Accounts Receivable Management

A professional development program for specialists who manage accounts receivable and handle debt collection.

Accounts receivable make up a significant share of any company's assets. A debt that is not repaid on time means more than losing the amount itself: it reduces solvency and liquidity, forces the company to borrow and scale back investment programs, and in severe cases leads to bankruptcy.

That is why receivables management should be part of every company's policy. The creditor's task is to reduce the likelihood of late payment in advance and, if it does occur, to recover the debt as quickly as possible.

The seminar brings together the approaches of risk management, financial analysis, the security department, the legal department and the sales team to build a complete picture of debt management. The solutions discussed apply to virtually any type of receivable.

The program is designed for managers and staff who deal with receivables and collection, as well as other interested specialists: lawyers, accountants, procurement staff, contract specialists and collection agency employees.

Program objectives

• Expand knowledge of accounts receivable management.
• Reduce the risk of overdue debt arising and remaining unpaid.
• Develop skills for working with debtors and overdue debts.
• Build a step-by-step process for working with debtors.

Program

Block 1. Introduction

1. Why the topic matters.
2. Classification of accounts receivable.
3. Causes of debt.
4. Organizing receivables management: credit policy.

Block 2. Main part

5. Group discussion: how participants' companies handle receivables — problems, what to watch for, how to work with debtors.
6. Preventing overdue debt:
   • at the contracting stage — when drafting terms and verifying the counterparty's status and documents;
   • assessing the counterparty's actual financial position.
7. Pre-trial work with overdue debt:
   • communicating with the debtor: in-person meetings, negotiations by phone and other means, correspondence; overall tactics and rules of communication;
   • business game "Negotiating with a Debtor";
   • individual assignment: drafting a claim letter and notices to the debtor;
   • motivating the debtor to repay: positive and negative methods within the law, including informing counterparties about unfulfilled obligations;
   • group discussion of ways to motivate the debtor;
   • amending and terminating the contract;
   • debt restructuring: civil-law ways to settle overdue debt;
   • group work: methods of debt collection.
8. Court stage of collection:
   • alternatives to state courts: arbitration, mediation;
   • general issues of debt collection through the courts;
   • expedited procedures: writ proceedings and simplified proceedings;
   • interim measures;
   • evidence and proof: types of evidence, allocation of the burden of proof.
9. Enforcement proceedings: working with the Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP of Russia), submitting a writ of execution directly to a bank, deadlines and procedural issues.
10. Non-standard collection methods: collection agencies, interaction with tax authorities, criminal-law mechanisms, initiating the debtor's bankruptcy.
11. Property that is exempt from enforcement.
12. Who else can be held liable for the debt: the debtor's legal successors, liability of directors and members, secondary (subsidiary) liability for the debtor's obligations.
13. The role of security for performance of obligations in collection: traditional and non-traditional instruments.
14. When collection is impossible: termination of the obligation.

Block 3. Conclusions

15. Participants prepare a debt collection summary based on their own experience.
16. Q&A and discussion.

Duration: 10–12 hours.