Recommendations for optimizing the amount of receivables. Thesis: Accounts receivable management of the enterprise. Debt Reduction Factors
In economically developed countries, enterprises and firms that have divisions for the management of receivables and payables, whose staff specializes in resolving disputes related to their occurrence, there is no such problem as "uncollected debts".
Based on the fact that the mechanism of accounts payable management involves an analogy with the management accounts receivable, we single out the main conditions for building a management system at industrial enterprises.
- 1. Availability of accountants, lawyers, internal auditors and financial managers involved in the maintenance of the receivables and payables management system, special professional training and skills in the field of economics, taxes and financial management. The presence of such qualities implies, in particular, vigilance, scrupulous and competent record keeping of "doubtful" accounts, according to which receivables are distributed depending on how overdue they are.
- 2. Development of such a form of contract with buyers, customers (consumers of services), which provides for the essential conditions that determine its execution, including the procedure for mutual settlements.
- 3. Assessment of the partner's creditworthiness based on the accumulation and analysis of credit information from various internal and external sources, as well as their own experience of communication with customers and information credit institution potential business partner.
- 4. Optimal organization of the process of selling products (works, services), including the establishment of the most favorable period for settlements with counterparty organizations.
- 5. Establishing a limit on the amount of possible transactions based on minimizing the number of doubtful debts and maximizing profits.
- 6. Receipt of debts from buyers and timely settlements in repayment of own accounts payable.
- 7. Timely inventory of settlements and obligations with subsequent reconciliation of mutual settlements with debtors and creditors.
- 8. Obtaining the necessary information about the partner from the officially published financial statements.
- 9. Predictive assessment of the level of financial stability of the partner.
- 10. Widespread use of discounts for early payment by the buyer of goods (works, services).
To analyze accounts payable and mechanisms for managing it, it is necessary to consider the turnover ratio (Kob) and the average period of turnover of accounts payable. The supplier accounts payable turnover ratio is the ratio of the cost of goods sold to the amount of the corresponding accounts payable. The basis for the calculation is not revenue, but the cost, since it is it that is formed from the resources purchased from suppliers.
The rest of the analysis is carried out similarly to receivables, their turnover periods are compared.
The accounts payable turnover ratio characterizes changes commercial loan provided to the enterprise. It is calculated by dividing the volume of sales by the average accounts payable for the period. Influence K vol. on the debt and liabilities of the enterprise is displayed in fig. (2.1).
The average payables turnover period is the average loan repayment period in days, it is determined by dividing the number of days in a year (365) by Kob.
The increase in accounts payable reflects an increase in free sources of working capital. The amount of accounts payable must be compared with the amount of accounts receivable, since its growth and excess over accounts payable means attracting additional sources of financing.
For a proper understanding of accounts payable management, it is necessary to highlight the positive and negative shifts in economic activity enterprises associated with changes in accounts payable. For clarity, let's look at the data in the table.
Accounts payable management can be carried out using two main options: accounts payable optimization and accounts payable minimization.
Optimization - the search for new solutions with the help of which accounts payable and its change can have a positive impact on the enterprise (increase authorized capital, increase in reserve capital, etc.).
Minimization - a mechanism for managing accounts payable, in which the existing accounts payable is reduced to its reduction, up to full repayment.
In this chapter, we have studied theoretical basis accounts payable management. We considered the concepts and structure of accounts payable, the main stages of its management, and also studied methods for optimizing accounts payable at the enterprise.
How do debts arise and how relevant is this problem for the Russian economy? Why Russian organizations do not fulfill their obligations? According to studies by various experts, debtors do not pay their obligations for the following reasons:
- due to lack of working capital (no money) - 60%;
- the intention to extract additional profit from the current situation (i.e. actually get a free loan) - 30%;
- for no apparent reason - 10%.
For these reasons, all debtors can be divided into three main groups. The first, the "poor," are debtors who might want to pay, but they don't have the means. In other words, they "want to pay, but cannot." The second group of debtors, the so-called dynamists, are those who pay only when they are very strongly “asked” or “pressed” on them, that is, “they can pay, but do not want to.” And, finally, the third group - professional "scammers". They work purposefully, they have a wide arsenal of protection methods, but there are few of them.
The volume of unfulfilled obligations in the Russian economy as of May 2006 is approaching 3 trillion rubles. For comparison: the volume of tax debts is approximately 1 trillion rubles. The ratio of executed writ of execution to initiated enforcement proceedings is about 60%.
Thus, we can conclude that the executive system of Russia does not work quite efficiently. The volume of mutual obligations in the country's economy is huge, and there are no serious incentives to fulfill obligations. On the contrary, organizations are encouraged not to fulfill their obligations.
Exclusive opinion of experts:
N. Kushim, I. Vishnevskaya, 2K Audit -
Business Consulting
Many Russian organizations bear serious risks when faced with the problem of insolvency and unreliability of their partners. Due to the growth of receivables, there is a shortage of working capital, and this already threatens the solvency of the organization itself.
Is it possible to effectively manage debts or at least minimize the negative consequences of their occurrence? And how to do it? First, let's deal with the terms.
Debt is any unfulfilled monetary obligation that has arisen on the grounds provided for by the Civil Code, i.e. the obligation to pay money.
Debtors are natural or legal persons who, as a result of non-fulfillment of any obligations, owe a certain amount of money.
Accounts receivable - the total amount of accounts receivable on a certain date.
Current accounts receivable - the amount of accounts receivable that arises during the implementation of a project and will be repaid before its completion or within one year after the balance sheet date.
Long-term accounts receivable - the amount of accounts receivable that does not arise in the course of any project or will be settled after one year after the balance sheet date. Repayment of current receivables can be expected in the near future, and long-term - in the longer term.
Doubtful debt is a receivable for goods, services or works that is doubtful that it will ever be paid by the debtor.
Uncollectible receivables are receivables that are certain that they will never be paid by the debtor or that have expired. If in relation to a doubtful debt only doubts arise in its return, then in a bad debt there are no doubts that it will never be repaid.
1.2. Pre-contractual measures to reduce the risk of arrears
There are pre-contractual measures to reduce the risk of overdue receivables. What needs to be done before concluding an agreement with a potential client in order to minimize the possibility of problems arising from the counterparty's failure to fulfill its obligations? First, to diagnose potential counterparties. In particular, you can ask the counterparty for copies of constituent documents (preferably notarized). If he refuses to provide them, it will look rather suspicious, and one should consider whether it is worth continuing to cooperate with this organization if such problems arise already at the stage of concluding a contract.
If the organization has decided to continue cooperation, there are other ways to obtain the necessary documents. So, copies of constituent documents (charter and memorandum of association) and a valid extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (EGRLE) can be requested from the tax office. To do this, you need to submit a request to the tax office, which is registered with a legal entity - a potential counterparty. A legal entity is registered with the tax office serving the territory where its legal address is located (location of the organization).
The request can be submitted by any person, both legal and natural. Unified State Register of Legal Entities in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 51 of the Civil Code and paragraph 1 of Article 6 of the Law on State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs is open and publicly available. You can request either an extract from this register, or copies of constituent documents (charter and memorandum of association), certified by the stamp of the tax office.
An extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities contains all the basic information about a legal entity, including:
– full and abbreviated name;
– organizational and legal form;
– address (location);
- information about the founders;
– information about the head (director, general director);
– information about obtained licenses;
- information about bank accounts.
The extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities contains a lot of other information.
Answer to the request in the form of an extract and (or) constituent documents legal entity can be obtained no later than five days from the date of submission of the request to the tax office.
Having received these documents, one can understand that it is planned to conclude an agreement with this organization, find out who its founders and leader are, that is, the person who has the authority to sign the agreement.
If an organization plans to sign an agreement under which the counterparty is obliged to perform work or provide services that are subject to licensing, it is necessary to pay attention to whether it has the necessary licenses.
It is necessary to check the authority of persons to sign the contract, including checking the passport of the citizen who will directly sign the contract on the part of the counterparty, and also ask to present the decision of the general meeting of participants or shareholders on the election of the general director (in the event that he signs the contract) or power of attorney (if the contract is signed by a person acting on its basis).
It is necessary to carefully study the charter of a potential counterparty, since the constituent documents of a legal entity may limit the powers of the executive body to conclude transactions. In addition, the powers of the executive body may be limited on the basis of the law. So, for a limited liability company, a major transaction or several interconnected transactions related to the acquisition, alienation or the possibility of alienation by the company directly or indirectly of property, the value of which is more than 25% of the value of the property of the company, determined on the basis of data financial statements for the last reporting period preceding the day of the decision to make such transactions. To conclude large transactions, it is necessary to follow the procedure for their approval, provided for by law.
The decision to conclude a major transaction is made by the general meeting of the company's participants. If a company has a board of directors, the charter may place decisions on making major transactions related to the acquisition, alienation or the possibility of alienation by the company of property, the value of which is from 25 to 50% of the value of the company's property, within the competence of the board of directors. However, the charter may provide that the conclusion of major transactions does not require a decision of either the general meeting of the company's participants or the board of directors.
Therefore, if the transaction falls under the signs of a major transaction for the counterparty, it is necessary to have the minutes of the general meeting of the company's participants or the decision of the board of directors to approve the major transaction.
For joint-stock companies, a transaction (including a loan, credit, pledge, guarantee) or several related transactions related to the acquisition, alienation or the possibility of alienation by the company directly or indirectly of property, the value of which is 25% or more of the book value of the company's assets, is considered to be major. according to its financial statements as of the last reporting date. The exception is transactions made in the course of the ordinary business activities of the company, related to the placement by subscription of ordinary shares of the company and the placement of issuing valuable papers convertible into ordinary shares of the company.
The following procedure for approval of major transactions in joint-stock companies has been established. A major transaction must be approved by the board of directors (supervisory board) of the company or the general meeting of shareholders. The decision to approve a major transaction, the subject of which is property, the value of which is from 25 to 50% of the book value of the company's assets, is taken by all members of the board of directors (supervisory board) unanimously. In this case, the votes of retired members of the board of directors (supervisory board) of the company are not taken into account.
If unanimity of the board of directors (supervisory board) of the company on the issue of approval of a major transaction is not reached, by decision of the board of directors (supervisory board) this issue may be submitted for decision by the general meeting of shareholders. The decision to approve a major transaction is made by the General Meeting of Shareholders by a majority vote of the shareholders who own voting shares participating in the General Meeting of Shareholders.
The decision to approve a major transaction, the subject of which is property, the value of which is more than 50% of the book value of the assets, is taken by the general meeting of shareholders by a three-quarters majority of the votes of shareholders - owners of voting shares participating in the general meeting of shareholders.
Therefore, if a transaction with an organization that is a joint-stock company in its organizational and legal form is a major transaction for it, it is necessary to check the availability of the minutes of the general meeting of shareholders or the decision of the board of directors (supervisory board) on the approval of a major transaction.
Arbitrage practice
A closed joint-stock company filed a claim with an arbitration court to invalidate the contract on the assignment of the right (claim) that arose with the company in connection with the performance of work under a work contract, the cost of which was not paid by the customer. The amount of the claim exceeded 25% of the book value of the company's assets, however, the decision to conclude an agreement was made solely by the general director. The organization, in favor of which the claim was assigned, objected to the claim, referring to the fact that the contract is not subject to Article 79 of the Joint Stock Companies Law. The arbitration court granted the company's claim. The courts of appeal and cassation left the decision unchanged, recognizing the agreement as a transaction for the alienation of the company's assets for an amount exceeding 50% of their book value (the transaction amount was 70% of the book value of the assets), which is why the decision of the general meeting of shareholders was necessary for its conclusion, adopted by a three-quarters majority (information letter of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated March 13, 2001 No. 62 “Review of the practice of resolving disputes related to the conclusion of major transactions by business entities and transactions in which there is an interest”).
If the person signing the contract on behalf of the organization does not act on the basis of the charter, but of the power of attorney, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the signing of the contract does not go beyond the powers listed in the power of attorney. In practice, sometimes there are situations when an organization trusts a citizen to represent its interests when concluding contracts or making other transactions for which the amount of obligations assumed does not exceed a certain amount.
This is a very important point. You can not neglect the verification of the authority of the person signing the contract. If the contract is signed by a person who does not have the authority to act on behalf of another person, the transaction is considered concluded on behalf of and in the interests of the person who made it. And this means that the contract will not be signed with the organization in cooperation with which the organization is interested, namely with the citizen who directly signed the contract. Consequently, the contract with the organization with which cooperation was supposed to be concluded was not concluded.
Arbitrage practice
Hydroenergotechnoservice LLC applied to the Arbitration Court of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) with a claim to recover from the Higher School of Music of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) debt for the services rendered for the operation and maintenance of a water treatment plant and a biological wastewater treatment plant , as well as losses caused as a result of late payments, totaling 1,022,323 rubles. 89 kop. By a court decision, the claim was satisfied in the amount of 777,795 rubles. 30 kopecks, the rest of the claim is denied.
In protest of the Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, it is proposed to cancel the decision and refer the case for a new trial. The Presidium considers that the protest is subject to satisfaction on the following grounds. It follows from the case materials that the chief engineer of the Higher School of Music of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) signed contracts for the operation and maintenance of a water treatment plant and a biological wastewater treatment plant with Hydroenergotechnoservice LLC. The Higher School of Music of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is a public institution financed from the republican budget.
In civil circulation, on behalf of the school, its head can act (Article 53 of the Civil Code). The powers to make transactions were not transferred to the chief engineer by the charter or separate powers of attorney. In this regard, the decision of the court is subject to cancellation, and the case - to be transferred for a new trial.
The case was sent for a new trial to the same court (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated January 12, 1999 No. 5681/98).
Any serious transaction requires a comprehensive assessment of its economic effect, taking into account tax risks, transportation costs, currency regulation, etc.
When concluding a contract, it is important to take into account all the points. In practice, one can often observe cases when partners enter into a deal that is beneficial for all parties, and in the process of its implementation it turns out that one of the partners is forced to pay a tax that he did not even suspect existed, as a result of which the deal becomes unprofitable for him. Or the parties in the contract do not provide for transportation costs, after which disputes arise about who should pay them.
When concluding a contract, it is necessary to provide for the rights and obligations of the parties as fully as possible and take into account all possible risks. And finally, the most important in such a situation are the preventive conditions of contractual work, including the correct setting of the document flow in the organization, i.e., high-quality forms of contracts, the approval of each contract by lawyers, the procedure for signing waybills and other documents in the process of not only implementing contracts, but also the activities of the organization (Fig. 1).
Rice. 1. Conclusion of a civil contract1.3. Possible Debt Management Strategy
The choice of this or that debt management strategy depends on many factors taken into account in its formation: the liquidity of the debtor, the nature, volume and term of the debt, the activity of the opponent, the specific region in which the debtor is located, the specific manager managing the project. The more interrelated factors a manager can take into account, the higher the probability of successful project implementation.
When filing a lawsuit with a court, it is necessary to take into account the location of the debtor and the amount of the debt, since participation in a lawsuit in a court located in another region requires significant costs, which can ultimately cover the amount of the debt. In addition, it is important to pay attention to the liquidity of the debtor, otherwise there is a possibility that after receiving a court decision to recover a certain amount from the debtor, it will turn out that it is impossible to recover it, since he has neither money in the bank account nor property.
When choosing a debt management strategy, one should not go beyond ways to protect civil rights (Fig. 2). The choice of how to protect civil rights lies with the creditor. He may choose one or more of the methods provided by law. However, in some cases, the implementation of one or another method of protection may lead to the impossibility of using another method.
Accounts receivable refers to liquid assets, that is, it is quite easy to turn into cash. Therefore, this debt may well be included in the working capital of the organization. Unfortunately, in practice, converting debt into cash not always possible. Since preventive measures are almost always more effective and much cheaper, it is necessary to purposefully manage receivables.
Rice. 2. Possible ways to protect civil rightsIt is important not only to return the money as soon as possible, but also to prevent a further increase in receivables.
The smaller it is, the sooner it will be repaid, the less the organization's need for working capital and the higher the return on equity.
From the point of view of the general marketing policy, receivables are considered as a side effect of sales activities. In order not to lose existing customers and not to scare off future ones, you need to work with receivables carefully. Since in practice the situation most often arises in which the client wants to receive the goods as quickly as possible, and pay for it as late as possible, the main emphasis when working with this debt should be placed not on its liquidation as such, but on establishing the parity of commercial and financial interests of the organization. As a result, receivables management has to trade off short-term economic benefits in order to achieve long-term marketing goals, including retaining and expanding the customer base.
1.4. Accounts Receivable Management Methods
The amount of receivables is influenced by various factors, including market conditions, the scale of the organization's business, the existing system of mutual settlements with customers, the payment discipline of customers, the quality and consistency of work with this debt. All these factors must be taken into account when developing credit policy. Only properly organized analytical work with receivables can bring the relationship of the organization and its debtors out of a state of chaos and confusion. Relations with debtors should be systematized.
There are the following main methods of systematization of receivables. It is necessary to form customer credit rating, from which it would also be clear how important each client is to the organization. The criterion for rating the creditworthiness of customers should be the level of risk of non-payment of debt. This criterion, in turn, is determined by the client's credit history.
– general experience of cooperation with the client;
- the average monthly sales volume or the cost of services provided to the client;
- the turnover rate of the client's accounts receivable;
- amounts and terms of overdue receivables;
- an assessment of the significance of the client for the organization (it can be prepared by the manager who is responsible for working with him).
Considering the credit rating of customers, it is necessary to determine credit criteria, including the terms of deferral of loan repayment; the amount and procedure for granting discounts; form of penalties.
One of the main methods of systematizing receivables is to compile it classification on various grounds: on debtors, terms, grounds for the occurrence of debt, etc.
It is necessary to classify the existing accounts receivable and evaluate its structure for the following purposes:
– identify a group of VIP clients that provide the organization with the greatest profit and which it is undesirable to lose;
- to identify a group of persistent non-payers from whom debt repayment can be demanded;
- find out the average overdue debt, the duration of its existence;
- identify the types of products or types of services, i.e., the directions of their own business, which are most burdened with debts.
An effective method of systematizing receivables is to maintain its registry, focusing on arrears. One of the main tasks of the organization is to prevent the transition of receivables from the current category to the overdue category, and from it to the bad one. That is what the register is for.
It is especially important to maintain a receivables register for VIP clients, as they are the most important clients for the creditor organization and provide the largest volume of sales or services rendered. As for debtor clients from the group of persistent non-payers, it is better for the creditor organization to refuse further cooperation with them altogether, unless, of course, this contradicts its strategic interests.
It is necessary to carry out assessment of the real value and turnover rate of receivables.
Should be installed connection of the personnel motivation system with the amount of receivables. So, for a certain amount of proceeds received from the sale, a sales manager may be paid a bonus, and a fine in a predetermined amount may be levied on overdue receivables.
It is desirable to issue a system for granting loans and discounts in the form of internal standards of the organization. As a result of this, conditions may vary depending on the client's credit score. Discounts, in turn, should be set depending on the assessment of the importance of the client, as well as the maturity of the debt. The maximum allowable size is limited by the difference between the current and the calculated minimum allowable profitability. In this range, clients may be granted incentives in the form of discounts for the speed of debt repayment (prepayment, early payment, cash).
The use of certain methods of managing receivables largely depends on the behavior of the debtor. In practice, there are three options for the behavior of the debtor:
1) decency and punctuality. The debtor intends to repay the debt in a timely manner, honestly warns about the delay in payment, intends to maintain further cooperation with the creditor;
2) indifference. As a rule, the behavior of the debtor is characterized by apathy, indifference; violation of payment deadlines; serious internal corporate problems;
3) dishonesty. The debtor neglects his obligations, is confident in the impunity of his behavior, is clearly not interested in partnership with the creditor, is confident in the absence of future relations with him.
The creditor should also choose methods of influencing the debtor.
Accounts receivable management is based on the use of a large number of financial indicators. Moreover, ideally, the analysis of financial indicators should be carried out not only for the entire amount of receivables, but also for its individual items.
The results obtained during the analysis should be compared with the same indicators for previous periods, as well as with similar indicators in other organizations, of course, if possible. Unfortunately, there is no general statistics on the turnover of receivables in the Russian economy. The maximum that organizations analyze is the turnover ratio inventory(the ratio of sales proceeds to the average amount of stocks).
Each organization forms a set of analytical indicators, guided by its own information needs. As a rule, when analyzing receivables, analysts of Russian organizations calculate the following indicators:
- its total volume;
- the amount of overdue debt;
– timeliness of payments;
- its actual turnover (total and separately for customers);
- the dynamics of its repayment;
- the average period of deferment of payments;
- the average repayment period of the deferral;
- the dynamics of the movement of working capital, etc.
The calculation of these indicators allows you to control the outflow and inflow of working capital and maintain the minimum required level of available cash.
As practice shows, most Russian organizations constantly control the total amount of receivables. At the same time, they pay much less attention to the terms of its repayment. This is largely due to the lack or imperfection of the receivables management system. Often, the heads of organizations or their divisions cannot obtain the necessary information about the maturity of receivables, since they have Information Systems unable to provide the formation of the corresponding report.
In addition to the volume and timing of receivables, the sequence of payments, receipts for each group of goods and for each debtor, and the occurrence of a critical level of debt for each debtor are most often monitored. As for the methods of influencing debtors, for this purpose penalties, litigation, negotiations with debtors, suspension of the shipment of goods or services, as well as changes to previously agreed payment terms are usually used.
With regard to Russian conditions, the following measures can be proposed that are aimed at improving the receivables management system:
– refusal of further cooperation with clients with a low credit rating;
– periodic review of the maximum loan amount;
– use of the possibility of its payment by promissory notes;
– development of an action plan for working with each client, indicating the deadlines, responsible persons, cost estimates and the effect obtained;
- entering information on the planned amounts of repayable debts into the financial plan of the organization with subsequent monitoring of its implementation;
– creation of a special group to work with it;
- development and approval of the provision on motivation based on the results achieved by the group working with it.
1.5. Other methods of dealing with non-payments
Unfortunately, in domestic practice, in contrast to international practice, such methods of managing receivables with the participation of banks, such as factoring, insurance of financial risks or issuing a debt with a bill of exchange, are not widespread enough.
Expert opinion
Factoring is the fastest growing segment of the international financial industry. Over the past 15 years, factoring turnover in the world has increased 10 times and reached $1 trillion. (Stepanyan T. // Banking Review, 2006. - No. 3).
Interest factoring is a fee calculated on the basis of the amount of debt in percent per annum and paid upon closing factoring.
Discount factoring is a remuneration in the form of a discount, for example, 3% of the debt amount, and is paid when factoring is opened.
Fierce competition in the market forces you to set low prices by keeping profits at a minimum level. This situation does not allow creditors to pay commissions to banks in the event of a debt, and therefore, to use such methods of managing receivables as factoring or issuing a debt with a bill of exchange when working with debtors.
In an environment where every modern organization needs financial resources and protection against risks, especially in trading operations, for successful operation and development in the market, factoring is a modern and flexible service that helps the entrepreneur find the right solution with the help of working capital financing against the debtor's debt. It is hard to come up with a full-fledged alternative to factoring. A short-term bank loan to replenish working capital is a one-time operation. In addition, for dynamically developing organizations, everything that can serve as collateral for the bank (production equipment, buildings) has already been registered as collateral for "long" loans.
Factoring is the most suitable solution for organizations that, along with the growth of sales volumes, rapidly increase the number of debtors and the costs associated with controlling them and administering accounts.
However, the legal framework for factoring is provided only for banks, which allows them to work normally in this business. Organizations real sector economy has problems with paying VAT. This tax is levied on discount factoring, but not on interest factoring.
In connection with the integration of Russia into world economy, GDP growth, as well as an increase in foreign investment in the economy of our country, the need for adequate measures to ensure against financial risks in the business sector has increased. Russia's lag in the development of financial risk insurance services is due to the imperfection of the legislation. The market for these services is regulated by the norms of the Civil Code, the Tax Code, the Laws on the organization of insurance business, on joint-stock companies, on banks and banking activities, on bankruptcy, etc. At the same time, despite the impressive list of regulatory documents regulating insurance activities in the field of financial risk insurance , the Civil Code of the Russian Federation does not contain such a thing as " financial risk”, there is only entrepreneurial risk. And the list of types of insurance established by the Law on the Organization of Insurance Business, on the contrary, contains such a concept as “insurance of financial risks”, while each of the above types is specified in separate insurance rules.
In the near future, experts predict a surge in financial risk insurance in Russia, which will attract large foreign companies to the Russian market. At the same time, financial risk insurance should develop subject to the adaptation of Western standards to Russian market. However, most of the Russian participants in this market will not be able to seriously compete with them.
In modern conditions, other schemes for influencing the debtor with the involvement of specialized "power" structures are more often used. As practice shows, efforts to "knock out" (sometimes in the literal sense) debts from unscrupulous debtors do not always give the desired result.
As for bill schemes, some organizations still try to use them, despite the need to pay for bank services. In connection with these circumstances, the main methods of managing receivables in the conditions of the Russian economy are:
– control of receivables in real time (the area of responsibility of IT-specialists and sales managers);
- preliminary verification of customers (the area of responsibility of the security service, whose duties should include the collection of information about potential customers and subsequent impact on debtors);
– claims work (performed by a specially created claims service and includes identifying debtors, structuring receivables, taking measures to collect receivables and, in case of non-payment of debts, applying to the judicial authorities).
The entire debt collection process can be divided into the following main stages:
– analysis of documents and attempt of pre-trial debt collection;
- judicial procedure;
- enforcement proceedings;
– use of alternative methods of debt repayment.
Finding ways to reduce receivables and payables, and their optimization is an important part of management financial condition enterprises.
Drobozina L.A. 26 notes that the analysis and management of receivables is of particular importance during periods of inflation, when such immobilization of own working capital becomes especially unprofitable. Receivables management directly affects the company's profitability and determines the discount and credit policy for low-performing buyers, ways to accelerate the collection of debts and reduce bad debts, as well as the choice of sale terms that ensure a guaranteed flow of funds.
Pavlova L.N. 25 highlights the following methods for managing receivables:
Accounting for orders;
Registration of accounts;
And establishing the nature of receivables.
According to Teplova T.V. 37, among the points to be considered, there are some that require special attention, for example, the need to find ways to reduce the average time interval between the completion of the sale of goods and the issuance of an invoice to the buyer.
Stoyanova E.S.31 determines that in order to improve the efficiency of receivables management, it is also necessary to evaluate the possible costs associated with receivables, i.e. the lost profit from not using funds, instead of investing them.
Ryndin A.G., Shamaev G.A. 30 define that the management of receivables is associated with two types of time reserves - for issuing an invoice and sending by mail. The time to issue an invoice is the number of days from sending the goods to the buyer until the invoice is sent. Obviously, the company should send invoices at the same time as the goods. The postal delivery time is between the preparation of the invoice and its receipt by the buyer. Postal transit times can be reduced by decentralizing invoicing and postage (using express mail for large invoices with due delivery or discounts on advance payments).
Accounts receivable management, according to V.L. Bykadorov, P.D. Alekseev 27, involves, first of all, control over the turnover of funds in the calculations.
The acceleration of turnover in dynamics is regarded as a positive trend. Of great importance are the selection of potential buyers and the determination of the terms of payment for the goods provided for in the contracts.
According to Form I. A. 11, the most common ways of influencing debtors in order to pay off debts are sending letters, phone calls, personal visits, and selling debts to special organizations.
In order to maximize cash flow, an enterprise should develop a wide variety of contract models with flexible terms of the form of payment and flexible pricing.
Various options are possible: from prepayment or partial prepayment to transfer for sale and a bank guarantee. Offering discounts is justified in three main situations.
Lowering the price leads to increased sales, and the cost structure is such that this is reflected in an increase in the overall profit from the sale of these products. In other words, the product is highly elastic and has a fairly high proportion of fixed costs.
The system of discounts intensifies the inflow of funds (FC) in the face of a shortage in the enterprise. At the same time, a short-term critical decline in prices is possible up to a negative financial result from specific transactions.
The system of discounts for expediting payment is more effective than the system of penalties for late payment.
Again, this is about spontaneous financing. In the context of inflation, it leads to a decrease present value of services sold, therefore, the possibility of providing a discount for early payment should be accurately assessed.
Making a generalization, we can state that two approaches are at the heart of receivables management:
Comparison of additional profit associated with a particular scheme of spontaneous financing, with the costs and losses arising from a change in the policy of product sales;
Comparison and optimization of the amount and terms of receivables and payables. These comparisons are based on the level of creditworthiness, payment deferral time, discount strategy, income and expenses for collection.
Balabanov I.T. 7 determines that accounts payable -- the most affordable source of financing for the current activities of the enterprise.
Bakanov M.I., Sheremet A.D. 9 note that, despite its attractiveness, this source (accounts payable) is most often not free. Most suppliers compensate for the amount of "lost profit" from lending to their customers, laying it in the price of goods. Estimating the cost of a commodity loan is complicated by the fact that the number of suppliers can be quite large, and the conditions for mutual settlements are varied. The cost of accounts payable is often affected not only by installment fees, but also by other factors, such as incentives for selected volumes, maintenance of inventory, etc., etc.
Therefore, according to N. A. Rusak, V. I. Strazhev, O. F. Migun 6, the method of managing accounts payable is a thorough analysis of the company's obligations under commodity loans.
The same opinion is shared by Borodina E.I., Golikova Yu.S. 12. They note that with the increase in the volume of received commercial loans, the task of managing accounts payable is aimed at maintaining the financial stability and liquidity of the organization. The solution to this problem, according to Borodina E.I., Golikova Yu.S., includes several stages, with special attention to be paid to balancing accounts payable and receivable in terms of cost, maturity, volume.
Rumyantseva Z.P. 31 notes that most often the accounts payable of an enterprise are adjacent to the accounts receivable, therefore, it is necessary for enterprises to implement and form an integrated approach to the management of accounts receivable and accounts payable.
Dontsova L. V., Nikiforova N. 17 note that the need to manage accounts payable follows from the fact that the skillful use of temporarily borrowed funds helps to maximize profits from the activities of the organization.
But the most holistic approach is offered by Gaivaronskaya K.D., Gorinov M.N. 16.
They note that in order to effectively manage the debts of a company, it is necessary, first of all, to determine their optimal structure for a particular enterprise and in a particular situation: draw up a budget for accounts payable, develop a system of indicators (coefficients) that characterize both quantitative and qualitative assessment of the state and development of relations with the company's creditors and take certain values of such indicators as planned.
The second step in the process of optimizing accounts payable should be an analysis of the compliance of actual indicators with their framework level, as well as an analysis of the reasons for the deviations that have arisen.
At the third stage, depending on the discrepancies identified and the reasons for their occurrence, a set of practical measures should be developed and implemented to bring the debt structure in line with the planned (optimal) parameters.
Polyak G. B. 39 determines that, as practice shows, no enterprise can do without, even if insignificant, accounts payable, which always exists due to the peculiarities of budgetary, rent and other periodic payments: wages, supplies of goods and materials without advance payment, etc. This type accounts payable should be regarded as "inevitable". Although it allows you to temporarily use “foreign” funds in your own commercial circulation, it is of no fundamental importance if such payments are made on time.
According to Polyak G.B. 39, in order to optimize accounts payable, it is necessary to determine its “planned” characteristics.
The most commonly used ratio associated with the assessment of accounts payable of an enterprise is the liquidity ratio, which is calculated as the ratio of working capital to short-term debt obligations.
Managers and financiers also often use the so-called "sour test" ratio, which is the ratio of the difference between current assets and the cost of inventories to current liabilities. Both the first and second indicators should characterize the ability of the enterprise to cover its obligations to creditors. These coefficients have two significant drawbacks:
they operate with such concepts as "short-term" or "current" obligations, the term of which can vary from one day to one year. Therefore, the ratio of the terms of payments in the composition of both accounts payable and receivable is not taken into account in more detail;
the calculation is made, as a rule, on the date of the balance sheet, or some other fixed moment, which cannot fully speak of the actual state of the company's liquidity. This is due to the influence of many different (including random) circumstances at some particular moment (for example, on the balance sheet date, the company received a “grant” or “subsidy”, which does not lead to an increase in accounts payable, and returned them the next day ).
The following points make it possible to eliminate such “shortcomings” in the system for analyzing the state of the enterprise.
In the first case, for example, carrying out calculations using more discrete values (distribution of debts over monthly periods or (if necessary) weekly periods).
In the second case - to determine the average monthly or average annual value of the liquidity ratio and other similar indicators.
One of the most optimal framework indicators of a company's healthy state can be called a situation where accounts payable does not exceed accounts receivable. At the same time, as we have already noted, this “non-exceedance” should be achieved with respect to the most discrete range of values (terms) possible: annual accounts payable should not exceed annual accounts receivable, monthly and 5-day accounts payable should not exceed ti daily accounts receivable, respectively, etc.
When this “temporary balance” of receivables and payables is achieved, it is also necessary to achieve a “balance of their value”: that is, in this situation, interest and other expenses associated with servicing accounts payable (at least) should not exceed income caused by benefits that associated with the very fact of postponing own receivables (in this case, the “normal” markup is not taken into account).
In order to determine the degree of dependence of the company on accounts payable, it is necessary to calculate several of the following indicators.
The ratio of the company's dependence on accounts payable. Calculated as a ratio of the sum borrowed money to the total assets of the company. This ratio gives an idea of how much the company's assets are formed at the expense of creditors.
Enterprise self-financing ratio. It is calculated as the ratio of own capital (part of the authorized capital) to attracted capital. This indicator allows you to track not only the percentage of equity, but also the ability to manage the entire company.
Debt balance. It is defined as the ratio of the amount of accounts payable to the amount of accounts receivable. This balance should be drawn up taking into account the terms of these two types of debts. At the same time, the desired level of correlation largely depends on the strategy adopted by the enterprise (aggressive, conservative or moderate).
described above economic indicators give, basically, a quantitative assessment of accounts payable. For a more complete analysis of the composition of accounts payable, it is necessary to give a qualitative description of these liabilities.
Time factor. It is defined as the ratio of the weighted average of the maturity of accounts payable to the weighted average of the maturity of receivables. At the same time, the average repayment period of accounts payable must be kept at a level not lower than those average terms that the company's debtors must comply with.
Profitability ratio of accounts payable. It is defined as the ratio of the amount of profit to the amount of accounts payable, which are reflected in the balance sheet. This indicator characterizes the effectiveness of attracted funds and it is especially advisable to analyze it by periods. At the same time, the dependence of the dynamics of changes in this coefficient on those main factors that influenced its growth or decrease (changes in the repayment terms, the structure of creditors, the average size and cost of accounts payable, etc.) should be determined.
Shishkin M.I., Sattarov R.G., Zverev V.A. 43 define that the management of accounts payable involves:
the correct choice of the form of debt (bank or commercial) in order to minimize interest payments and the cost of acquiring material assets;
establishing the most convenient form of a bank loan and its term (short-term loan without collateral, secured loan);
preventing the formation of arrears associated with additional costs (penalties, penalties).
Fokin Yu. 41 adheres to a similar position and notes that as a result of the ongoing work on managing accounts payable, enterprises get the opportunity to:
Evaluate the effectiveness of the credit policy of suppliers, determine the cost of accounts payable, taking into account discounts, bonuses, deferrals, credit limits, obligations to maintain product balances and other delivery conditions;
Make decisions about the expediency of working with a supplier, both at the operational and strategic levels;
Increase the profitability of accounts payable and the enterprise as a whole;
Align accounts payable and receivable management to improve financial stability companies;
Promptly identify areas and eliminate the causes of inefficient management of accounts payable;
Motivate staff to solve the problems of accounts payable management.
One of the main indicators characterizing the effectiveness of the management of receivables and payables is the indicator of the economic effect as a result of accelerating the turnover of receivables and payables. It is expressed in the relative release of funds from circulation and an increase in the amount of profit.
The amount of funds released from circulation due to the acceleration of turnover (Ev) or additional funds attracted into circulation (Ep) in case of slowdown in turnover is determined by multiplying the actual one-day sales turnover by the change in the duration of one turnover in days:
E \u003d (T1- To) * P1 / D, (8)
where T1 - the duration of one turnover for the reporting year;
To is the duration of one turnover for the previous year;
P1 - actual proceeds from the sale of products, works, services for the analyzed period.
D is the number of calendar days of the analyzed period (30; 60; 90; 180; 360).
As already mentioned, one of the important points in working capital management is the determination of a reasonable ratio between receivables and payables. At the same time, it is necessary to evaluate not only their own credit conditions for buyers, but also the credit conditions for suppliers of raw materials and materials, in terms of reducing costs or increasing additional income received by the enterprise when using discounts.
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
Federal Agency for Education
KRASNOYARSK STATE ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE AND CONSTRUCTION
Department of Economics and Finance
COURSE WORK
By discipline: "Financial management".
Topic: "Optimization of management of receivables and payables at the enterprise."
5th YEAR STUDENT
GR. OTN-20-2 Bondarenko A.N.
CHECKED: Yakushev A.A.
NAZAROVO 2005
Introduction 3
Section 1. Essence, classification, procedure for writing off accounts receivable and
accounts payable 4
1.1. The concept of receivables and payables 4
1.2. Classification of receivables and payables in the structure of working capital of the enterprise 7
1.3. Types of receivables and payables 8
Section 2. General characteristics of JSC Krasnoyarskenergo 12
2.1. General information about JSC Krasnoyarskenergo 12
2.2. Organization of accounting policy and reporting of OJSC 13
2.3. Analysis of receivables and payables of OJSC Krasnoyarskenergo 14
2.3.1. Analysis of the composition and structure of receivables 14
2.3.2. Analysis of indicators of quality and liquidity of receivables 16
2.3.3. Analysis of other indicators characterizing quality
accounts receivable 20
Analysis of accounts payable 22
Section 3. Management of receivables and payables
at OAO Krasnoyarskenergo 26
3.1. Accounts receivable and payable management methods 26
3.1.1. Accounts receivable management approaches 26
3.1.2. Factoring as a method of management 28
3.1.3. Restructuring as a method of managing accounts payable 31
3.2. Measures to reduce accounts receivable and payable of JSC 33
3.2.1. Program to reduce accounts receivable and payable
OJSC Krasnoyarskenergo for 2008-2009 33
3.2.2. Payables repayment program of JSC Krasnoyarskenergo 35
3.2.3. The program of work with "dead" debts of debtors of JSC "Krasnoyarskenergo" for 2010 36
Conclusion 40
References 43
Appendix 1 44
Appendix 2 47
Introduction
The shortage of funds in the economy and the insolvency of many enterprises have made the issues of working with debtors one of the main ones in the work of the enterprise. Receipt of payments from debtors is one of the main sources of cash flow in the enterprise.
Carrying out entrepreneurial activities, the participants in the property turnover offer that as they carry out business operations, they will not only return the invested funds, but also receive income.
As part of working capital, namely part of the circulation funds, receivables, and especially unjustified "hanging" sharply reduces the turnover of working capital and thereby reduces the income of the enterprise.
The relevance of this topic - "Optimizing the management of receivables and payables" - is obvious, since effective management of working capital (current assets minus short-term liabilities) leads to an increase in income and reduces the risk of a company's cash shortage. With the help of optimal management of cash, receivables and inventories, an enterprise can maximize the rate of return and minimize its liquidity and commercial risk.
The purpose of this work is to study the techniques and methods of managing receivables and payables, as well as the development of specific proposals for its reduction in JSC Krasnoyarskenergo to ensure the normal functioning of the enterprise and maximize profits.
The object of the study is the Open Joint Stock Company "Krasnoyarskenergo".
The subject of the study is the state of receivables and payables for 2008 and 2009.
The information base of the study: regulations, articles, monographs by leading economists on the assessment, analysis and management of receivables and payables. In addition, a computer database of debtors and creditors of OAO Krasnoyarskenergo was used, as well as financial statements for 2008-2009.
Section 1. Essence, classification, procedure for writing off receivables and payables
Accounts payable- funds temporarily attracted by the enterprise in the form of a loan (a loan in cash or commodity form on terms of repayment, urgency and payment) and subject to return to the relevant legal entities and individuals.
Accounts receivable- the debt of an individual or legal entity, monetary or property, to an entity that has lent (credited) funds, material assets or granted a deferred payment for goods (works, services).
§ 1.1. The concept of receivables and payables.
Debtor, debtor (from the Latin word debitum - debt, obligation) is one of the parties to a civil law obligation of a property relationship between two or more persons.
Accounts receivable is the amount of debt due to the enterprise from other legal entities or individuals. The emergence of accounts receivable in the system of cashless payments is an objective process of economic activity of the enterprise.
Accounts receivable is an enterprise asset that is associated with legal rights, including the right to own.
Therefore, a receivable is a future economic benefit embodied in an asset associated with legal rights, including ownership.
A receivable asset has three essential characteristics: It embodies a future benefit that provides the ability to directly or indirectly generate cash surpluses. Assets are resources managed by an entity. Moreover, the rights to the benefit or potential services must be legal or have legal evidence of the possibility of obtaining them. For example, when reflecting the fact of the sale of an asset, the seller forms a receivable.
Accounts receivable may be included in current assets in full if the amount that is not collected within one year is disclosed. Along with this, receivables that are more than a year old as part of long-term assets can be included in the item "accounts receivable".
The economic essence of accounts payable lies in the fact that it is not only part of the organization's property, as a rule, cash, but also inventory items, for example, in commodity loan obligations. As a legal category, accounts payable is a special part of the organization's property, which is the subject of legal obligations between the organization and its creditors. The organization owns and uses accounts payable, but it is obliged to return or pay this part of the property to creditors who have the right to claim it. This part of the property is the organization's debts, someone else's property, someone else's money in the possession of the debtor organization.
Thus, accounts payable have a dual legal nature: as part of the property, it belongs to the organization on the right of ownership or even the right of ownership in relation to the money or things received on loan, certain generic features; as an object of legal obligations, these are the debts of the organization to creditors, that is, persons authorized to claim or collect from the organization the specified part of the property.
Taking into account the signs noted, accounts payable could be defined as a part of the organization’s property that is the subject of debt obligations of the organization-debtor (debtor) arising from various legal grounds to authorized persons - creditors, subject to accounting and reflection in the balance sheet as debts of the organization-balance-holder.
As part of the property of the organization, two different parts can be distinguished: equity and accounts payable. Own capital - a part of the organization's property to which no other persons have any rights. In the semantic meaning of equity capital, a number of legal norms use the concept of net assets, which is associated with a certain amount of the authorized capital of a business entity, which cannot be less than the value of net assets (clause 4 of article 90 and clause 4 of article 99 of the Civil Code), otherwise guarantees of the interests of the company's creditors will become unrealistic. The amount of equity or net assets is determined by reducing the total book value of the organization's property by the amount of accounts payable.
Net assets are assets free from liabilities, which corresponds to the concept of own funds (capital) in relation to a credit institution. In this case, the concept of liabilities is used as a synonym for the concept of accounts payable.
Thus, firstly, accounts payable are included in compound property of the organization; secondly, the property of the organization, less accounts payable, is its own capital, or net assets; thirdly, the object of recovery from creditors will be all the property of the organization, including accounts payable.
Since accounts payable is one of the sources of funds at the disposal of the debtor organization, it is shown in the liabilities side of the balance sheet. Accounts payable includes indicators for the following items:
Suppliers and contractors
Bills payable
Debt to subsidiaries and affiliates
Indebtedness to the staff of the organization
Debts to the budget and social funds
Debts to participants (founders) for payment of income
The concept of normal receivables
Such an asset as accounts receivable is present in almost every enterprise. Accounts receivable, that is, the amount of all debts to the enterprise for a certain period, is of a different nature. As a rule, its largest share consists of the debt of buyers for the shipped goods and suppliers for the prepayment made.
For the effective functioning of the enterprise, it is necessary that the accounts receivable have a normal indicator. The normal indicator of receivables is characterized by such volume at which a significant part of the assets is not frozen. That is, when accounts receivable in the structure of current assets does not exceed much more liquid assets - cash.
Remark 1
In order to manage receivables, it is necessary to constantly monitor their performance in the context of each debtor, but there are also methods in which the enterprise enlists certain guarantees of timely payments from buyers and deliveries of goods from suppliers.
Directions for optimizing receivables
The enterprise management system should take into account the dynamics of such an important performance indicator as receivables. Its value signals not only the volume of sales, the funds for which will be received in the future, but also possible violations of payment terms.
In order for the indicator of accounts receivable not to deviate from the standard, it is necessary to use certain tools. Let's consider them in more detail:
Contractual security of obligations
In order to protect the enterprise from the risk of non-payments (late payments) from buyers, contracts for the supply of goods (performance of work) specify the conditions for charging fines and penalties. For example, the contract may state that payment for the goods must be transferred no later than 20 calendar days from the date of shipment of the goods. For violation of such deadlines, a fine of 5% and a penalty of 0.1% for each day of delay are provided.
A surety guarantee of deferred payment in the form of a bill of exchange has its advantages. Thus, the holder of a bill can realize a bill before its maturity date. Bills of exchange can be simple and transferable. In the first case, the bill is easy to implement, in the second case it is more difficult to do so.
Methods of influencing debtors
In addition to these tools for optimizing receivables, you can use various methods of influencing the company's debtors. All of them can be divided into four groups.
legal methods.
In this case, it means filing a lawsuit against the debtor, pre-trial correspondence, searching for compromise solutions (installment plan, debt assignment, etc.)
Economic methods.
In this case, the penalties and penalties specified in the agreements are applied to the debtor for unfulfilled obligations.
Psychological methods.
In this case, phone calls, emails with a reminder of the need to repay the debt are used.
Physical methods.
In this case, methods such as the arrest of the debtor's property, or the arrest of the debtor himself, are used.
Remark 2
Each individual organization forms its own system for optimizing receivables and methods of working with debtors. It is important that these methods are within the framework of the current legislation.
