Financial Matters

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The Netsuite Financial Tab

There are a few important areas that you need to be familiar with in the ‘Financial’ tab of a customer record. You can add/alter information of certain fields by clicking the ‘Edit’ button.

VAT Reg Number

This field is applicable to customers registered in the EU – if your customer provides a valid VAT number they will not be liable to pay UK VAT. This obviously does not apply to UK customers who will always be charged at 20%. It is important that VAT numbers are validated, otherwise we will be held accountable for payment when incorrect numbers are used. There is a simple procedure to validate VAT numbers:

Enter the VAT number then click the link which says ‘click here to check updated VAT number’ – if the number is valid it will show a green tick, and if invalid will show a red cross. Alternatively you can validate the VAT number at this link http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/vieshome.do. This website is also useful if you need to check whether a VAT number is in the correct format.

Currency

By default, the currency of every new lead is set to the respective currency of the territory you primarily deal with. When you are scheduling an order for a first-time customer that is not being billed in the default currency, the correct currency must be selected and saved beforehand. The currency cannot be changed after the first order has been placed. Therefore it is suggested to set the currency you anticipate will be used when first viewing the lead.

Credit Applications and Payment Terms

By default all Flashbay customers are placed on Advanced Payment terms. Customers meeting our strict criteria may be offered Credit terms subject to approval as detailed below:

1. Advance Payment

New customers should always be placed on advance payment with the exception of certain classes of customers who can be considered for credit terms immediately.

2. Credit terms

Credit requests less than or equal to £10,000 or equivalent in other currencies.

• Enter your customers website address in Netsuite:

Please ensure you entered the correct address, as in the example above the general BMW website (www.bmw.com) would alter the credit approval outcome.

All credit requests are logged and overviewed to improve the decision making process.

• The Credit Auto Assessment tool can be found under the 'Financial' tab on customer records.

Clicking the 'Credit Auto Assessment' link will launch a small popup window containing the output of the tool.

Approved Credit:

Declined Credit:

If your receive approval for your credit request you can go ahead and enter the given credit terms into Netsuite:

Credit requests over £10,000 or equivalent in other currencies:

Compose an email to Accounts UK using the Text Parts template found at:

New Email -> Text Parts -> Credit requests -> Accounts UK (> 10,000 GBP)

Which customers are most likely to receive credit terms?

- Governments and their associated departments

- Educational Institutions e.g. schools, colleges and universities

- Multinational and reputable large companies e.g. Rio Tinto, Coca Cola

Which customers are not likely to receive credit terms?

- Resellers

- Sole Traders / ‘One man’ businesses

- Small companies with little trading history

- Companies that we have any reason to suspect of fraudulent or untrustworthy activity

Before asking Accounts for credit terms please make sure you have collected the following information from the customer:

1) Their legitimate website URL

2) The billing address provided by the customer should match one of the physical addresses shown on their website

3) A valid Email address, which is from the company domain (i.e. no free mail addresses)

Always use the provided Text Parts for any credit request and complete the required details in full:

Customer number + company name:

Amount + currency:

Credit term (15 or 30 days):

Complete address details:

Please also remember:

- The more days credit offered, the higher your profit margin should be.
- If you are unsure about the credibility of your customer you may, offer 50% advance payment and 50% credit terms with a reasonable price level with the approval of your Team Leader.
- Enter the Purchase Order number if applicable (see NetSuite –> New Sales Order -> PO #).
- Are there any special requirements for this order or terms? (e.g. Invoice to state different date or special shipment arrangements). All special requirements must be approved by your Team Leader before the order is scheduled.
- Has the customer agreed to the given credit terms in writing? There are too many amendments afterwards. The customer must provide written confirmation that they accept the payment terms.
- Accounts are here to help, always ask them for help or clarification of any points if you are unsure

Customers that frequently order from us will sometimes request for a credit account. You should email them this link (with respective domain for your territory) so they can fill in a credit application online:

www.flashbay.com/credit

www.flashbay.co.uk/credit

www.flashbay.de/credit

etc...

Once your customer has submitted the form, you can expect to receive a decision from our accounts department within 1-3 working days. If the account is approved, you will be advised the relevant credit limit and payment terms (The accounts department will enter this information into the customer record). If an urgent decision is required, please contact your team leader.

This information must be conveyed to your customer. If the customer is refused credit, advise them very politely of this, and indicate that we will reconsider our decision in the near future once we have conducted more business together.

Occasionally, customers will place an order and apply for credit immediately afterwards. Let your customer know that it is no problem to process their application, however their current order will remain on advance payment as there is insufficient time to complete the process and meet their deadline.

Sometimes when you are scheduling orders for customers who already have credit terms, you may find they are overdue or will surpass their credit limit. In these circumstances, Netsuite will automatically prevent you from scheduling the order. The customer will need to clear their overdue balance before you can schedule a new order. If this is problematic for your customer, please contact your team leader.

Open and Overdue Invoices and Payment Chasing

Bookmark this link https://system.netsuite.com/app/common/search/searchresults.nl?searchid=90 in your web browser. This section of Netsuite allows you to view all invoices where we are still owed money by the customer. At the bottom of the page you can change the ‘Sales Rep’ tab to ‘Mine’ to filter through invoices applicable only to yourself. By regularly reviewing this list, you can stay up-to-date with all of your customers' outstanding payments. You can also find this information displayed in the "My Sales Admin" section of Zimbra.

Payment chasing is very important, for the following reasons:

- It helps to ensure that the customer receives their order on time
- When we go into preproduction we take on the financial risk for the order which exists until payment is received in full
- You receive your commission only when the order is paid in full
- Flashbay keeps maintains a healthy cash-flow

When to chase for payment:

- You should begin to chase payment from the first day that it is overdue
- We produce many orders overnight and they are ready for shipping the next day
- Follow up with a friendly email, e.g.:

Dear Mr. Flashbay.

Good news your order is ready to be shipped.

Please send me a valid payment proof, to enable me to arrange prompt despatch of your goods.

Best regards,

Your Name

We accept the following as proof of payment:

- Official bank remittance advice or proof of Online Banking transfer in PDF, fax or paper format
- Screenshot of payment confirmation screen showing successful payment
- Credit/Debit card payment online or over the phone (with a 1.5% surcharge)

Should a customer reach 10 days overdue you must call and email them every day until payment is received in full

Payment proof, action items:

1. When you receive a remittance please email paymentproof@flashbay.com

Subject line: IN123456

Hi All,

Please approve to ship, remittance attached

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