Small changes to policies and processes could help Yorkshire SMEs improve their cashflow levels, a senior finance professional has said.
Matthew Grant, Yorkshire head of accountancy and business advisory at international accountancy and business advisory group Azets, is encouraging business owners to think strategically about their terms of trade and customer relationships, and review their debtor days, and payment processes and policies.
He has offered five key tips for SMEs in the county:
- Implement robust terms of trade: clearly setting out terms and conditions at the start of a new working relationship puts everyone on the same page and gives the business protection if a client fails to pay or becomes insolvent. These documents should be reviewed by a commercial lawyer and updated as the business grows and evolves so they cover any new ways of working and changes in processes.
- Have a process for ending relationships with clients who donâ