Managing accounts payable or trade credit is crucial for a business from various angles. First, it satisfies the working capital financing needs of the business. Secondly, efficient management of trade credit leads to better profitability. Appropriate relationship management strengthens the supply chain system of the organization, enabling them to achieve sustainable development.
Why Managing Accounts Payable is Important?
It is imperative to have a sound management policy to plan and control the accounts payable / trade credit for the following 3 reasons.
Source of Working Capital
Accounts payable are a vital source of working capital finance widely used by businesses of all levels.
Impact on Profitability
Utilizing trade credit or bank finance is a decision directly impacting profitability.
Relationship
Healthy supplier relationships are a must for a robust supply chain system.
Job of an Accounts Payable Manager
How to manage the accounts payable effectively? Following techniques are employed by the manager for managing accounts payable or trade credit.
Negotiate Prices, Cash Discount, and Credit Period
It is pretty obvious that all three – price, discount, and credit period are vital. The lower the price and higher the cash discount, the better and more competitive will be the finished goods of the buyer. Longer the credit period will reduce the finance overhead of the company.
Calculate and Analyze the Cost of Trade Credit
The job of the accounts payable manager is not over after negotiation. Analyzing trade credit should be availed, or discount should be taken, or bank finance to be availed is needed. For that, he should calculate the cost of trade credit and then compare it with other financing options, and then make the appropriate decision. If trade credit is utilized, having a higher cost of funds in comparison to bank finance will diminish the profits and profitability of the business.
Strengthen Supplier Relationships
This function of an AP Manager looks a little contradictory to the first two, but it is of utmost importance. It is an accepted fact that one business is dependent on another business. The buyer of raw materials and other components is also dependent on the supplier. While managing and negotiating with suppliers, the manager should not try to take unreasonable benefits out of them. That will hamper the relationships, negatively impacting the supply chain and, hence, sustainable development.
Ratios For Managing Accounts Payable/Trade Credit
There are various ratios that can be pretty helpful for accounts payable managers to best perform their role. These ratios give a different and strategic insight apart from the normal benefits or losses listed above.
Accounts Payable to Total Current Assets Ratio
This ratio gives the extent of current assets financed by the accounts payable or trade credit. The lower this ratio, the higher the liquidity will be. It is somewhat reciprocal to the current ratio. While managing or stretching the trade credit, the liquidity position of a whole business should also be kept in mind.
Accounts Payable to Total Current Liability Ratio
This ratio indicates the dependence on trade credit as a financing means. Please note that current liability here includes short-term bank financing as well. A banker or potential investor may also infer that the business is facing difficulty in raising external financing and smells some business problems.
Accounts Payable to Sales Ratio
With the help of this ratio, two firms of similar nature or two different periods of the same firm can be compared. That would indicate the extent of trade credit utilized by the business to generate sales.
Change in Accounts Payable to Change in Sales Ratio
This is indeed a crucial one. This indicates the correlations between sales and trade credit. In general, an increase in sales will increase the levels of accounts payable as well. It is important to see an increase in sales by 1% is, increasing the accounts payable by how much percentage. To manage accounts payable effectively, the accounts payable manager should try to keep this ratio on the lower side, i.e., below 1.
