OB10, the global B2B e-invoicing network, recently published its third Accounts Receivable Survey. The survey explores the current practices among collections professionals on invoicing, payment and early pay discounts, and asks their views on their financial performance and the economy. The survey finds that more respondents are submitting invoices electronically and are inclined to offer early pay discounts if there is interest from their customers.
The IPC barometer
In this year’s survey, OB10 introduces the Invoice, Payment and Cash Flow (IPC) Barometer. Using a rating scale from one (not effective all of the time) to ten (extremely effective all of the time), the IPC Barometer allows respondents to quantify their perceived effectiveness in three primary categories. The three categories measured are invoicing customers, receiving payment from customers, and managing cash flow. A score of seven (effective most of the time) appears to be the tipping point by which organizations believe they have made sustainable progress in the three areas mentioned above.
Some compelling outcomes
- 86% of respondents send invoices by regular mail.
- The majority (85%) of respondents believe that electronic invoicing expedites the collections process.
- Most respondents (63%) do not outsource any of their collections operations and of the ones that do, most (75%) outsource invoices that are not paid after 90 days.
- E-invoicing does continue to show steady growth, as it was identified by 29% of respondents as a submission method. This was 20% in 2010 and 26% in 2011. This suggests that third-party electronic submission is seen more often as a practical solution to streamline the invoicing process.
- E-invoicing usage has surpassed electronic data interchange (28%) as a submission method.
- Respondents achieved an overall average score of 6.20 on the IPC Barometer. This is below a score of seven (effective most of the time), which indicates that many organizations see room for improvement.
Cláudia Wada on