Excel Tip : Filling in Blanks

To make it easier and quicker to use the Autosum toolbar icon you should have zeroes instead of blank cells in your lists of values. The Autosum stop ranges at the first blank cell it finds.

To populate blanks with zeroes in existing data follow these steps.

• Select the data range and press the F5 function key.
• Click the Special button.
• Click the Blanks option and click OK. This will select all the blank cells.
• Type 0 then hold the Ctrl key and press the Enter key. Release the keys.
• This will populate all the blank cells in the range with zeroes.
  

Warning: make sure you select the range as per step 1, otherwise you may populate blank cells in other parts of the sheet with a zero.

10 tips to improve credit control

“Cash is King”

The reality facing businesses today is that in the short-term it’s very survival may well depend More on it’s ability to generate “Cash” than “Profits”
Credit Control has a vital role to play in generating Cash (the life blood of businesses)

How do we improve collections ?

Some tips to help

1) Establish your credit policy and communicate it clearly to both staff and customers.

2) Monitor closely the payment history of existing accounts and identify opportunities for quick improvements (low hanging fruit). The riskier accounts which will require more micro-management.

3) Assign collection tasks to relevant staff (sales reps, managers, accounts staff) with action dates and follow up timeframes

4) Remove barriers to payment – in the current climate it is vital that you remove as many barriers to payment as possible for your customers.
a) Make sure invoices are accurate
b) Invoices should be timely and sent to the right people
c) Invoices must contain the relevant information such as customer purchase order number, buyer references etc
d) Customer credits and sales returns need to be processed promptly
e) Send out Customer Statements promptly and to correct people.

5) Analyse reasons for Credit Notes and review processes to reduce volume.

6) Where possible email statements and invoices to customers.

7) Ensure that customer receipts are allocated promptly and accurately.

8) Incorporate an element of sales rep incentives around collection targets and customer debt aging profiles

9) Know your customer payment cycles and their employees who approve payments and those who process the payments and try to establish good relationships with these key people.

10) Where possible keep customer notes on your accounting system so that relief cover or new employees can quickly get up to speed with customer accounts. Follow up, Follow up, Follow up

Improving Credit Collections can have a huge impact on cash flow and business survival/growth. Investing your time and technology to make this process more efficient can reap rich rewards.

CIMA warns Small Business not to lose sight of Strategy

20 February 2009

At times of economic upheaval and low availability of finance, there’s a real danger that corporate strategy can take a back seat to survival.
CIMA will today (20 February) warn the small to medium business market that rooting decisions in long-term strategy is critical to their survival in the current recession. This is being done through the launch of ‘Strategy Under Stress’ – see www.cimaglobal.com/enterprisegovernance.
CIMA’s report focuses on how organisations that abandon strategic thinking not only run the risk of undermining their chances of advancing their business when the economy improves – they also endanger their ability to weather the storm.

This is particularly true of organisations that look to short-term business practices, such as invasive cost-cutting, which can ultimately harm their long-term competitiveness.
Gillian Lees, Innovation & Development Specialist at CIMA, comments:
“The current recession is due, in part, to organisations failing to make long-term, strategic decisions. Although it is appropriate for companies to deal with a demanding business environment in the shortterm, the focus should also be on implementing strategies that will help to ensure sustainable success when the immediate crisis has passed. This is particularly crucial for small to medium businesses across the world as one hasty decision can ultimately wipe them out.’

‘Strategy Under Stress’ focuses on the principles of the CIMA Strategic Scorecard™ (see www.cimaglobal.com/strategicscorecard) and arms management accountants with key steps that can be applied in order to drive better decision making, both during a recession and in preparation for the subsequent upturn.

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, founded in 1919, is the world’s leading and largest professional body of Management Accountants, with 164,000 members and students operating in 161 countries, working at the heart of business. CIMA members and students work in industry, commerce and not-for-profit organisations. CIMA works closely with employers and sponsors leading-edge research, constantly updating its qualification, professional experience requirements and continuing professional development to ensure it remains the employers’ choice when recruiting financially-trained business leaders. CIMA is committed to upholding the highest ethical and professional standards of members and students, and to maintaining public confidence in management accountancy. CIMA is proud to be the first professional accounting body to offer a truly global product in the fast-moving area of Islamic Finance.According to independent research conducted by the University of Bath School of Management, CIMA’s syllabus and examination structure are the most relevant to the needs of business of all the accountancy bodies assessed. See the CIMA Difference report for further information at www.cimaglobal.com/thecimadifference. CIMA has been awarded Superbrand status in the UK for a third year in a row this year and for the first time in Sri Lanka.