There's nothing like an economic downturn to focus corporate minds on just how important cash flow management is to a business. Accountancy Age reported a few weeks ago that the major accountancy firms were seeing an upsurge in demand for working capital advice, but that was coming from larger corporates.
However, sales of Graydon's open training courses on the Basics of Credit Control and Understanding Credit Information are up 60% this year. Normally, these courses are bought by medium sized companies wanting to educate newcomers to their credit departments, however, there is a new trend developing.......it would appear that many new sign ups to the courses are SME owners wanting to develop credit management skills in order to ensure they collect cash in from customers quicker. actually, course tutors report that this makes for an interesting mix, as credit controllers/managers rub shoulders with small business owners to exchange experiences.
we hear a lot of people calling for the government to step in and help SMEs survive the credit crunch, but its good to see that some businesses at least are recognising the challenge ahead, and deciding to do things off their own bat.... a toast please for the small business entrepreneur!!