Cashing In Order To Cash Outsourcing

The importance of outsourcing the order-to-cash cycle transcends the reduction in cost by bringing working capital in desirable condition. By giving boost to working capital, deals can be helpful to company in improving its debt-to-equity ratio, in reducing its external financing needs and in enhancing its credit ratings.

In order to reinforce A/R functions and improve cash position, more and more businesses are moving towards to third-party service providers. There is inclusive set of A/R functions, often term as order-to-cash cycle, in which people are increasingly outsourcing their full range of accounts receivable processes: order management; credit; invoicing; collections; dispute management; cash application; and, in some cases, reporting and analysis.

The order-to-cash cycle kickstart with a customer credit check and concludes when the customer's payment is received.

Order-to-cash outsourcing arrangements improve the A/R process in such a way that it delivers much more than the efficiency gains. According to the notion of advocate,” It’s not just about cost per transaction; it's also about making sure that you are accelerating working capital."

Transferring the order-to-cash cycle to a third-party provider may be a huge challenge to go through but it offers potentially hefty rewards. The F&A outsourcing growth curve is still in its early stages, and order-to-cash outsourcing has taken pledge to fuel that growth.

Joseph Wright, a London-based senior manager in Accenture's finance and performance management service line, identifies key performance indicators (KPIs) for each stage of the order-to-cash cycle, including the following:

Order management: percentage of orders received electronically, percentage of customer calls taken on initial contact and number of order input errors

Credit management: average credit approval cycle time and percentage of debt

Order fulfillment: percentage of orders delivered to customers in full quantity at the specified time

Invoicing: percentage of invoice accuracy (i.e., the proportion of invoices with invoice errors relative to the total number of invoices raised); percentage of invoices requiring manual intervention; and percentage of invoices issued electronically

Cash collection: percentage of cash collected within agreed credit terms (excluding invoices subject to customer query) and percentage of cash collected electronically.

To reap these benefits, finance executives need to master the intricacy of the order-to-cash cycle, which tends to cross several corporate functions and which varies, sometimes significantly, from one business to another. Yet, they must remain highly sensitive to customer satisfaction metrics as many A/R processes directly touch customers and the revenue they deliver.

Wright make a remark that companies can adjust and augment these metrics by factoring in overall cross-process KPIs such as DSO and total process thru put time.