under the hands of an administrator and it all comes down to Credit Management. The “business for sale ad” touts that they earned $5M in revenue but they appear to have a cashflow management issue. Should someone have completed EzyLearn’s Credit Management Course?

This is quite a serious matter for existing students and it is a good case study example about important steps that every business needs to take if they are giving credit. It appears that one or more of Mentor Education’s creditors did have good credit management procedures in place..

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Here’s What You Need to Know About the Cash Conversion Cycle

flowchart of the cash conversion cycle

There are a lot of things that contribute to a successful business, but there’s no doubt that cash is a pretty significant one.  Whether or not a business can generate enough revenue to not only stay afloat, but make a profit, determines whether or not that business can continue to operate.

But collecting that cash is not as simple as swiping a customer’s credit card.  From the first cent a business spends in buying its stock, to the final cent the business receives in payment from a customer, the cash conversion cycle can tell a lot about just how efficient and effective a business is.

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How my 7 year old son learnt about credit risk and how that can help tradies

QuickBooks Online Training Courses - Acquired CreditKarma to help clients check on credit scores and get loans

My 7 year old son lent me $5 (which I then lent to his 12 year old brother) and then he lent his brother a further $10 directly so the older brother could buy something he really wanted at the time. Is it getting complicated already!?

This lending happened over a month ago and a conflict is brewing over the $10 he lent to the 12 year old because it was underwritten by his pocket money which had not been paid at the time. 

So simple isn’t it. All this credit offered and accepted and it seems less relevant because it relates to my kids but these lessons last a lifetime so it’s important to explain credit risk and recourse. Continue reading How my 7 year old son learnt about credit risk and how that can help tradies

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Terms of Trade and Credit Risk Controllers

Air Conditioning installers and suppliers in Central Coast, Ourimbah, Gosford, Wyong, Long Jetty, Erina

All of a sudden I’m hearing about terms of trade from everyone! Maybe it’s because things are tight and customers need credit? Or maybe it’s because we have started offering course funding at $20 per week!!

We are busy updating our Credit Controllers Course right now. Check out some of the topics included that will get you up to speed.

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What if a Credit Check Comes Back Negative?

Do You Have to Drop a Client Because of a Bad Credit Check?

customer-with-bad-credit-rating
It’s only business: but sometimes a bad credit rating doesn’t mean you have to end the working relationship.

A Credit Check is one of the most important first steps of good credit and debt management but you can still do business if the check comes back negative.

In a previous post on credit and debt management, I recommended that all businesses — regardless of whether they offer credit to customers on a 30-day account or not — perform a credit check on any new client who will spend more than $1000 on goods or services in one sale, on an ongoing basis.

What should you do if the credit check comes back negative, and shows that the potential customer is guilty of late payments, pending legal action or already carries a significant level of debt? Continue reading What if a Credit Check Comes Back Negative?

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Bad Payers Cost 12 Working Days to Collect $13,200

flowchart of the cash conversion cycle

Credit Management is an Extra Job

credit-management-training-assessment-management-and-enforcement

I’ve always believed that as soon as you offer credit you’ve got yourself another business – a credit management business.

When we first created our MYOB Daily Transactions course we designed it to take students through the cashflow process of where money goes when it first leaves your bank account and these are the main steps:

  1. Money in the bank (cash asset)
  2. Buy stock (inventory asset)
  3. Products sold on account (accounts receivable asset – Trade Debtors)
  4. Customer pays their account (cash asset)

The interesting part of this business process to me is the marketing (choosing the products, pricing, marketing message and advertising) and the credit management to get the money back.

Continue reading Bad Payers Cost 12 Working Days to Collect $13,200
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Zoho Books, You don’t want to be a high risk do you?

There’s always Zoho Books

Zoho Books and Bank Feeds

You may have a different opinion when it comes to paying your suppliers but I believe you should pay quickly. I’m talking mainly about service providers rather that product suppliers, but I think in small business it doesn’t matter.

Everyone loves to be paid on time and if you can get paid earlier, even better. It once took me 16 minutes to pay a supplier – OK, I was making other payments at the time, but still, it looked impressive.

I mention it today because one of my team told me that I was categorised by their accounting software as “high risk” and I wasn’t too happy.

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Invoice Your Customers Directly Using PayPal

We were recently surveying our PayPal account and discovered that you can now invoice customers directly using PayPal. While it doesn’t eradicate the need for a good piece of accounting software, this facility makes it very easy for people to get started in business — particularly businesses with very few expenses. Continue reading Invoice Your Customers Directly Using PayPal

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Suffering Poor Cash Flow? How to Get Paid Faster!

Stop tearing your hair out chasing money and investigate a cloud-based system like ezyCollect.
Stop tearing your hair out chasing money and investigate a cloud-based system like ezyCollect.

Too many small businesses suffer from cash flow problems, which is why our Small Business Management Course covers financial planning and how to monitor and manage your cash flow through debtor management.

However, few small businesses suffer from poor cash flow because they’re unaware of how to manage their debtors properly.

Rather they suffer poor cash flow because they lack the resources to chase late payers or, as in most cases, they don’t have the time to stay on top of their accounts receivables to ensure their clients don’t become late payers in the first place.

Aussie company, ezyCollect, aims to solve this problem for medium sized companies – here’s how.

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How Could You Possibly Make 10 Times What You’re Earning?

This post has been created to demonstrate simple accounting principles for our MYOB Training Course students. It demonstrates, visually, a very simple fact that is often sensationalised.

I’ve been to many presentations, seminars and watched hundreds of webinars run by people who describe themselves as gurus yet the secrets they reveal are actually just plain old good accounting principles.

Continue reading How Could You Possibly Make 10 Times What You’re Earning?