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Making sense of invoice finance terms
Understanding finance terminology is crucial to making informed decisions. Our Invoice Finance Glossary simplifies complex jargon, helping you navigate Invoice Finance with confidence. Whether you’re new to this versatile form of business finance or looking to refine your knowledge, we’re here to empower your financial journey. Let’s get started, one term at a time.
Advance rate
The agreed percentage of eligible debts available for you to draw down.
Aged debt report
A summary report of all outstanding balances for each debtor over a period. We generate this report from the invoice date.
Approved debt
A debt an invoice finance company has accepted as being eligible for prepayment.
Assets
Anything your company owns that has a monetary value, including debtors.
Assignment of debt
A legal mechanism that gives an invoice finance company the right to collect cash from your debtors to repay amounts the invoice finance company advanced to you.
Associated businesses
Other businesses you own or which you can exert control over.
Availability (of funds)
The amount of cash available for you to draw each day if you wish. An invoice company usually calculates this by multiplying the total eligible invoices by the advance rate, then subtracting the amount you’ve already drawn plus charges.
BACS (Bankers Automated Clearing System)
A transaction that transfers funds from one bank account to another – usually in three working days.
CHAPS (Clearing House Automated Payment System)
A transaction that processes payments between accounts on the same day. Also known as a telegraphic transfer.
Cash flow
A measurement of the cash your company gains or losses during an accounting period. Cash flow is one of your most important management tools.
Confidential invoice discounting (CID)
An invoice finance facility where a lender (discounter) confidentially advances funds to a business, secured against the value of the business sales ledger. The business retains complete responsibility and control of its sales ledger, credit control and collection.
Contra-trading
A trading relationship that might involve buying from and selling to the same customer. This may create an offset to establish the balance of what’s owed and by whom.
Credit insurance
This protects against bad debt arising from customers not paying invoices under specific circumstances. You can buy individual credit insurance policies or take them as part of a ‘non recourse’ facility.
Credit limit
Your own limits are the amount of credit you’re prepared to give to your customers. An invoice finance company’s limits are the credit levels it applies to each of its customers, up to the amount it’s prepared to advance money (funding limits). These limits are not necessarily the same.
Current account
The account showing the financial obligation between your business and the invoice finance company. The invoice finance company calculates this by totalling all prepayments and fees charged to you, less all collections received from your debtors.
Current assets
Cash, debtors, stock – anything you would expect to convert into cash within twelve months of your balance sheet date.
Debtor concentration
The percentage value of your ledger held by individual debtors. For example, if you had a total ledger of 100 and one debtor accounted for 50, your ledger has 50% concentration.
Dilution
Anything that can reduce the value of invoices you’ve already raised, such as credit notes.
Disapproved debts (disapprovals)
Debts against which an invoice finance company won’t provide funding. There are various reasons why debts might be disapproved. These include debts that are typically more than 90 days old (aged); disputed by the debtor; known to be bad or irrecoverable; or linked to associated businesses or contra-trading customers.
Disbursements
Monies paid from your account to discharge a valid expense.
Disclosed discounting
An invoice finance arrangement similar to confidential invoice discounting. As it isn’t confidential, your customers may be aware that their debt has been assigned to an invoice finance company.
Discount charge
The rate of interest payable on funds outstanding (borrowed). This is usually expressed as a percentage over the bank base lending rate and calculated daily.
Export debts
Debts arising from selling goods or services to an overseas buyer. These may be invoiced in sterling or another currency.
Fixed assets
Assets held for business use rather than for sale or converting into cash, for example, fixtures, fittings, equipment and buildings.
Full service factoring
A method of accelerating cash flow to a business using the sales ledger (receivables) as security to borrow money. The invoice finance company also provides the business with a full sales ledger management, credit control and collections service.
Facility limit
The maximum balance to which the current account can be drawn at any time. This limit is often flexible and negotiable with the invoice finance company.
Ineligibles
The value of disapproved debts.
Initial prepayment (IP)
The maximum percentage value of your invoices available for you to draw in advance.
Non-recourse factoring
This is a factoring facility where, under certain circumstances, the factor provides credit insurance as part of their overall funding package. This provides a level of bad debt protection against non-payment by your customers.
Prepayment
The maximum percentage value of your invoices that will be available for you to draw in advance.
Reassignment
A debt previously assigned to an invoice finance company that’s been returned to you.
Reconciliation
A process of matching the balance of your sales ledger to the balance recorded by the invoice finance company at the same point in time. Reconciliation usually occurs at the end of each month.
Recourse factoring
Where an invoice finance company will seek to recover advances made to a client regarding any debt not paid within a certain time – usually 90 days following the month of the invoice date.
Refactoring fee
An additional charge that covers the cost of collecting debts that have aged beyond the agreed credit period. This charge is usually a percentage of the outstanding amount.
Service fee
A charge by an invoice finance company for administering your account. This is typically a percentage of sales. It’s likely to be higher for a full factoring service than for invoice discounting, due to the additional workload.
Take-on debts
The value of the ledger when the facility commences. An invoice finance company will take on these debts when the facility starts and use them to calculate the initial available funds.
Working capital
Current assets, less current liabilities. This represents the investment required to finance stock, debtors, and work in progress.