Archive for February, 2010

Use Invoice Funding To Quickly and Easily Get The Cash Your Company Needs

invoice fundingInvoice funding is a great way for companies to easily access the money needed for maintenance and even growth. It allows them to quickly generate cash that at times, may be desperately needed. Many companies experience cash flow problems at one time or another. When this occurs, they may have trouble meeting their obligations. It is likely that they will have almost no money to fund expansion and growth. When there is no money for marketing, it can be difficult to generate new business, which is necessary for the long-term success of their business. Without enough money to pay their bills, a company won’t be able to grow their business and they may have trouble keeping their doors open. Invoice funding is a remedy to both dilemmas.


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Invoice Funding: A Clever Business Financing Option for Small Companies

invoice_funding_2Invoice funding is utilized by many leading companies to generate capital quickly and easily. It is a great financing option. It doesn’t require companies to beg for a bank loan. The amount of years they have been in business is inconsequential, so is their credit score. Companies are able to use their customer’s credit histories to raise capital for their business.

If a company has customers with good to excellent credit that owe them money, they can utilize this working relationship and any outstanding invoices to their financial advantage. This is a very clever financing option because it utilizes the work that a company has already done (and money owed) to generate capital right away. It is not necessary for companies to wait months for monies owed to them. Instead, they can receive it in a matter of days.

Invoice funding is extremely creative and very beneficial for the companies that utilize it. A great percentage of business that bill their customers via invoices will quality. They only need to find a Factor to work with. Factors are companies in search of quality invoices. They purchase them at discounted rates, collect them and then return all monies, minus their fees and any funds that went toward the original purchase of the invoice, to the company they bought them from.

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How Small Businesses Can Benefit From Receivables Financing

receivables financingSmall businesses can benefit greatly from receivables financing. It gives them an opportunity to raise capital without having to depend on a bank loan or other sources of debt. Receivables financing allows companies to utilize the resources they have already, managed to develop, mainly their clients, to generate capital.

Companies that bill their companies (via receivables or invoices) often have to wait between one and three months before they are paid, for jobs they have already completed. Money has already been invested in these jobs in the form of materials and personnel. The problems is that a company is not able to recoup these costs for some time because the invoice their clients. This can cause financial problems. A business may begin to experience cash flow problems. If these problems become severe enough and executives can not find a way to infuse capital into the business, they may be forced to shut the company’s doors. That is, of course, if they are unable to find a suitable method to generate cash. Receivables financing is one option.

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Invoice Factoring: A Quick Solution to Cash Flow Shortage

invoice fundingInvoice factoring is a really good option for companies looking to generate cash. It allows them to do so quickly, regardless of how many years they have been in business or their credit score. This form of corporate financing is available to just about any company that has customers with good credit and who owe them money in the form of outstanding invoices. These invoices can be sold to companies, called Factors, for fast cash. Capital can be generated in as little as 24 hours and generally no longer then 7 days. This is incredibly quick and much faster then alternative options commonly used, such as bank financing.

Most businesses will require some form of external capital in order to survive or grow. In many cases, this would include the use of a bank loan. Bank loans have traditionally been fairly difficult to secure. This is even truer today. The poor economy has made it nearly impossible for many companies to qualify for a loan. However, the need for money hasn’t diminished. Instead, there are more companies then ever, unsure about their futures because they are finding it difficult to come up with the capital necessary to keep them selves operating. This is not a reason for hopelessness. In many cases, just creative financing. Invoice factoring is a great alternative that many businesses either don’t know about or haven’t tried.

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Account Receivables Funding: A Viable Source of Funding For Many Businesses

account-receivables-fundingAccounts receivables funding is a viable source of funding for many businesses. Unfortunately, not enough people know about it. When it comes to commercial financing, most people only consider bank loans. However, there are other options available, some much better and easier to secure then bank financing. Accounts receivables funding is one of these alternatives. It is an extremely fast way to raise capital. Businesses are often able to secure a substantial amount of money in as little as 7 days, sometimes much quicker then that. It is not unheard of for companies to receive hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars in as little as 24 hours.

Accounts receivables funding is actually pretty simple. A company with outstanding invoices will sell them to a Factor who will purchase them for a little less then they are worth. Typically, the going rate is between 70% and 90%. A company that has customers with high credit scores is able to secure higher rates. After the Factor purchases the invoices, the business’ customers will pay the factor the money they owe on their outstanding invoices. Once they collect the invoices, they then return these monies to the company they originally purchased them from. They will however, subtract all fees owed to them and the amount of money they already paid for the invoices. There are several advantages to this. They include the ability to generate cash fast, to avoid taking on new debt and to leverage the credit worthiness of ones customer to create capital.

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Small Business Economic Indicators

small_biz_ownersWhen you’re a small-business owner, issues like whether you can afford to give your assistant manager a raise or whether your dinner bread will be delivered on time loom larger than the trade deficit and crop results. Yet, the nation’s employment outlook factors into your hiring decisions and the truck that delivers your bread runs on gas — so keeping an eye on the bigger picture can help you avoid cost surprises. “If [you know] consumers are spending more in October, that might give you a bit more confidence if you’re a retailer going into the Christmas season,” says Chad Moutray, the Small Business Administration’s chief economist.

While the economic recovery is still tentative — and credit remains tight — small-business owners could help themselves in 2010 by monitoring the macroeconomic picture. Already, members of the Board of Governors and the presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks, have projected that the U.S. economy will expand between 2.5% and 3.5% this year. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is expected to fall to between 9.3% and 9.7% from November’s rate of 10%, and economists from Morgan Stanley expect that a more sustainable recovery will sink in, as the financial markets improve, risky assets continue to fetch higher prices, and bank lending improves.

In the absence of your own economist or strategic planning office, what indicators should you keep an eye on? Here are five that often matter most to small firms.

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Obama Outlines $30 Billion Small Business Loan Proposal

president_obamaBy Christine Lagorio | Feb 2, 2010

At a town-hall meeting in New Hampshire, President Obama outlined his plan to increase hiring in small businesses by granting local banks $30 billion in loans.

Naming job creation as his priority for 2010, President Barack Obama pitched his $30 billion loan program proposal Tuesday to help small businesses grow their companies through increased hiring.

In Nashua, New Hampshire, Obama said he hopes to take money repaid by Wall Street banks as part of the $700 billion bank bailout known as TARP to create the Small Business Lending Fund, which would provide capitol to community banks to spur economic growth on Main Street.

“These are the small, local banks that work most closely with our small businesses – that provide them their first loan, and watch them grow through good times and bad,” he told a crowd of more than 1,500 at a Nashua North high school.

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7 Rules for Building a Successful Business

business_successThere are many rules associated with establishing and running a successful business. Indeed, there are a number of things you can do to contribute to your success as a business. But here are 7 basic rules that you can use when building a successful business. Keep reading to discover great rules to use to succeed in business.

1. Don’t let your accounts receivable get out of control. First of all, it is vital to have an organized accounts receivable department. You need to know who owes you what, and you need to know who is making payments. You also need to make provisions for following up on invoices that owe you money. An efficient workflow needs to be maintained so that you are receiving payments in a timely manner for your goods and services.

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Recession Over? You’re Having a Laugh

recession_overFollowing the Treasury’s announcement that the Gross Domestic Product (GRP) increased by 0.1% in the last quarter of 2009, how many of us really believe that this piffling improvement over a three months period proves that we are now out of recession and 2010 will herald a return to the halcyon days of full employment and bulging order books. Probably very few - at least amongst those who are not confined to a mental institution.

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Surge in Loans is Unlikely From Small-Business Plan

ApprovedPresident Barack Obama’s plan to divert $30 billion of federal bailout funds into new small-business loans will prop up thousands of struggling entrepreneurs but is unlikely to break the lending logjam.

“This is a good start. But it’s a small start,” said G. Michael Moebs, chief executive of Moebs Services Inc., a Lake Bluff, Ill., research firm specializing in U.S. banks.

The $30 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program funds targeted by Mr. Obama represent about 4.3% of the $700 billion in small-business loans held by U.S. banks and savings institutions, according to the Treasury Department. As of November, the 22 largest banks that got capital infusions through TARP had $257 billion in small-business loans, the Treasury said.

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