To understand how to most effectively, affordably and sustainably accelerate the flow of cash in the supply chain for all parties, understanding the history of the market itself is essential. An understanding of the structural changes that have taken place with purchase-to-pay (P2P) technologies in recent years, which stand to usher in a new era of early payment programs, is vital as well.
My colleague David Gustin recently penned a paper,加速提前付款：加速供应链现金的技术和方法, that provides a great overview of the topic for those just getting into it or looking to accelerate their knowledge of the different programs available from procurement and accounts payable perspectives. But even before exploring these options, it is important to understand the evolution of transactions between buyers and suppliers.
As David suggests, “Banks tend to refer to trade credit asopen account transactions, where goods are shipped in advance of payment. This type of credit can be the largest use of capital for most businesses. While banks are the main third-party source of financing for corporate trade through both direct and indirect loans, they intermediate only 20% of trade credit. Simply put, most trade credit is not intermediated directly and remains on corporate balance sheets.”
Technology is in the early stages of having a potentially massive impact on how this market is evolving – and could dramatically increase the 20% of trade credit that is intermediated today. As David observes, technology can move businesses away from the offline challenges of the lending past:
在A / P自动化技术出现之前，卖家有很少的选择加速付款。 While the practice of offering discounts for early payment goes back decades, the general uptake of discounts has been low. Suppliers typically had to wait for the buyer to pay them on value date or later, if included in their procurement contract. In theory, suppliers could take advantage of some 2% or net 10-day payment scheme – assuming the invoice was processed quickly enough – but the latency in the invoice submission and approvals process has greatly limited adoption. As an often higher-cost alternative, some suppliers would sell their receivable to a factor who would collect on the seller’s behalf and pay the seller an advance rate before collection.
早期付款技巧可能是复杂的。他们经常依靠潜在的P2P，电子发票，供应商网络和其他相关的应用程序和正在快速发展的基于云的解决方案。作为一个级别，以了解更多有关如何分割和思考从采购和账户应付账目的早期付款机会，最近的贸易融资事项纸张，加速提前付款：加速供应链现金的技术和方法, is a great reference document to get up to speed fast.
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