Is Business Factoring A Good Financial Decision PDF Print E-mail
Written by Jack Bennington   
Friday, 18 June 2010 10:52
Sometimes companies have to turn to business factoring. This financial method allows a company to sell their accounts receivable to factoring firm in return for cash. Although this does sound like a loan, it is not. The financial company buys the sales assets, or sales invoices. A lot of times, a company does this to help build a solid inventory in preparation for peak time sales.
by JackBennington


Sometimes companies have to turn to business factoring. This financial method allows a company to sell their accounts receivable to factoring firm in return for cash. Although this does sound like a loan, it is not. The financial company buys the sales assets, or sales invoices. A lot of times, a company does this to help build a solid inventory in preparation for peak time sales.

Sales invoices, or accounts receivable is a term associated with billing a client for any services renders or even purchasing products to resell or use. Factoring companies regard the sales invoices as collateral to stave off possible debt.

Most financing practices involve some risks, but factoring seems to be a method that pushes the risk factor higher. The reason is that a lot of the companies dealing with this method may not be able to produce profitable results to pay off this money agreement. This usually a costly venture for the primary company in comparison to seeking out and acquiring normal bank loans.

Factoring often involves the fact that a company is selling their invoicing as a discounts rate. The company buying them often takes of the responsibility of any debt collection. To eliminate past due bills by selling invoicing at a lower amount is called invoice discounting. In doing this, as a business succeeds, they can pay bills, and retain a interest rates.

There are pros and cons about factoring. Some of the pros are getting money quick, cutting debt, and not having to deal with debt collectors. The cons usually involve the fact that can be extremely expensive to use this method. The final amount spent is normally higher than when the accounts receivable were originally purchased.

Some of the statistics are that factoring could cost up to ninety-percent more than what the accounts receivable were sold.

In taking part in factoring does not mean that a company will automatically get cash. The initial process means that the factoring firm will look at the company and make sure they are credit worthy. This usually means that they are looking to see if bills are paid on time. If a company does not have solid assets, then they may be refused.

A couple of terms that come up in factoring are recourse and non-recourse. Both of these deal with how a company can handle debt collection. With a recourse agreement, the primary company will take on the responsibility of collection agencies. Non-recourse agreements take the burden of debt collection off the primary company and the factoring firm takes the responsibility.

This financial practice should only be considered as an alternate choice if the company has little or no credit and cannot find an adequate loan through banks. Since there are many companies that specialize in factoring, it would be ideal for the company to carefully shop for the best program available in the market.

Companies seeking the services of a factoring business should be prepared to open their ledgers and be open about their industry. If the company has solid assets and can make payments on time, then successfully acquiring money through factoring will be possible.

DISCLAIMER: This article is provided as information only and is not to be taken as financial advice.