At Last ! Solid Info On Canadian Accounts Receivables Loans & Financing – A Business Credit Alter
Many Canadian businesses still feel they are somewhat of a captive prisoner in the difficult business credit environment. While interests are low in Canada and the stock markets seem to be doing fairly ok its clear that access to business credit and financing is still very difficult.
It's kind of like a slow thawing out, with the freezer of course being Canadian chartered banks. Many surveys suggest that a good percentage of Canadian business that applies for working capital and cash flow facilities do not get all of the financing they need, if in fact they are approved at all.
This forces you, the business owner or manager, to take a second look at what is available out there to keep your operating capital adequate. We're definitely not putting blame on the banks (we love Canadian banks) but could there be a better way for small and medium sized businesses to access credit...well we think so .
Isn't the saying that ' necessity is the mother of invention '? In our case independent finance firms, both U.S. owned and Canadian have stepped up to the bar, providing accounts receivable loans for your financing needs. We hasten to point out that the word ' loan ' is a misnomer here... our clients use the term also but we caution them that the good news is that these facilities arent loans, they are just the moneitzation of your largest current asset - your a/r.
Accounts receivables loans in Canada go by many different terms, some you have heard of, some you may not have. They include invoice discounting, factoring, receivable financing, and our favorite, confidential invoice discounting or factoring. In effect you are maximizing your cash flow from operations by monetizing your assets, i.e. the receivables.
Accounts receivable loans are your answer to being stuck in the middle - at one end of the spectrum is your investment in accounts receivables and providing terms to your own clients, while at the other end it's a questions of not being able to access traditional business credit to finance that same investment.
So, do you know a good solution when you see one? Receivable financing would appear to be that solution. Turning your company into a cash flow machine via receivable finance is a solid strategy being adopted by thousands of Canadian firms.
The process is simple, as you generate sales invoices are immediately sold, i.e. converted into cash, at a discount. In Canada the rates of business factoring range widely - anywhere from 9% per annum to 1-3% per month.
Business owners accept this pricing when they realize they have decent gross margins to absorb this cost, while at the same time using the new found cash to take discounts with suppliers and sell more and generate more profits. In some cases 50-100%of the financing cost can be offset in the manner in which you use your new found cash flow.
Canadian business owners would prefer that their clients and suppliers didn't know they were financing their A/R via accounts receivable loans. That's whey they investigate C I D, confidential invoice discounting, allowing them to bill and collect their own receivables as they wish. (Traditional factoring via the U.S. and U.K. model requires your clients be notified.
