BDO & CashNow: How to cut your payment delays by 3?

Accounts receivable management is often seen as the “last wheel of the financial coach,” yet it is the primary engine of cash flow. In this new episode of “Cash Expert Interviews,” Charles Plasse welcomes Thomas Lugnier from BDO France’s Liquidity Management Services team to decode a collaboration that literally transformed the balance sheet of a real estate giant.

When the world’s 5th largest audit and advisory network joins forces with CashNow’s technological agility, the goal is clear: transform credit management into an immediate performance lever.

Key figure to remember: A three-fold reduction in payment delays, representing €36 million in unlocked cash.

Discover the full video interview and our strategic summary to optimize your Working Capital (WCR).

A clear diagnosis: Moving beyond the Excel era

Many companies still manage millions of euros in outstandings with makeshift tools. Thomas Lugnier highlights the recurring bottlenecks:

• Outdated data: An Excel sheet updated once a month cannot react to an immediate payment default.
• Siloed teams: When sales signs a contract without knowing a client has 90 days of arrears, cash flow takes the hit.
• Lack of visibility: Without a centralized tool, management navigates blindly regarding their real-time outstandings.

The BDO approach: Founded on field expertise

For BDO, the tool isn’t everything. To improve DSO (Days Sales Outstanding), a solid organization is required. Their approach rests on 5 pillars:

1. Professionalization: Collection is a specific skill. The collection officer is the “salesperson of finance,” balancing diplomacy with firmness.
2. Workflow Strategy: You don’t dunn a small business like a large public corporation. Tailor the pace to each client through adapted reminder scenarios.
3. Prioritization: Focus human effort where the financial stakes are highest.
4. Dispute Management: Identify the blockage (price, delivery, admin) from day one to avoid billing delays and engage the right department (Sales, Logistics) via a clear workflow.
5. Change Management: It is vital to support teams in adopting long-term collection management best practices.

Digitalization: Putting APIs at the service of cash

A highlight of this exchange is the use of e-invoicing platforms like Chorus Pro. Often perceived as a constraint, they are actually powerful allies.

Thanks to a dedicated API, CashNow retrieves payment statuses in real-time. If an invoice is rejected on the platform, an alert is triggered immediately in the tool. This saves precious processing days before the delay even begins.

Reporting and BI: Transforming data into strategy

This is where CashNow technology brings decisive value. Reporting is no longer a month-end burden but a strategic steering tool:

• Productivity: Instantly visualize who is doing what and the effectiveness of your dunning scenarios.
• Data-Driven Steering (BI): Data feeds your BI tools to identify useful trends (payment habits, seasonality of arrears, etc.). Management finally has perfect visibility over accounts receivable!
• Transparency: Everything is tracked, who did what, when, and how, to facilitate complex decisions for leadership.

Conclusion: A sustainable organization

As Thomas Lugnier emphasizes, the goal is to leave behind a permanent organization. By combining BDO’s expertise with CashNow technology, you don’t just improve the aging balance at a single point in time; you build a robust operational mechanism to keep DSO low for the long term.

3 expert tips for your cash flow:

1. Dedicate resources: Debt collection is not an option; it is a vital function for your accounting.
2. Automate the “simple,” keep humans for the “complex”: Let the tool handle routine reminders.
3. Align teams: Ensure that sales and collection share the same information regarding the client.

Ready to cut your payment delays by three?

Take action and optimize your debt collection management today!