Accounts Receivable Best Practice and Cash Flow Planning Course
1Summary
Every day an invoice sits unpaid past its due date, a business is quietly financing its customer for free - and most finance teams only notice the damage once cash gets tight. This course from the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy is built to close that gap: it gives finance professionals a structured way to plan, organise and run the receivables function so days sales outstanding trends down instead of drifting up.
The programme works through credit policy design, accurate cash application and reconciliation, and the customer communication skills that turn overdue-payment conversations into faster collections rather than damaged relationships. It finishes with cash flow forecasting and the electronic payment tools that let a receivables team operate at scale, so participants leave with practices they can apply the same week, not just theory.
2Objectives and target group
- Plan and organise the accounts receivable function so credit, invoicing and collections work as one system rather than three disconnected tasks.
- Reduce days sales outstanding (DSO) through tighter credit policy and faster, more accurate cash application.
- Apply reconciliation as an ongoing control that catches discrepancies early instead of at month-end.
- Handle overdue-payment conversations and disputes in a way that protects the customer relationship.
- Forecast cash inflows from receivables data to support better financial planning.
- Adopt electronic payment systems and automation to speed up the entire receivables cycle.
Target Audience
- Accounts receivable and credit managers
- Treasury managers and collection specialists
- Finance and accounting professionals
- Billing and invoicing staff
- Any accounting or finance team member who interacts with the receivables cycle
3Course Content
Module 1: Why Days Sales Outstanding Is a Leadership Problem
- The real cost of high DSO on the business
- How planning and organisation change the outcome
- Setting up the accounts receivable function to scale
Module 2: Credit Control That Actually Reduces Risk
- Understanding credit risk before it becomes a loss
- Assessing customer creditworthiness
- Setting credit limits and terms that stick
Module 3: Collections, Cash Application and Reconciliation Working Together
- Reducing DSO through faster, cleaner collections
- Applying cash accurately the first time
- Reconciliation as a control, not an afterthought
Module 4: Communication That Gets You Paid
- Customer conversations that resolve disputes quickly
- Building relationships that improve future collections
Module 5: Forecasting Cash Flow From Receivables Data
- Tools and techniques for cash forecasting
- Monitoring and improving the cash conversion cycle
- Managing late payments and bad debts within the forecast
Module 6: Digitising Receivables - E-Payments and an Action Plan
- Adopting electronic payment systems
- Automating repetitive receivables tasks
- Turning what you've learned into a workplace action plan