Methods for managing an organization's accounts payable. Basic principles of accounts payable management. Accounts payable of an enterprise and its types

"Audit and Taxation", 2012, N 10

Practice shows that, unlike accounts receivable, not all companies think about the possibility of managing accounts payable. Its most significant components are debt on loans and to suppliers, which can become sources of financing for the company's activities.

Accounts payable to suppliers are usually underestimated, although this is one of the most promising sources of financing.

The main components of accounts payable of enterprises are debts to suppliers and contractors and bank loans, when payments are made after the delivery of goods. material assets(inventory) or signing an act of provision of services. The remaining part appears due to the peculiarities of budgetary and other periodic payments, for example, for wages.

An uncontrolled increase in accounts payable poses a threat to business sustainability. It is imperative to “balance” accounts payable with accounts receivable, carefully analyzing the terms of debt to suppliers, tracking when debtors will return the money, and depending on this, planning payments to suppliers. If receipts from buyers are insufficient for a certain period, it is necessary to draw up accounting documents as soon as possible, agree on early payment with the buyer and maximum deferment with the most “accurate” counterparties, balance accounts payable and receivable, and turnover periods. The turnover indicator for an enterprise is a control indicator; for accounts payable it should be higher than for accounts receivable.

By monthly analyzing the structure of debts of creditors and debtors and the dynamics of turnover, the company can timely identify possible inconsistencies, an imbalance between short deferrals of suppliers and longer deferrals of buyers and take the necessary measures. In this case, it is better to avoid 100% prepayments.

When choosing a supplier among those offering an equivalent product, preference is given to those who provide the longest delay, all other things being equal. The “creditor” needs constant monitoring in order to prevent delays in debt payments and not to exceed a critical level. Therefore, regular reconciliations of settlements with suppliers should be carried out.

Companies strive to ensure that the period of turnover of accounts payable covers the period of turnover of goods in the warehouse and accounts receivable without reducing the profitability of sales or deteriorating purchasing prices of suppliers. To reduce the risk of dependence on a supplier, a company must avoid the appearance of large creditors, whose share could be more than 10% in total accounts payable.

In relation to banks where companies apply for loans for working capital and financing capital investments, repayment terms are monitored. It is of great importance to provide a loan at a lower interest rate in order to refinance the debt.

Another category of accounts payable is formed in connection with leasing, but companies do not use this instrument very actively, mainly for the purchase of vehicles and warehouse equipment. In addition to monitoring the timing of leasing payments to ensure timely fulfillment of obligations under leasing agreements, the market is monitored to find the best conditions.

To compare savings from different sources you need to:

find average cost all borrowed sources, dividing the amount of interest and commissions accrued on all borrowed funds by the average amount of borrowed sources for the same period (Sections 4 and 5 of the balance sheet). Depending on the period for which the reporting was taken, bring the resulting value to an annual value;
calculate the effective cost of debt directly on loans, borrowings and bonds, dividing the amount of interest and commissions on them by the average amount of debt. Bring the resulting cost to an annual value;
calculate how much the company will save per year if it achieves a reduction in the cost of debt on loans by 1%, for example, by reducing the average rate by this amount. To do this, you need to multiply the average loan debt by 1%;
calculate how much the company will save per year if it achieves an increase in accounts payable to suppliers by 10% and replaces bank loans with this debt. To do this, it is necessary to subtract the loan debt from the total amount of borrowed sources (Sections 4 and 5 of the balance sheet) and multiply the result by 10%. Then multiply the result by the effective cost of debt on loans, calculated in paragraph 2;
compare the savings obtained in paragraphs 3 and 4;
compare the results of this analysis with how much time and attention company employees spend on managing debt on loans and debt to suppliers;
calculate, in the same way as in paragraph 1, the average cost of all borrowed sources under the new structure, when accounts payable increased by 10%, and loans decreased by the same amount;
Do not forget that you can reduce the most expensive of the available loans, saving additional money.

Of course, there are approximate indicators of the cost of financing depending on industry, business scale, etc. Each company lives according to its own acceptable lending conditions. However, even the basic rule - the cost of debt should not exceed the average return on assets - has to be violated by those companies that have problems, for example, trading in highly competitive markets.

Determining the cost of debt

One of the main ways to build up accounts payable is through payment deferrals, which suppliers often provide to customers to stimulate sales growth. Since resources to provide such deferrals are always limited, providers introduce payment for deferrals. These may include different prices with different payment terms, and the provision of additional free services with earlier payment. Before taking advantage of the "generosity" of suppliers, you need to compare the future value of accounts payable with the cost of other methods of financing, primarily debt on loans.

It is easy to determine the cost of accounts payable if you make calculations for each of the specific suppliers. As an annualized percentage for each of them, it will be equal to the ratio of the difference between the cost of resources purchased during the year with deferred payment, and the cost of these resources on the terms of payment upon delivery to the average amount of accounts payable.

If the resulting figure exceeds the value of the loan debt, it is profitable for the company to use the services of banks. For example, a supplier with the best price/quality ratio of a required resource offers an increase in the price of the resource by 2% while providing a deferment of 30 days. That is, the cost of such accounts payable will be 24% per annum.

If the acquiring company has the ability to secure financing for more favorable conditions, for example, to get a bank loan at 20% per annum, then you need to choose payment upon delivery. In addition, a comparison in favor of banks can initiate reasoned negotiations with suppliers on easing the terms of cooperation for the purchasing company.

In practice, not every company makes do with one supplier, and calculating the weighted average cost of all accounts payable is labor-intensive. In such a situation, it is more reasonable to set an upper limit for the value of accounts payable to suppliers that does not exceed the value of debt on loans. When deciding on choosing a supplier or payment terms, employees financial service must each time calculate and compare the value of accounts payable with its threshold value.

By holding supplier tenders, procurement efficiency can be improved. After the completion of the competition, but before concluding an agreement with the winner, you can announce the winning conditions to the rest of the tender participants. It is possible that the losers will receive more profitable offer. In addition, this will encourage potential suppliers to participate in subsequent tenders with better proposals.

Based on the purchasing policy, the commercial department must constantly optimize the terms of accounts payable. The end of a period, for example the end of a year, quarter, month, is the right time to discuss with suppliers possible changes in terms of delivery and payment.

In emergency situations, partnerships with large companies can help a business. Suppliers are not professional lenders and, unlike banks, do not evaluate liquidity and solvency indicators. Therefore, they are able to help when financial institutions will take a break. The offer to partners should be formulated as temporary, that is, a temporary reduction in price for buyers and a partial increase in price for the supplier are “exchanged” for a temporary increase in accounts payable. If creditors understand the mechanism for returning to original conditions cooperation with mandatory indication of payment terms, you can count on receiving additional accounts payable.

Working with the bank

The desire to reduce the cost of borrowed bank financing means a constant search for new contacts and easing the terms of cooperation with existing partners. Banks are also interested in expanding the circle of clients and developing cooperation with existing ones, since clients are a source of profit for the bank.

For a borrower who is confident that future income will cover the debt and interest on it, it is important to obtain a loan; for the bank, it is important to minimize possible risks non-repayment of debt.

The decision on cooperation is made by the bank based on the results of an analysis of classical parameters - the reliability of the borrower, his financial indicators, assessing your risks.

Despite the poor performance from the bank's point of view, most companies can prove their worth. General requirements to the assessment of borrowers by banks are enshrined in Bank of Russia Regulation N 254-P. The same document establishes that risk assessment by banks is carried out on the basis of internal documentation, which must be developed in accordance with this Regulation. For most banks, such documentation is flexible. The reasons for this are clear: in a growing market, many companies are pursuing a fairly aggressive and risky borrowing policy. And without the flexibility of banks, many even very large corporations would not receive loans, and banks would not receive income.

So, if the bank has agreed to issue a loan, then you need to follow certain company rules even after concluding an agreement with it: fulfill your obligations, after receiving the loan, comply with the deadlines for submitting documents specified in the loan agreement, inform in advance possible problems with debt service.

Expiration of the contract and positive changes to financial market, for example, a reduction in the Bank of Russia discount rate, are good times to start negotiations on reducing the cost of subsequent loans. Rates, commissions, collateral conditions, and turnover obligations on current accounts are subject to discussion.

if some of the company’s reporting indicators do not correspond to accepted values or this is indicated by the lender’s managers, be prepared to explain the deviations. Substantiate them using management reporting, additional calculations and information. Even managers of banks with foreign capital in Russia are prepared for the fact that management reporting data will differ significantly from official reporting data. Tell in detail how you intend to repay the debt and make interest payments. The goal is to offer the lender's managers an assessment option according to which the risks of your company are no higher than the risk of a global depression;
even before the start of the dialogue, calculate the main indicators of liquidity, solvency, debt and EBITDA ratio, etc. If the obtained values turned out to be “bad”, make a justification in advance and submit it to the bank along with the reports in order to immediately give the negotiations the right direction;
prepare and submit to creditors the documents they request within a short time frame. Resolving issues related to the results of the information analysis may take longer than you expected;
develop a scenario for liquidating a business in the event of extremely unfavorable conditions, which will allow you to pay off all debts;
track the progress of your application with the bank so that it does not remain unused. This will allow you to act quickly in case of negative analysis results. If there are serious doubts about a favorable outcome, intensify the search for backup options;
Allow sufficient time to agree on the terms of the security, including obligations for turnover on current accounts. Start discussing this issue as early as possible. Achieve support conditions that not only meet current needs, but also allow you to solve problems planned for the medium term.

Proper management of accounts payable to employees, the budget, and state extra-budgetary funds allows a business to generate a certain amount of funding sources. However, manipulations with such creditors should not go beyond the law.

Thus, you can carefully plan tax payments, formulate a tax budget, postpone the payment of taxes to a later time, but in this case, the accounting policy must contain an appropriate justification that excludes signs of schemes. Change accounting policy in relation to taxes must occur within the time limits specified in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

For example, next year the company's management plans to increase profits. In this case, it is beneficial for the company to switch to monthly advance payments of income tax. The procedure for calculating payments to the budget in this case is given in Art. 286 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and is based on deductions for the previous reporting period. The difference between advances and actuals is compensated only in the first quarter of the next year. Thus, the company receives the opportunity for short-term financing from the budget. On the contrary, if a reduction in profit is planned, then it is beneficial to switch to calculating tax payments based on the actual profit received.

Delays in wages can also provide a company with a considerable amount of short-term cash resources. However, in addition to balancing on the brink of the law, the decrease in staff motivation will exceed the direct financial effect of delayed salary payments.

According to the law, companies are required to pay wages twice a month. But the law does not establish dates and amounts of payments, limiting only minimum size advance payment - 40% of salary including personal income tax. The company has the opportunity to choose the dates and amounts of payments depending on the planned timing of receipt Money, which are visible from the company's balance of payments. If a company simply delays payment of wages, it risks attracting attention tax office. Since salaries must be paid every month, taxes on them must also be paid monthly. Therefore, the tax authorities, regardless of whether wages have been paid or not, will force the company to pay personal income tax. To avoid paying tax, the company will have to indicate in tax return that wages have not been paid. This, in turn, is a violation of the law. It is unlikely that management will take such a step.

Regarding deductions from wages in off-budget funds, then the reporting for these institutions contains information on the amount of both charges and payments. Tax authorities can charge and force you to pay a fine on debt. The legality (illegality) of their actions is justified in each specific case, but such situations are not uncommon. In addition, employees can file a complaint with the labor inspectorate, which can conduct an unscheduled inspection and impose serious fines on the company's management.

In what sequence should accounts payable be paid off?

Let us assume that the debt has arisen to suppliers, the budget and extra-budgetary funds, employees, and credit institutions.

Before making a decision, it is necessary to analyze economic, psychological factors and the competitiveness factor of the resource in the market.

For example, in the service and sales sector, the sustainability of an enterprise largely depends on human resources, therefore settlements with employees may come first. The employer's liability for failure to pay wages on time is specified in Art. Art. 142, 236 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. If the delay is more than 15 days, the employee has the right to suspend work for the entire period until the delayed amount is paid. In accordance with Art. 236 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the employer is obliged to pay, in addition to wages, material compensation in the amount of at least one 1/300 of the current refinancing rate of the Bank of Russia for each day of delay, starting from the next day after the established payment deadline. The positive point is that this compensation reduces taxable income and is not subject to “salary” taxes.

The second most important creditors are budget and extra-budgetary funds. The tax authority has the right to collect outstanding debts through collection, and usually it collects debts without understanding or reconciling. That is, even if previous taxes have been paid, but the payment documents were completed with an error and are not reflected in the personal account, the tax inspector sends payment requests for the entire amount of arrears and penalties without the consent of the taxpayer. The activities of the organization may be frozen in connection with the placement of budgetary (extrabudgetary) payments on card index No. 2 in the servicing bank until the final proceedings. From an economic point of view, penalties for late payment are small and amount to one 1/300 of the current refinancing rate of the Bank of Russia for each day of delay on the payment amount starting from the next day after the due date for payment.

Importance debt to the bank in terms of outstanding loans it ranks third. Banks also have certain leverage over the situation with an outstanding loan. In the absence of a card index on current account in relation to settlements with the budget (extra-budgetary funds) and the availability of funds in the current account, the bank, without acceptance, writes off the debt to itself on the outstanding loan. From an economic point of view, the rate of fines and penalties for late payments is usually higher than that for late wages and taxes.

The most thoughtful approach needs to be taken when working with debt to suppliers. It is advisable to rank suppliers in terms of the size and conditions of sanctions for late payment of debt, the importance of the service provided, the work, the product at the moment, and the presence of the supplier’s competitors in the market.

Thus, in the service provision market there are quite large companies whose failure to pay for services on time can lead to a partial suspension of the enterprise’s activities. These are, for example, services telephone communication, Internet, reporting to in electronic format. The size and conditions of the sanctions in this case are not important, since the execution of the contract is interrupted after non-payment of services within a month and no sanctions are issued.

The conditions for the provision of other services, performance of work, and purchase of goods must be reviewed at some intervals in order to determine their economic feasibility. After all, the competition in the market is quite strong, and if it is impossible to negotiate with the supplier on the regulation of accounts payable, it is quite easy to change him. The risks regarding the collection of accounts payable are minimal here, since the managers of small supplier firms often do not have sufficient resources to negotiate.

D. Lysenko

Board member

NP "Audit Association"

"Commonwealth"

advisor to the chairman

Chamber of Control and Accounts of Moscow

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Introduction

Chapter 1. Theoretical aspects accounts payable management

1.1 The concept of an organization’s accounts payable, its role in the organization’s activities

1.2 Accounts payable management methods, the importance of optimizing accounts payable

1.3 System of indicators used in the assessment of receivables and payables

1.4 Methodology for analyzing accounts payable

Chapter 2. Analysis of accounts payable management commercial organization(using the example of Avantage LLC)

2.1 Brief economic and organizational characteristics of Avantage LLC

2.2 Level assessment financial condition and accounts payable of Avantage LLC

2.3 Comparative analysis of the organization’s accounts payable and receivable

Chapter 3. Measures for the effective management of accounts payable of Avantage LLC

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

My theme thesis was not chosen by chance, since the lack of funds in the economy and the insolvency of many enterprises have made issues of working with debtors and creditors one of the main areas in the list of functions of a financial manager.

In the process of production, commercial, intermediary and other activities, organizations enter into various settlement relationships with a large number of enterprises, organizations, institutions and individuals. Management in the field of settlement operations involves consideration of issues of the organization’s relationship with legal entities and individuals that arise at the final stage of their cooperation in the form of payment for goods, finished products, performance of work, services provided, etc., as well as the occurrence of receivables and payables.

The most pressing issue facing all business executives at present is the issue that is directly related to settlement and payment operations - the management of accounts payable, since the problem of managing accounts payable is greatly complicated by the imperfection of regulatory and legislative framework regarding debt collection.

Accounts payable is a natural component balance sheet enterprises. It arises as a result of a discrepancy between the date of occurrence of obligations and the date of payments for them. Ivashutin F.M., Financial management, published by Amalfeya, 2009, 176 pages. The financial condition of the enterprise is influenced by both the size of the balance sheet balances of accounts payable and the period of its turnover.

Carrying out entrepreneurial activity, participants in property turnover assume that as business transactions are carried out, they will not only return the invested funds, but also receive income. However, in real practice, especially with the transition to market relations and a decline in production, situations constantly arise when, for one reason or another, an enterprise cannot repay its debts. Accounts payable arise and persist for many months and sometimes years. An increase in accounts payable worsens the financial condition of the enterprise, and sometimes leads to bankruptcy.

The relevance of the chosen topic of this thesis lies in the fact that the dynamics of changes in accounts receivable and payable, their composition, structure and quality, as well as the intensity of their increase or decrease have a great impact on the turnover of capital invested in current assets, and, consequently, on financial condition of the enterprise.

In conditions of capital shortage, when long-term external sources of financing are very limited and often difficult to access, and internal ones, as a rule, are not enough to ensure even simple reproduction, domestic enterprises are forced to pay special attention to the management of accounts payable and receivable. In this regard, solving the problem of collecting payments from debtors and fulfilling obligations to creditors are one of the necessary conditions for increasing the efficiency of enterprises, as well as a means of adapting enterprises to changing environmental conditions.

The purpose of the thesis is to develop recommendations for improving the management of accounts payable of a specific organization - Avantage LLC.

Based on the purpose of the work, the following tasks are formulated:

Expand the concept of accounts payable and its role in the activities of the organization;

Describe the methods of managing accounts payable, the importance of optimizing accounts payable;

Reveal the methodology for analyzing accounts payable;

Analyze the composition and dynamics of the organization’s accounts payable;

Conduct a comparative analysis of accounts payable and receivable of Avantage LLC;

Develop proposals for improving accounts payable management.

The subject of study of this thesis is accounts payable.

The object of the study is Avantage LLC.

The methodological basis of the thesis was the methods of analyzing the financial condition, namely:
- horizontal (time) analysis allows you to compare each position with the previous period. Vertical (structural) analysis allows you to determine the structure of the final financial indicators, identifying the impact of each reporting item on the result as a whole;
- analysis of relative indicators (coefficients) allows you to calculate the relationships between reporting data and determine the relationships between indicators.
When writing this thesis, legislative acts were used, regulations, enterprise reporting, works of domestic authors.

The thesis consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion, and a list of references.

Chapter 1. Theoretical aspects of accounts payable managementdebt

1. 1 The concept of accounts payableorganization, its role in the activities of the organization

In foreign literature, accounts payable include: payable debt; expected outflow of funds or resources; refusal of an economic entity from potential income, etc.

In Russia, accounts payable most often include short-term debentures, arising from settlements between buyers and suppliers, customers with contractors, enterprises with tax authorities, with personnel for wages and other payments due to dividends, etc., as well as provided banking organizations loans.

The organization owns and uses accounts payable, but it is obliged to return or pay this part of the property to creditors who have the right to claim it. The specified part of the property includes the organization’s debts, other people’s property, other people’s funds in the possession of the debtor’s organization Bobkova I.V., Karpov E.A. The role of internal management of accounts payable and receivable in management. // Economics in industry. - 2012. No. 2. .

Accounts payable have a dual nature: as part of the property, it belongs to the organization on the basis of ownership or even ownership; as an object of obligation relations, these are the organization’s debts to creditors.

Accounts payable by economic content includes debt to suppliers and contractors. This debt is taken into account in the amount of the contractual value of material assets received from them, work performed or services rendered.

Accounts payable to the organization's personnel are considered accrued but unpaid amounts of wages.

The enterprise's debt to the budget includes accrued but unpaid amounts of payments for taxes, fees and equivalent payments, including personal income tax.

The item “other obligations” takes into account all other types of accounts payable for settlements with counterparties of the organization Gorfinkel V.Ya., Shvandar V.A. Small business. Organization, economics, management. -M.: Unity-Dana, 2010.-495 p. .

Before we begin to study the obligations, we should remember that accounting, as well as the concepts used in it, are based on the norms of the Civil Code, the law “On Accounting and financial statements", according to this, obligations to others legal entities possible in connection with the acquisition of materials, goods, acceptance of work performed, services rendered, payment for which has not yet occurred. In other words, the organization's assets increase simultaneously with the increase in liabilities on the balance sheet. Thus, if the receipt of materials and equipment precedes its payment, then the registration of inventories and investments in non-current assets should be reflected simultaneously with the increase in debt to suppliers or contractors Law of the Russian Federation “On Accounting” No. 129-FZ of November 21, 1996. ed. dated November 28, 2011 .

The general grounds for termination of obligations from the point of view of state legislation are as follows:

1. proper execution (Article 408 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation);

2. compensation (Article 409 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation);

3. test (Article 410 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation);

4. innovation (Article 414 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation);

5. debt forgiveness (Article 415 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

The information base for the study is the financial statements of an enterprise, as a set of indicators reflecting the state of property, rights and obligations of an economic entity as of a certain date, financial results its activities for the reporting period, as well as changes in the financial situation of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, parts 1-2 - regarding the regulation of contracts. .

Liabilities are classified into current (short-term accounts payable, which must be repaid in the operating cycle or within 12 months) and long-term liabilities (payment period of more than a year).

The amount of liabilities is measured as the present value of all future cash payments. The liability includes principal and interest.

The obligation is regulated in the following ways:

1. payment of funds;

2. transfer of assets;

3. provision of services;

4. replacing one obligation with another;

5. transferring a liability into capital.

Accounts payable are subject to accounting and reflected in the balance sheet as debts of the organization holding the balance sheet.

Today, to ensure proper record keeping economic activity enterprises, it is necessary to properly build an accounting system.

The beginning is the primary documents, their correct execution and processing. Source documents must record the fact of a transaction or event. Settlements with suppliers and contractors are also accompanied by documents; the basis for assuming an obligation to the supplier of goods (works, services) is a contract, invoice or act of completion of work (services) and an invoice. The contract serves as a justification for the purchase, invoices or an act serve to confirm the fact of receipt of goods or work, an invoice is mandatory document for all payers of value added tax and is issued on the basis of an invoice or a certificate of completion of work.

Payment for the purchase is carried out on the basis of an invoice, a document from the supplier confirming payment by the buyer indicating the payment amount, a list of goods, the buyer, having paid the invoice, receives the goods from the supplier upon presentation of a copy of the invoice, a copy of the payment document with a bank mark, a power of attorney to receive the goods. In turn, the supplier issues a delivery note and an invoice.

Payment orders are used to make non-cash payments through banking institutions for received and accepted goods and services, subject to reference to the number and date of tax invoices, waybills and other documents confirming the release of goods or provision of services, as well as for non-commodity transactions. A mandatory condition when receiving inventory from suppliers is the issuance of a power of attorney.

In order to exercise control over the write-off of debts for various circumstances, an inventory of settlements and obligations is carried out, which is documented in a reconciliation act.

An inventory of settlements with creditors comes down to confirming the balances of settlement accounts with them and identifying doubtful obligations among them; when taking an inventory of accounts payable, it is necessary to pay attention to the timing limitation period for each accounts payable Regulations on accounting and financial statements in the Russian Federation (Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 34n dated July 29, 1998) as amended on December 24, 2010.

One of the forms of external manifestation of the financial stability of an enterprise is its solvency for accounts payable - the ability to timely fulfill its obligations arising from trade and other payment transactions.

As part of the analysis of accounts payable, an in-depth study of the solvency of the enterprise is carried out based on the construction of a balance sheet, which includes the following interrelated groups of indicators: the total amount of non-payments, debt on loans, debt on payment documents of suppliers, arrears in the budget, other non-payments, including wages.

If tax payment deadlines are not met, overdue debt arises. tax authorities. Late contributions to extra-budgetary funds and other non-payments lead to the emergence of illegal accounts payable.

Accounts payable refers to short-term liabilities, and its balances by groups of creditors characterize their preemptive right to the organization’s property. This means that creditors can demand repayment of debts at any time.

On the other hand, accounts payable can be assessed as a source short-term attraction Money. The organization's strategy in this case should provide for the possibility of their rapid involvement in turnover in order to rationally invest in the most liquid types of assets that generate the greatest income. Thus, there is a relationship between accounts payable and the liquidity indicator. Liquidity is the ability of assets to be quickly sold at a price close to the market one. Liquid-- convertible into money. Usually distinguish highly liquid, low liquidity And illiquid values (assets). . When determining the liquidity of the balance sheet, the results for all groups of assets and liabilities are compared. An ideal liquid balance provides the following ratio:

A1 (absolutely liquid assets) ? P1(current liabilities);

A2 (quickly realizable assets) ? P2 (short-term liabilities);

A3 (slowly moving assets) ? P3 (long-term liabilities);

A4 (hard to sell assets) ? P4 (permanent liabilities). Levakhina E.D. ,Analysis of financial statements, textbook, M, 2009.

From the ratio A2?P2 we see that accounts payable, being a short-term liability, is associated with the formation of accounts receivable, since it is the source of its coverage.

Timely and complete fulfillment of an enterprise's payment obligations determines the high degree of their financial stability. This is the most important prerequisite for reducing the amount of accounts payable.

If the asset structure of the balance sheet is unsatisfactory, manifested in an increase in the share of doubtful accounts receivable, a situation is possible when the organization will be unable to meet its obligations, which can lead to bankruptcy.

1.2 Mmethodsmanagementaccounts payable

The entire range of debts of enterprises under a set of agreements with counterparties can be divided into two types: accounts receivable and accounts payable. Indicators of receivables and payables are involved in the calculation of various solvency and financial stability ratios. The analysis of these ratios is carried out at the beginning and end of the year, and their comparative assessment is provided, characterizing the financial condition of the organization.

Accounts receivable of an organization are payments from buyers of goods; accounts payable, on the contrary, are the debt of the organization itself to suppliers of goods and other third-party organizations. Since accounts payable are closely related to the formation of accounts receivable, being a source of its coverage, and also being accounts receivable for one counterparty it also acts as accounts payable for another, so it is advisable to use it in the analysis A complex approach.

Accounting for settlements with related organizations, in which each specific enterprise can act in turn as a supplier, contractor, buyer, customer, debtor and creditor, is an essential part of accounting activities.

Non-receipt or untimely receipt of cash proceeds or those paid in advance material resources disrupts the rhythm of economic activity. Accounts receivable arise, which often lead to financial losses and the destruction of established partnerships.

In practice, companies use different approaches to financing current assets. They are based on the assumption that to ensure liquidity, fixed assets and the permanent portion of current assets must be offset by long-term liabilities. The difference between the approaches is determined by which sources of financing are chosen to cover the variable part of current assets. There are conservative, aggressive and moderate approaches.

With a conservative approach, the variable part of current assets is covered by long-term liabilities, and the constant part by own funds. This approach guarantees liquidity since there is no short-term debt. However, it is expensive. Long-term liabilities tend to be more expensive and require ongoing maintenance. High costs of attracting long-term financing give rise to the risk of a decrease in the return on equity.

A conservative approach is a priority in cases of inflationary increase in the cost of short-term sources of financing current assets, instability of the company and the lack of reliable forecasts for the receipt of funds, provision preferential terms long-term debt financing (for example, under government programs).

An aggressive approach to financing current assets is to use short-term debt to cover the full variable portion of current assets. Long-term liabilities in this approach serve as a source of coverage for non-current assets and a constant part of current current assets, i.e. the minimum that is necessary for economic activity under normal, ordinary conditions. The risk of loss of liquidity with an aggressive approach is maximum and the likelihood of discrepancies between receipts and payments increases. In case of urgent repayment of all short-term obligations, the company will be forced to sell even fixed assets. The advantage of this approach is that it is a cheap way to cover current assets. During periods of acute need for funds (if short-term liabilities are insufficient), short-term bank loans can be used.

Moderate The asset finance approach combines risk and return to maximize market valuation companies. In this case, non-current assets, the constant part of current assets and approximately half of their variable part are covered by long-term liabilities. The second half of the variable portion of current assets must be financed through short-term debt. In this approach, all working capital management decisions are evaluated from the point of view of maximizing price within the overall financial policy(the need for dividend payments, sales investment programs, the possibility of optimizing the periods of accounts payable and receivable, etc.) Zhilkin I.V. Information infrastructure for enterprise management. // Economics in industry. -2011. No. 1. .

It can be concluded that the main difference between the three approaches to financing current assets is the amount of short-term debt used in each of them. The aggressive approach involves the greatest use of this source, while the conservative approach involves the least (the moderate approach, as an intermediate level, involves the equal use of long-term and short-term sources).

The level of accounts receivable is determined by many factors: type of product, market capacity, degree of market saturation with this product, the payment system adopted by the enterprise, etc. The last factor is especially important for the manager.

Since an increase in inventories and costs in an enterprise can lead to an increase in the liquidity of current assets, it is necessary to promptly identify and analyze the reasons for the diversion of funds from economic circulation, as it contributes to the growth of accounts payable and the deterioration of the financial condition of the enterprise.

The main methods of managing receivables and payables are to establish such contractual relationships with buyers and suppliers that ensure timely and sufficient receipt of funds to make payments to creditors, and make the timing and amount of the company's payments to suppliers dependent on the receipt of funds from buyers. The implementation of such management presupposes the availability of information about the real state of receivables and payables and their turnover. At the same time, long-term and overdue debt must be excluded from the balance sheets of receivables and payables.

When developing a payment policy, an enterprise proceeds from a comparison of the profit additionally received by easing payment terms and, consequently, increasing sales volumes, and losses due to an increase in accounts receivable.

The Voronov and Maksimov consulting group conducted a study among Russian enterprises in order to determine what methods in managing receivables and payables are used by Russian enterprises. Based on the results of the study, Russian enterprises use the following methods for managing receivables and payables:

Calculation and analysis of financial ratios;

Planning, control and analysis of accounts receivable;

Planning and control of the total volume of working capital;

Control over accounts payable, comparison of amounts of accounts receivable and accounts payable;

Planning and control of inventories of raw materials, materials and finished products in warehouses.

At the same time, the study revealed that a number of enterprises do not use any control methods at all.

The results of the analysis of accounts receivable management showed that a third of the enterprises participating in the study provide discounts to customers depending on the payment term, and a third of the enterprises link the payment period for delivered products with their volume. 79% of all surveyed enterprises control the volume of receivables, while the timing of receivables is controlled by only 42% of enterprises Zharikov V.V. Anti-crisis enterprise management. - Tambov: textbook, TSTU, 2009. -128 p.

According to the results of the study, 25% of all surveyed enterprises use other methods of controlling accounts receivable, including: control of the order of payments to suppliers, control of receipts for each group of goods, dynamic control for each debtor, control of the critical level of debt for each debtor.

During the study, enterprises were asked about the methods used to influence debtors:

If debtors violate their obligations, they use penalties and seek the assistance of an arbitration court;

Conduct individual negotiations with debtors;

Suspend the provision of services under concluded contracts;

Change the previously agreed terms of payment (switching to full or partial prepayment when customers purchase products).

Along with the question of managing accounts receivable, enterprises were asked the question of methods for managing accounts payable. As a result, it turned out that about half of the surveyed enterprises do not use any methods of managing accounts payable. The remaining enterprises use the following methods:

Regular negotiations with suppliers on delivery conditions;

Individual work with each supplier;

Selection of suppliers with appropriate payment terms;

Increasing trade credit and deferred payment period from the supplier based on determining a fixed volume of monthly purchases;

Transition to payment to suppliers after sales of products;

Unauthorized delay in payments to suppliers;

Receiving discounts on the volume of purchased products for a certain period of time.

As one of the methods of managing accounts payable, the study examined the use of a bill of exchange form of payment. The study showed that 25% of surveyed enterprises use bills of exchange in their activities. Of all enterprises that use the bill of exchange form of payment, 32% of enterprises use bills of exchange, including for payments within the enterprise, and the same percentage of enterprises use bills of exchange from Sberbank.

Regarding the sources of borrowed capital used by enterprises, the study results showed that 63% of enterprises use bank loans, 50% of enterprises use accounts payable as a source, 42% sell products on an advance payment basis, 25% use other sources of borrowed capital, including: loans to individuals, investor funds, factoring Zharikov V.V. Anti-crisis management of an enterprise. - Tambov: textbook, TSTU, 2009. -138 p.

Analytical procedures related to accounts payable management are mainly included in the system of intra-company financial analysis and management control. The following key points that require analytical justification can be identified:

1. Selection of a supplier (in this case, the following should be taken into account: the reliability of the supplier, the possibility of establishing long-term relationships, variability in establishing financial and settlement relations, the presence of different schemes for the supply of raw materials and materials, the average duration of delivery, etc.);

2. Monitoring the timeliness of payments (as a rule, exceeding the deadline for payment for supplied raw materials and materials leads to penalties);

3. Choosing the moment of settlement with a specific creditor in a specific situation (in the vast majority of cases, suppliers of raw materials, naturally interested in speeding up payment, offer a discount from the selling price, subject to relatively quick payment; thus, the company faces a dilemma - take advantage of the discount or get an additional source of financing).

Analysis of the turnover of receivables and payables allows us to draw conclusions about:

The rationality of the size of the annual turnover of funds in settlements, since the efficiency of the settlement and payment system accelerates the process of turnover of funds in settlements, promotes the influx of other assets of the organization and the repayment of accounts payable.

Reducing the cost of products (works, services). With an increase in the number of revolutions, the share of fixed costs attributed to the cost indicator decreases;

Possible acceleration of turnover at other stages of the production process and sale of products (works, services). Reducing the turnover of receivables and payables will lead to an acceleration in the turnover of cash, inventories and obligations of the organization. Parushina N.V. The financial analysis: Analysis of receivables and payables./Parushina N.V.//Accounting. - M., 2010. - No. 4. - P. 48.

Accounts receivable management involves, first of all, control over the turnover of funds in settlements. The acceleration of turnover in dynamics is considered as a positive trend.

The selection of potential buyers and the determination of the terms of payment for goods provided for in contracts are of great importance. Naydenova R.I., Vinokhodova A.F., Naydenov A.I. Financial management. - M.: KnoRus, 2011. - P. 208 Selection is carried out using informal criteria: compliance with payment discipline in the past, the buyer’s forecast financial capabilities to pay for the volume of goods requested by him, the level of current solvency, the level of financial stability, economic and financial conditions the selling enterprise (overstocking, degree of need for cash, etc.).

Regular customers usually pay for goods on credit, and the terms of the loan depend on many factors. Economically developed countries A widespread scheme is in which:

The buyer receives a 2% discount if he pays for the received goods within n days from the beginning of the credit period (for example, from the moment of receipt of the goods);

the buyer pays the full cost of the goods if payment is made in the period from (n+1) to nth day credit period; In case of non-payment within n days, the buyer will be forced to pay an additional fine, the amount of which may vary depending on the moment of payment.

Accounts receivable control includes ranking accounts receivable according to the timing of their occurrence. The most common classification provides the following grouping (days): 0-30; 31-60; 61-90; 91-120; over 120. Other groupings are also possible. In addition, it is necessary to control bad debts in order to create the necessary reserve. Kovalev V.V. Well financial management. - M: Prospect, 2011. - P. 478

The choice of receivables management method is influenced by the chosen management strategy.

If an accounting strategy has been adopted for development, it is advisable to use the most convenient payment methods for the enterprise, namely debt collection in cash, offset schemes or assignment of debt to third parties on the basis of assignment agreements. Assignment is the right to demand repayment of the debt and other rights and the obligations of the original creditor are transferred to another organization for an appropriate fee, and the consent of the debtor is not required. or factoring Factoring is lending to suppliers by purchasing short-term receivables. .

The collection strategy is carried out in relation to overdue receivables and requires more active actions to collect them. At this stage, the primary task is to minimize the difference between the amount of receivables taking into account late payment and the original amount of debt, that is, reducing the period of overdue payment.

The collection monitoring strategy applies to deferred receivables and does not require action other than monitoring the financial condition of the partner in order to collect the amount of the debt.

If a collection strategy is being developed and the debt is overdue, in addition to “convenient” payment methods (cash, offset schemes), it is advisable to use less preferable but necessary payment methods, such as exchanging debt for shares of the debtor, formalizing the debt with a bill of exchange, signing an agreement on compensation, and in case of failure of the listed methods - an appeal to the Arbitration Court.

All of the above methods in most cases lead to effective results. Aristarkhova M.K., Valiev Sh.N. Management of receivables of an industrial enterprise, Ufa, UGATU, 2009 - 96 p.

In the event that an organization has assessed in advance the reality and reliability of repaying such debt and has reserved amounts for its write-off, these consequences cannot affect the rhythm of the company’s functioning and its solvency.

When managing accounts payable, the same methods are used as when managing debtors' debts.

If there are mutual obligations between enterprises, then reducing accounts payable will help:

1. Set-off of mutual claims (Article 410 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). Offsetting counterclaims can be carried out if two or more parties have settlement obligations, when, as a result of the execution of contracts with different contents in relation to each other, they are simultaneously both a debtor and a creditor.

2. Selecting a calculation method. Payment forms require partial or full prepayment, as well as the opportunity to purchase goods at a discount depending on the volume of purchase.

3. Ranking accounts payable for each creditor separately, in order to control the timing of repayment of obligations, allows you to timely monitor the timing of payment of obligations.

4. Attracting funds from investors. Since the process of attracting additional financial resources for the purposes of our own business is considered by us from the point of view of maximizing the security of this process, we should dwell on the two most important, in this aspect, characteristics of this loan method. The first is relative cheapness: as a rule, investors who exchange their funds for corporate rights (shares, shares) count on dividends, which are recorded in the constituent documents (or established at a meeting of participants) in the form of interest. Moreover, if there is no profit at the enterprise, the capital invested in the business can be “free”. The second feature is the ability of investors to influence management processes in the established business company (the right to vote at a meeting of shareholders or participants). Therefore, care should be taken to maintain a controlling interest. Otherwise, your original equity capital may turn into capital transferred as loans to a new investor. This leads to the conclusion that the size of the funds raised by corporate investors is clearly limited: in general, they should not be more than your initial investment: even if the shares (shares) are “scattered” among several holders, there is still a risk (especially if we are talking about a successful enterprise ) concentration of corporate rights under single control.

5. Financial (monetary) credit is usually provided by banks. This is one of the most expensive types of credit resources. Limiting factors:

High percent,

The need for reliable support

Building strong balance sheets.

Despite the “high cost” and “problematic nature” of attracting, the possibilities bank loan, unlike investment funds, must be used by the company 100%. If the project implemented by the company is truly “designed” for a competitive level of profitability, then the profit received from the use financial loan will always exceed the required interest. Although banks prefer this type of security for granted loans, such as collateral, they can also be content with a third party guarantee (if there are solvent founders or other interested parties). Balance sheet indicators also have some “flexibility”, both in the process of their formation and in the course of their perception by the receiving party. The presence of presentable reporting indicators, although a prerequisite for a bank employee, can, to some extent, be ignored due to the presence of real guarantees and security for the loan provided. One significant disadvantage of financial borrowings, especially in comparison with investment funds, is the presence of strictly defined deadlines for their return.

6. Trade credit. The main positive distinguishing feature of this type of obtaining borrowed funds is the simplest method of raising. Does not require (unlike financial) collateral; is not associated with significant costs and duration of registration (unlike investments).

7. Economic superiority. Very often it is built on trade credit relationships and other types of lending. The essence of using the advantages associated with one’s own economic superiority is the ability to dictate and impose on the supplier (lender) one’s own “rules” of the game in the market and the nature of contractual relations, or, as this often happens, to violate these same contractual relations without “special” consequences for own "superior" business.

The economic superiority of the borrower over the lender may arise due to the following circumstances:

Monopoly position of the buyer in the market (monopsony);

Differences in economic potential: the buyer's total assets significantly exceed those of the supplier;

Marketing advantages (for example, a small or start-up manufacturer seeking to promote its products (brand) to a network of large supermarkets or luxury stores is not “able” to dictate its terms or demand the fulfillment of “all” obligations, since it may find itself without the “right” customer );

The buyer “discovered” organizational deficiencies in the management of receivables from the creditor (“gaps” in accounting and control, legal “insolvency,” etc.).

Also, when returning accounts payable, one should proceed from how valuable the client is to the organization, what concessions and discounts counterparties are willing to make for him:

Having analyzed the composition of its business partners, any company will be able to identify those to whom it is ready to forgive deferred repayment of accounts payable; those to whom it is ready to forgive the deferred return of accounts payable, subject to compensation for damage incurred and payment of interest for the use of funds from accounts payable until its return; as well as those for whom education and delayed repayment of accounts payable will become an impetus for terminating the relationship.

In order for the repayment of accounts payable to occur as quickly as possible, it is necessary to build civilized relations with counterparties. For example, it is necessary to build such relationships with partners when it becomes possible to return accounts payable without paying interest.

Quite often, companies have long-term partnerships and experience certain inconveniences when accounts payable are incurred by a long-time partner. In this case, partner companies, for moral and ethical reasons, sometimes do not resort to their right to demand from the debtor not only the return of accounts payable, but also the payment of interest, since strong business relationships are sometimes more important than money. Maybe now old client is experiencing temporary difficulties, but after this period “passes” and the repayment of accounts payable takes place, many years of fruitful and profitable cooperation await you.

However, in order for the goodwill of the creditor company to be appreciated by the debtor, it is necessary that he knows about the size of the discount that he received without repaying the accounts payable, as if using an interest-free loan. In this case, the debtor company will return the accounts payable and appreciate the understanding of its temporary difficulties. It is unlikely that she will want to change her business partner in the future, after the accounts payable have been returned.

There is also a return of accounts payable with interest. Accounts payable are called accounts payable because they can be considered as a loan, loan, credit issued to the debtor and subject to repayment. Therefore, before repaying the accounts payable, it would be fair to require the debtor to pay interest for the use of funds. In practice it might look like this:

To compensate for the damage caused by the fact that the repayment of accounts payable does not occur for a long time, and these funds are withdrawn from commercial circulation, the injured party can take out a loan from the bank at a reasonable interest rate in the amount of the accounts payable, the return of which is not made. She can direct this loan to the same place where she planned to send the funds frozen due to non-repayment of accounts payable, and assign the payment of interest to the company or organization that is obliged to repay the accounts payable. This situation will last exactly until the accounts payable are returned.

8. Repayment of accounts payable by providing bills of exchange. A promissory note as a means of debt restructuring is a new obligation that must be fulfilled in accordance with newly established deadlines and often with lower interest rates. This frees the company from paying debt in a given period, helping to improve the company’s performance indicators. Businesses in financial distress may use promissory notes as a loan restructuring tool if there is a third party interested in purchasing the company's obligations.

9. Use of bank bills. For this purpose it is loan agreement with the bank secured by the amount necessary to purchase bank bills. Subsequently, the company pays its creditor with bank bills. In this transaction, the enterprise effectively replaces its many "unsecured" creditors with one "secured" - a bank that provides a loan to the enterprise with interest rate lower than rates on unrestructured debts. Creditors benefit because in return for doubtful debts they receive very specific claims against the bank. Companies using this restructuring method typically have many small creditors, a good relationship with a stable bank, and have assets that can be used as collateral for a loan.

Thus, the choice of methods in accounts payable management comes down to:

Pre-contractual work, on the selection of potential lenders;

The correct choice of the form of debt (bank or commercial) in order to minimize interest payments and costs for the acquisition of material assets;

Preventing the formation of overdue debts associated with additional costs (penalties, penalties);

Regulation and control of accounts payable management;

Accountants, lawyers, internal auditors and financial managers involved in maintaining the accounts receivable and accounts payable management system have special vocational training and skills in the field of economics, taxes and financial management Korotkova M.V. Optimization of accounts payable management debt at enterprises, OSU Bulletin No. 5, May, 2009. .

1.3 System of indicators usedwhen assessing accounts receivable and payable

Recently, many domestic industrial enterprises within the system internal control create an accounts payable management system. Such a system presupposes the widespread use of pre-trial procedures for resolving disputes.

In economically developed countries, in enterprises and firms that have divisions for managing receivables and payables, whose personnel specialize in resolving disputes related to their occurrence, there is no such problem as “uncollected debt.”

The main task of financial management is making decisions to ensure the most efficient movement of financial resources between the company and its sources of financing, both external and internal. Tebekin A.V., Kasaev B.S., Organization Management, KnoRus, 2011, -P.424

Also, one of the tasks of a financial manager is to find optimal solutions in enterprise management. This search concerns the area of location and optimal use of enterprise resources.

Accounts payable is no exception.

Accounts payable management can be carried out using two main options: optimizing accounts payable and minimizing accounts payable.

Optimization - search for new solutions with the help of which accounts payable and its changes can have a positive impact on the enterprise (increasing the authorized capital, increasing reserve capital, etc.).

Minimization - a mechanism for managing accounts payable, in which existing accounts payable is reduced to its reduction, up to full repayment. In terms of accounts payable management, it is necessary to:

Expand organizationally economic features the nature of accounts payable;

Determine a system of indicators of the condition and assessment of the effectiveness of accounts payable;

Highlight optimal accounts payable management;

Suggest methods for increasing the efficiency of accounts payable management based on its optimization (or minimization).

In order to effectively manage a company’s debts, it is necessary to determine their optimal structure for a specific enterprise and in a specific situation:

Draw up a budget for accounts payable, develop a system of indicators (coefficients) characterizing both quantitative and qualitative assessment of the state and development of relations with the company’s creditors and accept certain values of such indicators as planned;

Carrying out an analysis of the compliance of actual indicators with their standard level, as well as an analysis of the causes of deviations that have arisen;

Depending on the identified inconsistencies and the reasons for their occurrence, a set of practical measures should be developed and implemented to bring the debt structure in line with the planned (optimal) parameters of A. Komakh from the materials of the magazine “Financial Director”, Kiev, 2013. .

The most commonly used ratio associated with the assessment of an enterprise's accounts payable is the accounts payable liquidity ratio or ratio current liquidity, which is calculated as the ratio of working capital to short-term debt obligations, and shows the amount of working capital coverage due to short-term liabilities.

Click=Ob.drop./Red.Red.back.;

The stability of the financial condition of an enterprise is determined by the optimal ratio of own and borrowed funds, fixed and working capital, as well as the balance of the assets and liabilities of the business enterprise. It is necessary to study the structure of the enterprise's sources and assess the degree of financial stability and financial risk.

When determining financial stability, the following indicators are calculated:

The financial autonomy coefficient is defined as the ratio of equity capital to the balance sheet currency. This indicator indicates the share of the owners of the enterprise in the total amount of funds advanced for its production and economic activities. It is assumed that the higher the value of this coefficient, the more stable the financial situation; the enterprise operates stably and does not depend on external factors.

To f.aut.= SK/balance currency;

The coefficient of maneuverability of own funds, calculated by dividing own working capital by equity capital, reflects what share of equity capital finances current activities and what is capitalized. The change in the value of this indicator can be influenced by the type of activity of the enterprise and the structure of its assets.

Kman.=With ob.av./Sk;

Enterprise self-financing ratio . It is calculated as the ratio of equity capital to attracted capital. This indicator allows you to track not only the percentage of equity capital, but also the management capabilities of the entire company, since it reflects the degree to which debts are covered by equity capital.

Ksf.p.=Sk/Zk;

The financial dependence ratio is the share of borrowed capital in the total balance sheet currency.

Kf.z.=Zk/balance sheet currency;

The financial risk ratio, or financial leverage, is defined as the ratio of borrowed capital to equity, and shows the share of borrowed capital relative to equity.

Kf.r.=Zk/Sk;

To assess the status of receivables and payables, a number of indicators are also calculated.

The accounts receivable turnover ratio is calculated as the ratio of revenue to the average amount of accounts receivable.

Cob.d.z.=Revenue/(back.at the beginning lane + back.at the end lane)/2;

The repayment period of receivables, the time interval between the shipment of products to customers and the receipt of funds from them, is defined as the ratio of the residual value of receivables to the product of the amount of repaid receivables and the number of days in the reporting period.

The share of accounts receivable in the total volume of working capital, the higher this indicator, the more mobile the structure of the enterprise’s property.

The share of doubtful debts in accounts receivable.

Assessing the real state of accounts receivable, i.e. assessing the probability of bad debts, is one of the most important issues in working capital management. The assessment is carried out separately for groups of receivables with different periods of occurrence. The financial manager can use the statistics accumulated at the enterprise, as well as resort to the services of expert consultants.

Accounts payable turnover ratio, calculated as the ratio of revenue or cost products sold to the average amount of accounts payable.

Kob.k.z.=Revenue/(back.at the beginning lane + back.at the end lane)/2;

The share of overdue debt in accounts payable.

In order to determine the degree of dependence of a company on accounts payable, it is necessary to calculate the following several indicators.

The coefficient of dependence of the enterprise on accounts payable. It is calculated as the ratio of the amount of borrowed funds to the total assets of the enterprise. This ratio gives an idea of how much the company's assets are formed at the expense of creditors.

Accounts payable and its amount

The size of the company's creditor depends on:

firstly, the duration , determined by contractual terms. It is logical that the longer the deferment, the greater the amount of debt we have;
secondly, the frequency of purchases, the size of the average delivery lot. Here the dependence is as follows: if you purchase inventory items frequently and in smaller quantities, then a smaller amount of debt will be used for payment. Payments will be more regular, and the amount of one payment will not be significant. And vice versa, overstocking a large batch for a long period of time leads to the fact that payment will arise rarely, but in a one-time large amount, which is difficult for many;
thirdly, the price of purchased goods and materials, services provided, work performed: the more expensive we purchase, the more we must pay for our obligations to suppliers;
fourthly, - terms of the supply agreement related to receiving bonuses. Suppliers often create excess stocks in the warehouses of their counterparties, including in the contract a condition that the latter receive an incentive amount for a certain sample volume of goods. As a result, accounts payable under such contracts are often artificially high at the end of the month;
fifthly, - the internal financial discipline of the company - the desire and ability to make payments on obligations on time;
sixthly, - features of attracting bank loans. The ability to use various sources of funds stabilizes the financial situation without making it significantly dependent on the conditions of work with suppliers.

Based on my own experience, I can say that if a company does not undertake special measures in working with creditors, then every year the duration of the deferment provided by suppliers decreases, and the deferment that it is forced to give to its customers increases.

To ensure that employees of purchasing departments do not relax, the financial director needs to constantly keep his finger on the pulse and not approve contracts with what he believes is a suboptimal deferred payment.

Example

I was faced with the problem of too large accounts payable. The reason was this: the purchasing department purchased goods for future use, one-time in too large quantities. To solve the problem, a system of standards for the turnover of individual groups of inventory was developed, and also a mathematical model based on Excel, which allows you to make a decision on the volume of purchases solely for planned sales and nothing more.

Never forget that the absence of a clearly defined calculation algorithm necessary for purchasing volumes of goods always leads to an unreasonably large amount of the creditor. So my advice is to be sure to immerse yourself in purchasing decision making.

Accounts payable analysis

The account balance figure alone of 60 will not provide the necessary information about what the accounts payable is and the situation with it. It should be carried out at least annually inventory accounting information about it, and ideally check it monthly with suppliers. In practice, there are often cases when a financial director, when analyzing, may encounter unreliable accounting data resulting from late submission of documents, technical failures, lack of offset of counter obligations, as well as simply errors associated with the human factor.

Example

The above situations arise in those companies where respect for document flow is not instilled in employees at all levels - department managers do not submit documents to the accounting department on time and in full, no one asks them for an analysis of the amount of accounts payable inventory for the supervised creditor. As a result, in the long term, the accounting will still be correct, but it will be necessary to fight for the reliability of online data by creating appropriate regulatory documents for services, as well as, possibly, a system of penalties from persons who violate these regulations. I also encountered when Chief Accountant thinks in terms of the “quarter” period, and the reliability of data for each month is no longer of interest to him. As a result, reconciliations with counterparties are done not monthly, but quarterly, and missing documents from departments are required only in the last month of the quarter. But for a correct analysis of the creditor, reliable monthly data is needed, so here the financial director will need to work, among other things, with the accounting staff, explaining to them the need for a more frequent inventory of available documents and accounting amounts.

In any case, before accounts payable is analyzed, it is necessary to ensure the accuracy of the data. Below are several indicators that can be tracked over time, as well as their comparison with normative value will answer many questions.

An analysis of the structure of accounts payable must be carried out by type of debt: to suppliers and contractors, to the organization's personnel, for taxes and fees, to customers for advances received, etc. As mentioned earlier, the main share in such a structure is usually occupied by obligations to suppliers. However, every financial director needs to understand exactly what the debt structure is in his company so that the efforts made are truly effective in the future.

Example

In my practice, there was only one case when the debt on taxes and fees grew like a snowball. The reason for non-payment of taxes was the lack of sufficient revenue from buyers. But payments stopped not only for taxes, but also for other obligations of the company, including suppliers. Therefore, structurally, taxes did not come to the fore in the composition of accounts payable; the main share was still occupied by suppliers; it’s just that the amount of liabilities itself became higher.

Accounts payable and its turnover

Turnover is calculated as the average amount of the enterprise's accounts payable for the period, divided by the cost of manufactured (sold) products and multiplied by the number of days in a certain period. Turnover in days shows the lending period, that is, the average duration of deferred payments. The longer this period, the more actively the company uses the funds of its partners.

When using this indicator, two points should be taken into account.

It is necessary to take the creditor’s amount comparable production costs . That is, to correlate, for example, accounts payable only to suppliers of raw materials with the costs of the same goods and materials used in production. Otherwise, the indicator loses its meaning.
The more information about the creditor on different dates, the better. Often the debt at the end of the month can be artificially low or high. And only two dates - at the beginning and end of the month - can be completely unrepresentative. If it is possible to cut data on debt at least weekly, this will significantly increase the reliability of the indicator under consideration.

Example

I came to these conclusions based on practical experience of monthly analysis of accounts payable. When you see at the beginning of the month the amount of debt is 1 million rubles, and at the end - 0 rubles, by averaging the data you will get an average monthly amount equal to (1 million rubles + 0 rubles): 2 = 500 thousand rubles. However, if we analyze the weekly data, we will find that the creditor was repaid only in the last week of the month. As a result, we have data for five points: the beginning of the first week - 1 million rubles, the beginning of the second week - 1 million rubles, the beginning of the third week - 1 million rubles, the beginning of the fourth week - 1 million rubles, the end of the fourth week - 0 rubles. Hence, the average monthly debt will be equal to (1 + 1 + 1 + 0): 5 = 800 thousand rubles. The difference in the obtained figures is 60 percent, which, you see, significantly influences possible management decisions based on the results of the relevant reports of the financial service.

Comparative analysis with accounts receivable indicators

With such an analysis, it is important to compare not only absolute values, but also the period receivables turnover and creditors. In some ways, accounts receivable are similar to accounts payable, only the accounts receivable are the company's money in someone else's pocket, and the accounts payable is the opposite. If there is a significant imbalance between these two indicators, liquidity problems may arise. If an organization provides its customers with a significantly longer deferment of payment than it, in turn, is provided by suppliers, it turns out that it fully assumes all the risks of selling products. It is necessary to think about negotiations with suppliers to increase the deferment.

Overdue accounts payable in total

It is advisable not only to estimate the total volume of overdue accounts payable, but also to structure it according to the period of overdue. For example, according to the following boundaries: up to 7 days, up to 14 days, up to 30 days, over 30 days. The presence of a large share of overdue payments over 14 days indicates low financial discipline and (or) significant problems of the enterprise with the availability of funds to pay existing obligations. It is also important to keep separate records of unclaimed debt. If the creditor does not make demands for repayment of the debt within three years, it can be written off as the organization’s income.

Example

I initiated the write-off of a creditor that had been unclaimed for three years, and there were no cases where the creditor company showed up and demanded repayment of the debt.

Postponing the write-off of accounts payable is risky. arise tax risks.

Control errors

We will analyze the main mistakes of management in managing the lender, as well as ways in which the financial director can influence the situation.

Reluctance to attract borrowed capital or attracting it in insufficient quantities. Often, when owners are faced with the question of whether to run a business using their own funds or borrowed funds, the answer may sound like this: of course, at our own expense, we don’t need loans. The arguments include the costs of paying interest, the labor-intensive procedure for formalizing a loan transaction, and the need to provide collateral. It would seem that using supplier funds to replenish working capital looks extremely attractive - on the surface everything is quite simple and “free”. However, let's try to understand the situation.

The owner makes investments in the business in the hope of receiving a profit higher than that provided by banks on deposit accounts (or higher than other investment methods available to him). With high business profitability equity may become more expensive than borrowed money.

In addition, the principle of diversification must be observed. If accounts payable becomes the main source of funds for a company, then dependence on the working conditions with each specific supplier increases. In addition, even a short-term bank loan (up to 1 year) provides longer-term money than lenders (deferment of about 14–30 days). Financial stability does not deteriorate when using borrowed funds from the bank. In the situation under consideration, it will be more effective, together with the owner, to develop the optimal ratio of borrowed funds from banks and funds provided by suppliers, taking into account their cost, as well as taking into account all possible risks.

Example

At one of our places of work, the management and I reached a consensus in an expert opinion that the optimal ratio for us would be the ratio of equity and borrowed capital of 50 percent to 50 percent, and the threatening ratio would be 30 percent to 70 percent, respectively.

However, in one of the companies where I worked, I was unable to influence the decision to attract borrowed capital due to the lack of direct communication with the owner. The director conveyed to me the owner’s position about his reluctance to use loans as final and irrevocable. He himself also could not (or did not want) to influence the change in this decision. By presenting the arguments I proposed above not to the owner, but to the director, I did not influence the decision maker, and therefore did not achieve the desired result.

Intentional reluctance to pay the company's obligations on time. It is well known that payment discipline in Russia is not ideal. If the counterparty always pays like clockwork, he will definitely be remembered. Almost every company has encountered the problem of non-payments without any clear reason. Well, if they don’t pay you, then there is a temptation not to pay your obligations on time.

In practice, there is a type of manager who believes that there is no need to pamper their counterparties with excessive discipline with payments. To the point that the money remains unspent in the accounts, but does not go to suppliers. With this behavior, procurement employees who find it difficult to explain something to their supplier, as well as financial service employees, are at risk. The result of such a policy is often disastrous: the supplier ceases to trust the company, relations deteriorate to the point of direct economic losses. It can be difficult to convey a tense situation to a manager. Only numerical arguments can help here. Namely: the financial director can provide an estimate of the company’s losses from inventory and materials not delivered on time, an estimate of the amount of fines and penalties imposed, losses from an increase in the purchase price, the cost of maintaining the volume of liquidity when the organization switches to prepayment, etc. Usually, the amounts of losses are clearly indicated help stabilize the payment situation and regain the trust of counterparties.

Example

I was faced with the fact that not always even argumentation in numbers can help in solving the identified problem. And this happened because there was a personal conflict between my director and the head of the supplier, in which reasonable arguments were no longer taken into account. Here, all employees involved had to accept the situation as it was.

How to review the terms of cooperation with counterparties to reduce accounts payable

To quickly reduce current obligations to large creditors, negotiate debt restructuring, for example, initiate changes in contractual terms. For example, you can extend the repayment period (change the deferred payment period to a long one), slightly increasing the amount of the debt. As a result, the balance sheet amount of current accounts payable will decrease, but the amount of long-term liabilities will increase (there will be a redistribution of the amount in the balance sheet liability). This redistribution of obligations according to maturity will help gain time to find funds, as well as avoid creditors filing applications to declare the company insolvent.

Vaulina Alina Alekseevna, student
Stavropol State Agrarian University
Tomilina Elena Petrovna, Candidate of Sciences, Associate Professor, Associate Professor
Stavropol State Agrarian University

CREDIT
BORROWED FUNDS
FINANCIAL STABILITY
ACCOUNTS PAYABLE
COMPETITIVENESS
BANKRUPTCY

The article discusses the concept of accounts payable, its characteristics, the accounts payable management system and methods of attracting borrowed funds.

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Almost all organizations in modern world do not manage their business activities without accounts payable. In Russia in last years deterioration is observed economic situation and growth of accounts payable economic entities. The debt of enterprises is a factor in their lack of financial stability and investment unattractiveness.

Accounts payable are an unpaid obligation of a company to creditors. Creditors of the enterprise are suppliers of goods, works, services, lessors, buyers, employees, the budget and extra-budgetary funds. Accounts payable are characterized by the following main features:

Free source of borrowed funds. Accounts payable reduces not only the cost of the borrowed part of capital, but also the cost of the entire capital of the enterprise.
Size influences the duration of the financial cycle of an enterprise. The larger the amount of accounts payable, the less funds the company needs to raise to finance its business activities.
The amount of accounts payable is directly dependent on the volume of production and sales of products. With an increase in production volume, the company's expenses also increase, and this entails attracting more funds and an increase in accounts payable.

Accounts payable management is an important aspect of financial management. The success of the organization and its existence in the future depends on how effectively this management is carried out. With proper management, such debt can become an additional, and most importantly, cheap source of raising borrowed funds. Therefore, it depends on how relationships with counterparties are built, the terms of concluded contracts are agreed upon, and the terms of their payment are monitored, i.e. What is the mechanism for managing accounts payable largely depends on the efficiency of using the funds received. It is important to note that any debt primarily affects the solvency of the organization. Therefore, in order to effectively manage an organization’s debts, it is necessary:

Determine the optimal structure of accounts payable for the enterprise
Create an accounts payable budget
Develop a system of indicators characterizing relations with creditors and accept certain values as planned
Analyze the compliance of actual indicators with standard indicators
Analyze the causes of any deviations
Develop a set of practical measures to bring the debt structure in line with planned indicators.

The manager plays an important role in managing accounts payable. He must develop and apply a clear strategy in relations with creditors so that they are most consistent with the goals of ensuring the financial stability of the company and increasing its profitability and competitiveness. When developing a strategy, managers must pay great attention to solving such problems as: maximizing profits and minimizing company costs, achieving dynamic development and increasing the creditworthiness of the organization. When all these tasks are completed, the maximum financial stability organizations. Funding for these tasks must also be ensured in full. The organization should first use all its own sources of financing, and then attract borrowed funds from creditors. It is important to take into account the cost of borrowed capital, which should allow maintaining the organization’s profitability at an optimal level.

An important step in managing accounts payable is determining the most appropriate tactical approaches. There are several approaches to raising borrowed funds:

Investor funds (expansion of authorized capital)
Bank loan
Trade credit (deferred payment to suppliers)
Using your own "economic superiority"

The method of raising funds at the expense of investors has its own characteristics. Firstly, this method is characterized by its low cost. As a rule, investors, exchanging their funds for a share in an organization, count on certain dividends specified in the constituent documents in the form of interest. At the same time, if there is no profit at the enterprise, the capital invested in the business can be “free”. Secondly, investors get the opportunity to influence the processes occurring in the organization. Therefore, great attention must be paid to maintaining a block of controlling shares, otherwise your own capital may turn into capital transferred as loans to a new investor. Thus, when attracting funds from investors, certain limitations must be observed; they should not be more than their own initial investments.

A bank loan is usually issued by banks. This type attracting funds is the most expensive, as it involves high percent and the need for reliable provision. Despite the “high cost” and “problematic nature” of attracting, the possibilities of a bank loan, unlike an investment loan, must be used by the company 100%. A significant disadvantage of financial borrowed funds is the presence of strictly defined terms for their repayment.

Raising borrowed funds using a trade loan is the most in a simple way, since it does not require collateral and is not associated with significant costs and duration of registration.

The essence of using the advantages associated with one’s own economic superiority is the ability to dictate and impose on the supplier (lender) one’s own “rules” of the game in the market and the nature of contractual relations. The economic superiority of the borrower over the lender may arise in the following cases:

monopoly position of the borrower in the market
the buyer's assets significantly exceed those of the supplier
marketing benefits
organizational shortcomings in the management of receivables by the lender.

Thus, a manager, when trying to make the most of all sources of borrowed funds, should pay attention to the possibility of repaying these funds in the future, as well as compare the organization’s capabilities with approaches to attracting borrowed funds.

Also, one of the most important stages of accounts payable management is tracking payment deadlines. In case of late payment, it is often applied increased percentage payments under the contract, in case of subsequent delay, delivery may be cancelled.

Thus, the accounts payable management system must necessarily include the following elements: planning of accounts payable, its regulation, control, analysis and regulation of these processes. Effective management of accounts payable provides the organization with working capital for continuous operations. Only an integrated approach will ensure effective management of accounts payable and also reduce the risk of insolvency and bankruptcy of the enterprise.

Bibliography

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