Problems and Countermeasures of Accounts Receivable Management in Chinese Enterprises Accounts Receivable is the creditor's right formed by enterprises selling goods or providing services, and the product of enterprises providing commercial credit to customers. Reasonable accounts receivable can greatly promote enterprises to expand their business scale, increase sales and market share, but excessive use of credit will also bring risks to enterprises. Therefore, enterprises must take practical measures and formulate reasonable and effective management methods. I. Causes of Accounts Receivable With the development of socialist market economy, the role of competition mechanism forces more and more enterprises to use commercial credit to promote sales, so credit sales has become one of the important means for enterprises to expand sales, maintain and increase market share. However, the credit crisis in the market makes the phenomenon of mutual arrears between enterprises more and more serious, resulting in the increase of accounts receivable of enterprises; At the same time, the problems of "triangle debt" and "debt chain" of state-owned enterprises left over from the planned economy system have not been completely solved, which has become a heavy burden for the further development of enterprises in China. In addition, because the time of commodity transaction and the time of receiving payment are often inconsistent, this is another reason for the increase of accounts receivable. Since the main reason of enterprise accounts receivable is to expand sales and enhance competitiveness, the goal of its management is profit. Accounts receivable in a broad sense is a capital investment of an enterprise, which is an investment to expand sales and profits. Investment has a cost, which requires a balance between the increased profits of the accounts receivable credit policy and the cost of this policy. When the increased profit of accounts receivable exceeds the increased cost, accounts receivable should be sold on credit; When the prospect of accounts receivable is good, we should relax the credit conditions and increase the amount of credit sales; Otherwise, it should not be sold on credit. Second, the problems existing in enterprise accounts receivable management (1) did not form a good credit transaction. In the early stage of market economy, due to the imperfect credit system, weak enterprise credit management, small proportion of inter-enterprise credit transactions, many bad accounts receivable and long cycle. So we should consider the following two questions: first, do you want to trade on credit? From a macro point of view, market economy is a credit economy, and a stable and reliable credit relationship based on a strict credit management system is the basis of its existence. The more the market economy develops, the more credit means will be used, which is the inevitable result. Therefore, enterprises should treat credit transactions with a positive attitude. From the microscopic point of view, China enterprises should realize that the seller's market in the planned economy period is gone forever and replaced by the buyer's market. Especially after China's entry into WTO, foreign enterprises came in and domestic enterprises went out. Whoever is more competitive will have more chances to survive. Credit sale is undoubtedly a necessary condition to improve the competitiveness of enterprises. Therefore, it can be said with certainty that the accounts receivable generated by credit transactions should continue to exist and their proportion in transactions will continue to increase. Secondly, how to understand the problem of accounts receivable caused by credit transactions. First, from the external environment, compared with developed market economy countries, the establishment of China's credit system has not yet taken shape, and enterprises will inevitably be affected by such a big environment. Second, from the enterprise itself, there are loopholes in its credit management. Credit management mainly includes customer management and credit policy management. The more the external environment is not optimistic, the more enterprises should strengthen their own credit management, but the actual situation in China is not optimistic. A survey shows that about 5 1% of enterprises have never heard of enterprise credit management, while less than 0. 1% of non-foreign enterprises have systematic and perfect credit management functions. Compared with foreign countries, the United States also experienced the corporate credit crisis in the 1960s and 1970s, and then embarked on a virtuous circle through credit management. Recently, a survey conducted by a survey agency in the west shows that among more than a dozen management items of enterprises, credit sales and credit management rank first, which shows their importance. (2) There is no reasonable credit policy. Credit management is an important part of enterprise accounts receivable management, which determines the quality of accounts receivable. The most important thing in credit management is to formulate appropriate credit policies, and then, enterprises manage customer credit according to the policies. Whether an enterprise adopts a loose credit policy or a tight credit policy should be determined according to its profit target and its economic and social environment. In short, enterprises should formulate their own credit policies, including determining credit standards, credit terms and cash discount policies. 1. Determine the appropriate credit period. The credit period is the time allowed by the enterprise from purchase to payment, or the time for the enterprise to pay customers. The determination of credit period is mainly through enterprise analysis, according to the influence of changing the current credit period on income and cost. Extending the credit period will increase sales and have a favorable impact; At the same time, the losses of accounts receivable, reminders and bad debts will also increase, which will have an adverse impact. If the former is greater than the latter, the credit period can be extended, otherwise it should not be extended. Of course, in order to attract customers and expand sales, enterprises can appropriately relax the credit period. A long credit period is conducive to the increase of sales, but it will reduce the cash flow of enterprises. The benefits of blindly relaxing the credit period will sometimes be offset by the increased expenses, or even more than the gains, resulting in a decrease in total profits. Therefore, enterprises must carefully determine the credit period. 2. Determine the correct credit standard. Credit standard refers to the conditions that customers should have to obtain enterprise transaction credit. If the customer can't meet the credit standard, he can't enjoy the credit of the enterprise or can only enjoy a lower credit policy. Enterprises should assess the possibility of customer default in advance when formulating customer credit standards. According to the internationally accepted evaluation method, the "5C" system can be used for evaluation. The so-called "5C" system refers to five aspects of customer credit evaluation: personality, ability, capital, collateral and conditions. Quality refers to the customer's credit, that is, the possibility of fulfilling debt repayment obligations. Enterprises must find ways to understand the customer's payment records, see whether they have fulfilled the payment according to the contract, and whether other relationships with suppliers are good. Ability refers to the customer's solvency, and the enterprise should know the quality and liquidity of the customer's current assets in time. Capital refers to a customer's financial strength or financial situation, indicating that the customer may repay the debt. The business department should adjust the credit of customers, analyze and study their financial situation, and determine the credit limit that can be used. Mortgage refers to the assets used as security when customers refuse to pay or are unable to pay. It is especially important for customers who are trading for the first time, because the company doesn't know their details and credit status at first. In order to be prudent, customers are often required to provide asset collateral as compensation. Conditions refer to the economic environment that may affect the customer's solvency, and it is necessary to know the customer's payment history in the past difficult period. 3. Establish an appropriate credit line. Cash discount is the deduction of commodity prices by enterprises. The main purpose of offering this price discount to customers is to attract customers to pay in advance for enjoying the discount and shorten the average collection period of enterprises. In addition, cash discount can also attract some customers who regard discount as price reduction to buy goods, thus expanding sales. Enterprises can determine the credit period and discount rate according to their actual conditions, such as 1/50, but discount refers to the price concessions they can enjoy, such as 2/ 10, 1/20 and n/30. The number after "/"indicates the payment term. If the original price of the sales payment is 1000 yuan, and 2/ 10 means that you can enjoy a 2% discount if you pay within 10 days, then you only need to pay 980 yuan; Similarly, 1/20 means that only 990 yuan will be paid if the payment is made within 20 days; N/30 means that the payment term is 30 days, but there is no discount at this time. The current discount policy stipulates a certain payment period, so it must be used in conjunction with the credit period. Cash discount without clear credit term is difficult to manage and has no practical significance. Credit period and cash discount may bring benefits to enterprises, but at the same time they will also increase costs. The cost brought by cash discount to enterprises refers to the loss brought by price discount. When giving customers a certain cash discount, enterprises should weigh the advantages and disadvantages and make correct decisions according to the principle of higher income and lower cost brought by discount. If the income increment brought by the discount is greater than the cost increment, a cash discount should be given; Otherwise, you should give up the cash discount. Three. Countermeasures for Accounts Receivable Management The problem of accounts receivable brought by the external environment to enterprises depends to a great extent on the establishment of the national credit system, which can never be achieved overnight. In such a big environment, it is a reality that enterprises must face to survive and use credit sales, so the key to solving the problem is to find a way out from themselves. Therefore, enterprises should establish and improve credit management and explore a set of credit management policies suitable for them in practice. First of all, enterprises should analyze their actual situation from multiple angles. Including the international form, the impact of changes in national macroeconomic policies on the market, the characteristics of the industry, the characteristics of different sales regions, the position of enterprises in business, their own positioning and the characteristics and preferences of customers. These factors jointly determine the credit management policy. Secondly, credit management is closely related to the sales behavior of enterprises. Its idea comes from practice and needs to be tested and adjusted in practice. The test standard is that the income brought by credit management is the largest after matching the cost, which can be expressed by the formula: △ income =△ sales income-△ bad debt loss-△ charge collection-△ opportunity cost occupied by accounts receivable-△ cash discount cost. Of course, enterprises should adjust and supplement the formula in practice to combine the short-term benefits of enterprises with sustainable development. In a word, the problem of accounts receivable of enterprises in China has exposed the deficiency of credit management. Credit management is a link that enterprises in China need to focus on in the future, and it is the key to solve the problem of accounts receivable management of enterprises in China. ■

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