This year is almost over. You have approximately 30 days to recover any money on your past due accounts before this year is gone. Those past due accounts you do not recover by year’s end might negatively impact your profits. It is critical you make time to determine which strategies or actions are to be taken to recover these monies before 2017 rolls around.
Here are some suggested steps:
1. Take a look at your overall aging report and mark all those accounts 60 days past due or less. Analyze in detail each account taking into consideration how prominent each account is for your Company and the impact of not recovering its outstanding balance. Should you arrive to the conclusion that one particular account is too valuable, then negotiate immediately so that you can recover at the earliest.
2. Find out the reasons each account is past due. In as much as possible, obtain supporting documentation proving the reasons for their delinquency.
3. For your accounts over 60 days past due without a previously negotiated payment plan, the best course of action is to assign them to a collections agency as soon as possible. I recommend you select a specialized commercial collections agency in your industry who is willing to charge you solely on collected accounts on a contingency basis.
Remember, a collections agency should be your first attempt to collect outside the legal arena. Once you have exhausted your collection efforts, then you can resort to legal advice and proceedings, but not before. Your objective is to recover as much as possible in the least amount of time and most importantly without incurring in additional costs to you.
Get on track. Take action! Do not let time go by any longer. You can still recover from your past due accounts to close out 2016 in better financial shape!
