IDEA: Customers’ online billing portals hurt your company’s AR collection days. Note which websites do not allow backdating of invoices.

Many companies now force their vendors to use their online billing portals where the vendors must enter their invoices and load up all signed authorized backup for those invoices in order to get paid.  Some of these portals date the invoice the day the billings person enters the invoice and do not allow the vendor’s billing clerk to backdate the invoice date.  This may mean potential delay in getting paid if the customer starts the day count from the day of invoicing. The billings clerk needs to take note of those portals with these restrictions and take these precautions.

• When hiring outside freight companies, inform them you must have a copy of the signed bill of lading delivered back to you (photo, scan, copy emailed) on the day of the delivery so the invoice can be entered and billed.  Tell them the signed backup cannot be delivered to you several days later, otherwise the number of  days for paying you by the customer increases by each day delayed.
• Inform your internal company driver to take a photograph of the signed bill of lading that he is holding and send it (per telephone) to the company billings clerk so the invoice can be prepared, completed and entered into the customer’s portal on the same day of delivery.
• Prioritize billings and complete all of those first that are done on restrictive billing portals.
• When the signature for the delivery is delayed due to the customer’s actions, contact the  buyer and ask that the invoice date be corrected because of the delay caused at his own facility (if that is possible).