My blog in January was about helping business owners and their managers think about making common sense their focus in 2017. In that blog, it was all about starting the focus on general issues. The focus of this blog is all about the unpaid invoice before the funds in your bank account run out.

To help motivate you in to taking action before the money runs out, here are 5 common sense factors which apply to your unpaid invoice.

1  Your unpaid invoice is your money in the customer's bank account. There is no benefit for you by leaving it there.

2  Your accounts payable and receivable staff manage the business's cash. To guard your cash properly, you need the right disciplines, procedures and employees

3  You cannot recover stolen cash which has been used for drugs, gambling or spent on an exotic lifestyle if the thief has no assets. Therefore, take care that no cash leaves your firm for unauthorised purposes.

4  An unresolved customer enquiry means you haven't completed a sale just because you raised and sent an invoice. If your customer raises an enquiry on that invoice, they will not pay it until the enquiry is resolved to THEIR satisfaction.

5  If you do not complete a proper due diligence on your customer - you may not know who to follow up for your unpaid invoices. In other words, how do you recover your funds from a ghost or somebody who can prove they didn't authorise the purchase?

All unpaid invoices cost you money. It is an important business function to reduce the loss of money. To achieve that objective, you will need the best business practices and employees available.

Your major common sense focus therefore this year, is make sure that all invoices are paid as quickly as possible.

If you would like to know more about how common sense is a vital part of business success, contact kim@creditmatters.com.au