The government has formally launched a new campaign to help small businesses tackle the issue of cashflow, central to the campaign is a series of self-help guides developed in collaboration with the Institute of Credit Management (ICM).
Grouped under a series entitled Managing Cashflow, each of the guides provides a checklist and tips to give businesses advice at a glance.
According to Philip King, Director General of the ICM: "They cover a diverse range of subjects all with the principal objective of getting paid." He adds, "These include guides on negotiating payment terms, invoicing, chasing payments, factoring, credit insurance and what to do if a customer goes bust."
The guides, which have also received the support of major High Street Banks as part of the government's new Small Business Finance Forum, were developed under the auspices of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) working closely with specialists within the ICM. At their launch, Secretary of State for Business Peter Mandelson described the guides as part of a series of initiatives providing practical support to help businesses help themselves through these difficult times.
"Cashflow is critical to business survival," he says, "but all too often the day-to-day challenge of running a business, particularly a smaller business, can mean losing sight of some of the skills for successful cashflow management. These guides are designed to provide straightforward and speedy advice with simple checklists and top tips. We want to help smaller businesses plan for the difficult times ahead. We want to ensure that they are healthy enough to survive and come out strongly at the other side."
Philip King, Director General of the ICM, believes that the Institute is ideally placed to provide the support the government needs for small businesses: "For some 70 years now the ICM has been promoting the need for excellence in credit management and raising the awareness of its vital role in helping businesses to grow.
"We are today the established thought-leader in these matters, with a comprehensive programme of training, publications, and services that credit managers need to survive and indeed prosper in what are increasingly difficult times. Our online learning tools (icmOS), accredited qualifications, and specialist recruitment division are all examples of why the government continues to recognise our work in supporting credit managers, and the importance of good credit management per se for businesses across the UK."
The 10 guides in the series are:
1. Knowing your customer
2. Payment Terms
3. Invoicing
4. Treating suppliers fairly
5. Credit Insurance
6. Factoring and finance options
7. Chasing payment
8. When cash runs short
9. When all else fails
10. When your customer goes bust.
As well as the banks, the guides are supported by major industry bodies including the ACCA, BBA, CBI, FPB, FSB, the ICAEW, IoD and the British Chambers of Commerce.
The Managing Cashflow guides follow soon after an earlier collaboration between BERR and the ICM that saw more than 100,000 Combating the Crunch leaflets distributed to small businesses across the UK.
The guides are available online at: www.creditmanagement.org.uk/berrguides.htm
Jamieo"Making Your Cash Flow"
