Don’t be surprised if your days sales outstanding figure starts creeping up – many finance execs tell us customers are dragging their feet when paying their bills. Don’t take it lying down.

These days, you want every resource at your disposal to get more cash in the door faster.

Feel like your company’s tried everything under the sun to improve your cash flow?

Try appealing to your staffers’ competitive nature.

Ready, set, collect!

One southern finance exec found a way to turn a little friendly competition into a 12-day decrease in his company’s DSO.

The key to remember : “What gets measured gets fixed.” If you crystallize for your staffers exactly what’s in front of them, your chance of success skyrocket.

A simple chart can get you there. For each member of your collections team, break down your A/R by customer type and number of days outstanding.

Here’s where the competition comes in: Post the info every week on a chart in your department. (Accounts Receivables’ sales counterparts do it all the time – it’ll give them more common ground).

A weekly “report card” can light a fire under folks. Your A/R staffers can see at a glance which accounts are starting to fall behind (and by how much) so nothing gets too far out.

You measure the A/R – and the people in charge of collecting it – and it gets fixed. For this one company, their DSO dropped by 12 days in just six months.

Tags: Accounts Receivable, Cash flow, collections, Days Sales Outstandling (DSO), streamlining