The accounting part of your business is simply a process. Just like any process, there are ways you can make your accounting more efficient. The accounts receivable part of accounting is one of the most important as it determines how you get paid by your customers. In today’s episode of MissionBusinessPodcast.com, Bernard Roesch shares how you can streamline your accounts receivable process using some of the features of Quickbooks.
If you have any questions about this podcast episode, please feel free to contact us.
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The Typical Accounts Receivable Process
While each business is unique, most accounts receivable processes follow the following steps.
- You become aware of a sale.
- Once you become aware of a sale, you usually create a sales order that contains information about that particular customer’s purchase.
- Once they are ready to complete the purchase and you are ready to provide services or product, you convert the sales order to an invoice in your system.
- At that point you send the invoice to the customer, the customer pays the invoice, and you log the payment against that invoice. This completes the accounts receivable process for this particular transaction.
Streamlining Accounts Receivable
There are a number of things that can be streamlined in the accounts receivable process.
You can use electronic invoices instead of paper invoices.
- This saves you time by keeping all of your data centralized in your accounting system and not leaving room for error with mailed physical invoices.
- By having electronic invoices, you give yourself the ability for electronic payment.
- You can include payment links directly on invoices, which allows customers to pay with credit card or bank payments.
- With most electronic payment options, you will be able to automatically post those payments to the client’s invoice so that your accounting data is kept up-to-date at the time they pay their invoice.
- Finally, if a customer is behind on their invoice or you just want to remind them about an upcoming payment date, you can send reminders and account statements based on their payment status.
QuickBooks And Third-Party Applications
Most of the ways to streamline your accounts receivable can be done natively within Quickbooks. However, if you have a very specific accounting need, there are third-party applications available for QuickBooks to accomplish many different things.
Need Help Configuring Accounting Processes
If you need help configuring this and other accounting processes in your business, contact Bernard today. Bernard has experience with understanding the needs of a wide range of businesses and can help you configure your process and train the team to use it.
You can also visit MissionBusinessPodcast.com for more insights that Bernard has been sharing with us in the previous episodes.
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