Using single invoice finance to reduce debtor days or DSO

The company could lower its debtor balance and hence lower its DSO to a more acceptable level by selling one or more invoices for cash.

Companies that sell on credit will as a consequence create debtors - customers who owe the company money for their purchases..  The longer their invoices remain unpaid, the greater the credit risk to the company that the invoice will never be repaid.

Days sales outstanding (DSO) (also known as Debtor Days (DD)) is a term that shows numerically the average time to collect money off debtors.

For example, assume a company has a total of £1m of credit sales over a 6 month period and at the end £0.3m are outstanding.  Its credit sales per day are £1m/180 = £5555 so its DSO is £0.3/£5555 = an average of 54 days.

DSO should be used to observe trends.  If the DSO increases it indicates a worsening situation of the company (increasing credit risk) because debtors are taking longer to pay their debts to the company (a bad sign that they might be experiencing cash problems).

Note that DSO is an average so individual companies in cash trouble will not be identified.  For that the company should produce an aged debtors' report.

What is single invoice finance?
Cash for Invoices Limited offers single invoice finance (sometimes called spot factoring or selective invoice finance)  - a type of debt factoring that has key advantages over conventional debt factoring and invoice finance:

• NO   security.  No debenture or personal guarantee is provided by the invoice seller.  This makes the funding process less complicated, less expensive, and quicker to complete for the seller
• NO   commitment to sell an invoice. The seller has no obligation to sell its entire sales ledger to the funder.  The seller might be flush with cash at times yet with debt factoring it is forced to take funds from the factoring company, and pay associated costs of the facility.  This is inefficient and undesirable.  Single invoice finance from Cash for Invoices Limited requires no commitment so is far more efficient as a source of funds - used only when the seller wants funding.  Because there is no ongoing funding, associated costs are avoided.
• Almost all types   of businesses eligible.  Cash for Invoices Limited is available for many types of organisation.  In addition to limited companies, this includes LLPs, charities, social enterprises and academic institutions.  Single invoice finance from Cash for Invoices Limited opens up a new source of alternative finance for these organisations that might have found it difficult to find funding from other sources.
• Sell just one   invoice.  Since no facility is set up and no commitment is required to sell its entire sales ledger, the seller may sell just one invoice, and whenever it chooses.  With single invoice finance from Cash for Invoices Limited, the seller is in control of funding not the factoring company or bank lender.
• One   fee only  Since no facility is created with single invoice finance from Cash for Invoices Limited, there are no ongoing costs of financing nor none of the associated set up or termination costs
• No recourse   (beyond retention) if the invoice debtor defaults  If the debtor fails to pay on time, some factoring companies sell the invoice back to the seller and demand a return of money it gave to purchase the invoice.  Once an invoice, Cash for Invoices Limited retains credit risk
• Credit protection included   - some funders add a charge if the seller wants to completely transfer the risk of default by the debtor.  Single invoice finance from Cash for Invoices Limited does not charge extra for credit protection.

To find out more about Cash for Invoices Limited's single invoice finance service contact Cash for Invoices Limited or call 0208 987 0429.  Cash for Invoices Limited will consider invoices sold by businesses (or their customers) located in Ealing, Hounslow, Hammersmith, Richmond, Kingston, Harrow, Acton, Brentford, Chelsea, Kensington, Holland Park, Barnet, and the north, south, centre, and east of London, plus other regions of England, Wales, and Scotland, and overseas.