• Try to negotiate longer terms for your Accounts Payable (e.g. increase a 30 day window to 60 days)
• Bill customers more quickly (just a couple of days help) so you can speed up the collection process which improves your cash position significantly.
• Schedule accounts payable on a weekly basis to avoid late charges or double billing.
• Monitor bank accounts closely to take advantage of higher yields on any excess funds in checking accounts.
• Try to reduce unnecessary overhead and monthly expenses.
• Sell unnecessary or unproductive assets that are just taking up space. If it doesn’t contribute to cash flow get rid of it.
• Prepare cash flow analyses that show potential cash shortfalls.
• Monitor Accounts Receivable and charge interest and late fees on past due balances.
• Use as much vendor financing and trade credit as possible since this typically does not carry interest charges.
• Provide discounts to customer who pay early and give different terms to different customers based on their ability to pay on time.
• Consider renting rather than buying certain assets. This is oft times better for the balance sheet.
• Make sure invoices are sent out correctly. This avoids delays because of customer questions about the correctness of the invoice.
• Repackage some short term debt into long term debt to help with the cash flow.
• Increasing a line of credit with the bank can help the cash position.
• Convert payroll to monthly or bi-monthly to allow funds to remain in the business longer.
• Monitor the money taken out of the business for activities that are not business related.