When you work with a company in the same country, you have a common legal framework that links you and its a relatively simple process to track down errant debtors if payment problems occur. Dealing with clients overseas is more hazardous, and the risks can catch out many small businesses. Here are some practical tips that can prevent significant problems when dealing with overseas clients.
Read more: Top Tips for Dealing With Overseas Export Clients
Dealing with an Insolvent client can kill a profitable business. If your client becomes insolvent it will have a significant knock-on effect, that will impact on your company cashflow, leaving you as a creditor with unpaid invoices that will likely never be paid.
In 2015, more than 100,000 UK businesses found themselves as creditors to an insolvent business, and many will have found their cash flow at serious risk as a result. Any business, irrespective of size, is at risk if their client becomes insolvent but for freelancers and micro-businesses these risks are magnified.
Small businesses are extremely vulnerable to cash flow problems, and even the slightest slip in payment dates can leave the business unable to pay its suppliers and even staff salaries. In many cases, big suppliers don’t pay their smaller suppliers quickly enough to keep the small businesses running, and as a result the small business finds it simply can’t make ends meet.
News that one of the oldest agricultural firms in Lancashire has entered administration has been met with shock and dismay. Riley Brothers International Haulage Ltd, the most recent iteration of a company with a history stretching back more than a century, entered administration on the 18th of December 2015 with the loss of more than 130 jobs.
Read more: 'Shock' as one of Lancashire's oldest agricultural firms enters administration
