Member Article

New tool enables over half a million businesses to eliminate late payments

Sage users can enhance their cash flow and reduce accounting admin following the launch of the free GoCardless Sage 50 add-on.

The add-on provides a simple way to set-up and manage Direct Debit payments from directly within the Sage 50 accounting package.

Cash flow remains a major concern for UK SMEs with over 70 percent experiencing late payments in the last 12 months. Whilst 43 percent claim it reduces their profits, many are harder hit: 26,000 businesses were dissolved in June 2013 with cash flow the most commonly cited reason. Business owners across the country are all too familiar with the claim that “the cheque’s in the post.”

Direct Debit, meanwhile, is the only payment system that enables businesses to control when they are paid. Once a Direct Debit is set up, payments for invoices can be billed automatically from within Sage and late payments become a thing of the past.

Emma Mills, Director of Bluesky4 Business Services, who has been trialing the Sage add-on, says: “Since we started using GoCardless with Sage just one month ago, 70% of our customers have signed up to Direct Debits. Four fifths of our customers used to pay late, but now they’re all on time. GoCardless simply gives us the peace of mind that we’re in control of our business.”

The add-on also eases the pressure on accounts teams by automatically reconciling payments against invoices and the general ledger. “I used to waste around two days a month tracking standing orders, chasing late payments and reassessing cash flow,” explains Emma. Since using the add-on she has slashed this to just a couple of hours a month.

“Late payment is the single largest cause of cash flow problems for SMEs. Invoice financing and loans are a decent plaster over the wound, but they’re not the answer. UK businesses need fundamentally better payment solutions,” says Tom Blomfield, Co-founder of GoCardless.

“With the Sage 50 add-on, we are bringing all the benefits of automated Direct Debit right into a business’s existing accounting platform. It takes away the distractions of managing payments and reconciliation – so teams can focus on their business.”

Daniel Hampton of Adept Computer Support, who have been reselling Sage software for 20 years, commented, “GoCardless has built an impressive add-on for Sage 50, which I know will be well received by my customers.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by GoCardless .