Factoring and Accounts Receivable Financing Expert Tips

There probably isn’t a day when Canadian business owners and financial managers don’t hear about factoring and accounts receivable financing as a method of financing their business in Canada. Despite its growing popularity and, we can say, relative importance in the Canadian business financing marketplace this financing mechanism is still somewhat understood.

What information do business owners need to know in order to assess if factoring, also known as invoice discounting, is a viable transaction? Also, are there mistakes and pitfalls to be avoided when considering this financing strategy?

Let’s examine the answers to some of those questions. You can be forgiven for trying to figure out why factoring has increased in prominence from a time when no one had almost ever heard of it! The answer to that popularity is more simply and obvious than you might think, and its simply that Canadian chartered banks are finding it increasingly more difficult to fund accounts receivable ( and inventory of course ) to the extent that their customers need this financing .

When you have a situation where the actual need for financing is acute, and the benefits and flexibility seems significant it is not hard to see the rise in popularity of such a financing mechanism.

First of all, 99% of the time, factoring provides your firm with a greater level of borrowing based on your accounts receivable levels. Quite of 90-100% of you’re A/R under 90 days can be financed.

So is it all good news? Not necessarily, as we are always meeting with clients that have chosen the wrong type of funding or factoring, and, even worse, find them locked into contracts they cannot get out of. That is uncomfortable for any size firm as you can imagine.

As with any newer type of financing the playing field is complex. You can be forgiven for not knowing how many factor firms are out there, how they run, what their own limitations are, and , even to a certain extent, do they in fact themselves have the funding to survive, let along finance your firm . For that reason we cannot over emphasize the need to work with a credible, experienced and trusted professional in this area.

Lets talk about some of the nuances, we can call them potential ‘pitfalls ‘also, of picking the wrong factoring partner. For a starter if you choose a firm who itself is not well capitalized, as we said, you might find that the financing commitments made to you cannot be honored. Canadian business has never had to think that the Canadian chartered banks could be ‘out of money ‘but the Canadian landscape is somewhat littered with small and medium sized factor firms that do not have the financial wherewithal to support their funding commitments in all places. That just re – enforces our idea that a trusted industry expert will guide you to the best partner for your firm.

Other issues, again, we can call them pitfalls, to look for include:

- being locked into a contract
- having the total factoring cost , or pricing, not reflected properly in your term sheet
- advance rates which don’t make sense relative to the price you are paying for discounting invoices
- excessive notification and intrusion with your customers , which is very prevalent in the U.S. model of factoring ( Many Canadian factor firms are branches of U.S. firms )

So let’s recap. It’s simply that factoring is growing in popularity. It works because it is providing funding where banks often cannot. If you don’t understand who you are dealing with and the various nuances of this type of financing it becomes a burden, not a solution. Investigate this great financing mechanism, but ensure you know what you are getting into. Talking to an expert always helps – that’s just common sense
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Working Capital Business Financing Sources

Working Capital and Business Financing in general is available to Canadian business owners and financial managers in a number of ways. When we speak to clients about their needs and answer their questions in this area it is simply a case of pointing out all the alternatives available, and discussion what features and benefits of each type of facility make the most sense for their own particular firm and industry.

The majority of working capital loans and financing alternatives are on a secured basis, but that is not the case 100% of the time. With reasonable good financial health and equity in your firm a cash working capital loan can be achieved at solid rates, terms and structures. This is general, is not the norm though, as most lending to small and medium businesses in Canada is in fact secured in some manner.

For larger corporations unsecured cash flow loans are more often than not called ‘ subordinated debt ‘ and they are term loans structured around the analysis of the company’s ability to repay based on future cash flow forecasting . For smaller firms it is simply a working capital loan that might have some covenants attached relative to ongoing profits and cash flow metrics. Again, we can summarize these offering by saying that cash flow unsecured loans are generally only available to firms that have very reasonable financial health and prospects.

In certain cases the working capital and cash flow loans we have described above often relate to the acquisition of a business, with the funding provided to acquire the business.
A more common ‘working capital loan ‘is in effect not a loan but the financing of receivables and inventory. In effect your firm leverages these assets and turns them into ongoing working capital as you create inventory and receivables on an on going basis.

Many business owners come to us and ask if there are ‘government loans ‘for working capital. The reality is that there is not anything available in Canada in that regard. The most common, successful and popular government loan program is called the CSBFL program; thousands of businesses utilize this loan. However, as we have noted, it does not provide working capital, and some business owners are dismayed when we advise them that this loan program only covers three items – equipment, leasehold improvements, and real estate.

When looking for a working capital solution there are some critical factors to assess and address. Many firms we meet can in fact cure their own working capital solutions by affecting a better turnaround in their receivables and inventory. Those are the key working capital components of any firm. If your firm has been self financing then you should consider a working capital or an invoice discounting facility. This injects immediate working capital into your company, and is not treated as a loan on your books, you are simply converting A/R, and in some cases inventory, into immediate cash.

Many business owners we meet simply don’t do even basic cash flow planning. A very simple template you can set up can easily show you what cash is coming in over the next three months, for example, and you already know your fixed and variable expenses, it’s as simple as that.

Working capital needs can be either short term or longer term in nature. The cash working capital term loan we spoke of earlier is a long term solution for permanent working capital. On the other hand the conversion of your receivables and inventory via a working capital facility via a non bank is immediate short term cash flow.

Work with a trusted, credible, and experienced advisor in this area. Assess your needs, evaluate the solution, and focus on implementing a facility based on the benefits that are derived from that type of financing. That is cash flow and working capital planning 101!

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Discounting Invoice Factoring Financing in Canada

Invoice discounting, also known as factoring in Canada has significant advantages for Canadian firms seeking to improve cash flow and working capital generation.

This method of financing is essentially a form of asset based lines of credit – your firm is leveraging assets to maximize cash flow.

Factoring and invoice discounting firms are playing a larger role in the overall climate of business financing in 2010 – coming off very challenging years ( 2008-2009) as the global meltdown severely hampered small and medium sized firms ability to raise financing for operating capital needs .

Borrowing against accounts receivable is a very simply way of leverage assets, without taking on additional debt to your balance sheet, and converting a/r into cash – allowing your firm to reduce payable and invest in ongoing growth and profits .
Some clients continually ask us if there are negative aspects to factoring. The reality is that there is no one single perfect solution for any firm considering working capital financing – the reality is of course there are pros and cons to every method of financing your Canadian business. So the recommendation we provide is simply, ‘ caveat emptor ‘ – or to translate that Latin phrase into plain English - investigate invoice discounting and factoring and determine if the benefits of that type of financing can help you survive and prosper !

When you secure an invoice discounting or factoring facility you have new flexibility in a number of areas – you have additional cash for one thing, and ‘cash is king’ has never held so much importance as a business catch word .
Many Canadian firms have seized the day and taken the global financing challenge head on and in effect capitalized on this opportunity – they have acquired a competitor, merged with a synergistic partner, or in some cases engineered a management buyout. Factoring or invoice discounting can assist you in any of those strategies.

More often than not funds acquired through a factoring facility are simply used to reduce payable, or help to affect a business turnaround after a firm has had a very difficult year. In some cases traditional financing has been curtailed, and leverage of cash flow via factoring has emerged as the only option to business survival. In the direst cases factoring or a full asset based line of credit has helped many a firm in fact survive the bankruptcy or re organization process.

Invoice discounting works because it immediately frees up cash in your receivables – this helps to increase sales and allows your firm to invest in additional inventory – the cycle of course continue as this inventory is again converted into a receivable, generating further profits for your firm .

Many times smaller and medium sized firms cannot take advantage of the strategies that larger firms utilize to liquidate receivables – they don’t have the funds to invest in corporate credit and collection personnel, as well as sophisticated cash management and planning. So, by utilizing factoring and invoice discounting issues such as being ‘too small ‘, or ‘too new a firm ‘hold little relevance.

Many Canadian firms adapt formal U.S. or European methods of factoring – careful investigation, best achieved by working with a trusted and credible advisor, will allow you to find a facility that meets your long term needs. In a perfect world we recommend to clients that they seek a facility that provides maximum loan to value on receivables, can incorporate inventory as some additional component of financing, and, most importantly, allows you to bill and collect your own receivables.

Is factoring or invoice discounting the optimal solution for your firm? Weight the benefits, understand the costs and business processes, and determine if this form of Canadian Business Financing is right for your firm.

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Small Business Inventory Financing in Canada

Small business inventory and purchase order financing in Canada is a much sought after yet widely misunderstood aspect of business financing in Canada. This type of financing is sought after by retailers, manufacturers, and wholesalers in all aspects of Canadian business products.

Business owners and financial managers know that maintaining inventory necessities the tying up, by necessity, of valuable working capital and cash flow. When your own resources, or the unavailability of Canadian chartered bank inventory financing do not meet your needs you need to assess, examine, and consider working with an independent commercial finance firm that specializes in inventory financing . This is a sub set of what is known as asset based lending in Canada, and the industry continues to gain broad appeal after the global economic crisis of 2008-2009.

To be able to finance your inventory is must be saleable, and a specialized firm that understands both your industry and the true value of inventory quickly becomes a valuable asset and ally. It goes without saying that the inventory lender must be able to properly secure the inventory asset via a proper lien registration on this component of your current assets.

Many clients we meet have bank financing in place, but quite often if cover receivables and only a small portion of inventory. Therefore inventory financing, and its ‘sister ‘– purchase order financing must be properly secured and broken out of your total current financing strategy. We have seen many cases where clients were receiving no, or modest advance against inventory, yet have then seen the margining on their inventory go to 50 – 80% in some cases when they have secured a true inventory financing program

The inventory of your firm becomes a clear identifiable and valuable asset in your overall financing strategy. In many cases bank financing treats inventory as simply bolstering up the overall bank security, but your true borrowing or margining power is somewhat insufficient based on your growth an customer fulfillment needs .

There is a combination of an art and science as it relates to inventory financing. Inventory is monitored regularly; usually a minimum of monthly, to ensure that is always can satisfy repayment of the loan. If you are a wholesale or distributor inventory is one of the largest assets you can leverage, and improving that leverage simply adds cash flow and working capital to your overall financing strategy.

Inventory becomes a receivable after it has shipped, so both your firm, and the inventory and purchase order lender want to understand your total cash conversion cycle – that is simply a financial phrase and formula that relates to how long it takes a dollar to go from product purchase, inventory, receivable collection, and back into true cash. Naturally this formula repeats itself over and over, and we encourage all business owners to understand their own cash conversion cycle. Even modest improvements in both inventory and receivable turnover can lesser your overall borrowing costs significantly.

The bottom line on inventory financing is that it is a specialized form of finance. Work with a trusted, credible expert. If your firm has a reliance on inventory to be successful you should investigate your ability to maximize and leverage additional financing on what is probably the largest asset on your balance sheet

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Financing Your Independent Film , Movie and Animation via Tax Credits

Independent film, television and animation players in Canada are always, it is very safe to say, looking for financing for their productions. One of the best ways to compliment your overall financing strategy in the three sectors of this industry (film/movies; television; digital animation) is to utilize your tax credits in a unique and innovative manner. Let’s explore what that is being done more and more, and some of the how to’s in this very unique area of financing in the Canadian entertainment industry.

The financing we are discussing is against the backdrop of very aggressive government assistant in this segment of the Canadian economy. Rather than back away from the sector after the 21008-2009 global economic turbulence provincial and government bodies stepped up to the bar, so to speak, and in fact increased their support in this area of the industry. Traditionally film and televison were the focus of the tax credit assistance, and recently the government has included digital animation as another key vertical in this sector of the industry.

Is there a simple explanation to the financing we are discussing? Yes there is – it is simply your ability to convert your tax credits, which have in fact significantly increased, into cash! The ability to generate cash flow and working capital from your tax credit assists you in of course completing your project successfully, and at the same time ensuring stakeholders such as owners, investors, and debt holders view the project as financial viable a mutually profitable for all stakeholders. That’s a good thing.

Tax credits have been available in many countries, including the U.S. for years. We can surmise the governments have supported these strategies to help ensure the overall competitiveness of the industry. Clearly the revenues generated by the industry from box and gate receipts, let alone labour and production spending are very significant.

So what does the strategy entail? Simply speaking you should ensure you are working with a trusted advisor in this area – someone with credibility, experience. At the same time you should ensure you are filing for eligibility under any one of 6 tax credit available, using the province of Ontario as an example. Tax credits are available of course in other provinces also, with B.C. and Quebec industry segments flourishing equally as well.

Proper planning is the key to financing your tax credits, and if you can prove you have a solid budget and finance plan , along with management and operational capability you can even ‘ pre-finance ‘ your credits in most circumstances . Again, credibility is the key here, and a track record in the industry is not 100% mandatory, but certainly helps.

Financing is made similar to the concept of ‘mortgage lending ‘i.e. on a loan to value basis. Typically you can expect to receive anywhere from 40-80% of your tax credit claim in cash. Factors that affect this amount are the timing of your filing, the quality of the filing, and of course the amount of the claim.

Naturally the ‘pieces ‘of the complex film/ tv/animation financing puzzle can be complex – whether they are bank financing, gap financing, distribution sales, and of course our own tax credit financing strategy. Film, TV, and animation Tax credit financing is a great way to complement the other pieces of the entertainment financing conundrum.

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Canada’s SRED PROGRAM - Cash Flow via Tax Credit Financing

The Sred program for tax credits is one of a small handful of government programs in Canada that in a very direct fashion turn credits into real cash flow and working capital that is non repayable . When business owners find out that they don’t have to wait anywhere from 3-12 months for their refund, and that they can discount, or monetize that tax credit now they are pleasantly surprised.

The question then becomes simply understanding the mechanics and benefits of such a financing – i.e... answers to the basic questions –

- How much can I get?
- What does it Cost?
- What is involved?
- What are the benefits of financing my tax credit now versus waiting for the cheque from the federal and provincial governments in Canada

Let’s cover off some of the answers and the basics you need to know to make an informed decision in this regard.
Business owners that either have prepared SRED claims in the past , or who are preparing them for the first time are always advised by their accountants and sred consultants as to how much the claim will be for . The reality is that this claim is filed at the same time you file your corporate tax return. If you have highly confident that you will receive the full amount of your claim we see many clients actually booking this future cheque as an ‘ account receivable ‘ – i.e. money that is due their firm just as if it was a sale to a customer .

So when you finance that claim you are dealing with an absolute amount. But the one thing to understand is that generally advances under the SRED tend to be in the 70% range based on the total value of the claim. So for example $ 300,000 dollar claim filed by your firm has the potential to net you 210,000.00 as a working capital loan should you choose to cash flow or monetize that claim now.

Although we see some claims as much as a million dollars from clients, the reality is that most claims tend to be in the 200 – 500k range, some smaller, some larger .

On to costs. Generally the overall size and quality of your claim, coupled with the amount will dictate the costs of financing the claim. A few key points should be kept in mind, and they clearly are in the category of ‘benefits ‘. That is to say that when you undertake a SRED loan you receive 70% of the claim immediately – there are no payments made unlike a regular loan, and you receive the final 30% of the claim when the refund is made by CRA, or, if you choose, when they indicate in writing or via their technical audit that the claim has been approved. The financing costs are deducted out of this final 30%. So clearly the overall benefit of financing your SRED claim revolves around taking that cash and working capital and putting it to work in your business right away. Putting those funds to work might mean acquiring new equipment, reducing payables, investing in sales and marketing of your product services, etc.

A tax credit sred financing loan is not unlike any business financing. An application with typical business background data is completed , one of the key additional pieces being of course the actual sred claim you have filed, and , in some cases, proof of your success in previous years . We advise clients the whole application and diligence process takes about 2- 3 weeks, so if you are focused on financing your sred claim you should undertake your sred financing negotiations as soon as you have made up your mind to finance the claim.

Everyone agrees the SRED program is the government’s way of encouraging in a measurable way (their cash back to your firm!) research and development. If you have filed claims in the past, or are filing for the first time you should also investigate the benefits of financing your claims. Its non repayable money – why not put it work as early as possible to grow sales and profits and improve you overall financial picture. That’s a solid business financing strategy.

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Franchise Loan – A Franchise Financing in Canada Primer

A franchise investment you are considering in Canada is clearly one of the large business and personal decisions you will make . Is Franchise Finance available in Canada, and if it is, how does it work?

Clients are always asking us how franchise financing works . Typically, and hopefully !, they have made a substantial time investment in the selection of a franchise . This more often than not seems to be in the restaurant business, but in reality there are hundreds of other franchise opportunities available to the Canadian entrepreneur. Many prospective franchisees we meet have come from the corporate or ‘job’ world, and are looking to be independent business people in command of their own life and financial destiny.

There are two schools of thought in Canada around actual financing your franchise investment –

School of thought # 1 – Financing the business will be difficult
School of thought # 2 - Financing the business will be easy

I think the reader knows the answer, which is simply that there is a little truth in both statements. The reality is that there are only 5 methods of financing a franchise in Canada and the successful completion of a transaction is always one or a combination of those types of financing

What are the 5 types of financing for your new business – We will keep it simple. They are:
1. Government financing under a special loan program that suits most franchises
2. A working capital term loan
3. A vendor takes back from an existing franchisee you are buying the business from, or the franchisor
4. Equipment financing
5. Your own personal equity investment into the business (It can’t all be other people’s money)

There is a common perception by our clients that banks and lending institutions are reluctant to finance a franchise. That is not the case, but does involve showing that you are properly prepared. More often than not you should be spending time on the financial planning aspects of your business. This can be done by utilizing simple cash flow templates.

Sit down and estimate how much monthly revenue you will generate. Now, let’s look at expenses. We like to start off with an estimate of what you want to draw out of the business every month as a salary. Then simply go down a list of expenses that seem to be realistic in the new business. Typically those items include basic things like your costs of sales or inventory, advertising, wages to any employees, accounting fee, phone, utilities, etc,etc,etc,

At the end of that quite simple exercise you will be left with either a profit of a loss. We would suggest that if you are left with a significant loss that you reconsider the investment. However, if you are within the striking range of both paying yourself and creating a small profit then you probably have a reasonable franchise risk investment.

Other factors to consider are the amount of your own investment in the franchise. It does not make sense to over invest in the business, but there is a fine line between what you put in and what will then create somewhat of a comfort buffer in case sales don’t materialize as quickly as you want them to. Remember Murphy’s Law, which is ‘what can go wrong will’.

In summary, how to finance your franchise is often as critical as picking the right one. Plan carefully, assess which of the 5 options, on their own or together might work for your franchise acquisition, and sit down and carefully work out a realistic profit and cash plan. If necessary work with a trusted, credible and experienced advisor who can assist you in this unique area of Canadian business financing.

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