Business factoring is a term in accounting that means accounts receivable are sold by a company to a factor. This way the seller can utilize the money for operations of a company. A factoring arrangement involves three essential groups. First group is made up of seller. Second party is the debtor. And the third is the factor or factoring company.
Factoring began as a financing business. It was introduced in England before 1400s. Banks provide factoring as one of their services to clients. But banking nowadays is no longer focused mainly on factoring. Bank transactions include non-trade related services to customers such as buying a car or house and lot.
As time went by, factoring saw some transformations. The changes are due largely to different technologies introduced like telegraph, air travel, telephone then later on, computers. The alterations in the rules passed in England and United States also created modifications in factoring.
English law then demanded that the seller or factor should inform the debtor of a factoring transaction. Inability to do so would render the arrangement invalid. This law is followed in Canadian Federal Government these days. US changed their rules in 1949. Around this period, the different states passed a legislation that made notification of debtor no longer required.
Factoring in the past used to possess the goods, give cash advances to the seller and then financed credit to the buyer and provide insurance to the credit strength of the buyer. England passed the Act of Parliament in 1696 to reduce the control of the factoring company.
As larger companies came in, the factoring transaction was made even more specific. These large companies had the capabilities to make different divisions inside the company such as sales and distribution. They were capable of determining financial strengths of their customers. These factors had a huge impact on factoring and limited their authority even further.
At the start of the twentieth century, factoring became one of main sources of cash for the operations of a growing textile industry. The US banking system contributed to this situation. The number of smaller banks that mushroomed those days which had limited capacities when it came to extending loans to companies paved the way for the spread of factoring.
The idea behind current factoring is to provide advances to smaller firms (seller) who supply products or services to bigger firms (debtor). They no longer possess the goods being sold by the seller. But they still offer a number of services related to fund advances. Factors are expected to provide four vital services to sellers. First, information on the financial strength of their customers, also called the creditworthiness of clients. Second, they maintain a record of the customers history of payments. Third, they provide daily reports on collection. And lastly, make calls to debtor to collect payments.
Business factoring also provides three major advantages to a seller. These include: 1). Selling receivables can help the smaller firms from incurring financial difficulties in case the bigger customer firms apply for bankruptcy later. 2). Seller is no longer required to have a separate accounts receivable division. This is because the factoring company accomplishes the accounts receivable tasks of a seller more efficiently. 3). Entrepreneurs have ready cash in their hands for disposal.
Factoring business is a common accounting term, defined as the sale of accounts receivable to a factor so the seller can use the cash for the company cash flow. We’ve got the inside scoop on factoring companies .
