Kendons Chartered Accountants

When Kendons’ Practice Manager, Liz Eveleigh, flagged that the company’s 90+ day debts had blown out to $250,000, she knew something needed to be done.

Kendons recruited CreditorWatch Collect on a tentative three-month trial, tasked with halving their 90+ day debts in that time. If achieved, CreditorWatch Collect would be brought on board to manage Kendons’ entire receivables function. Challenge accepted.

Kendons Chartered Accountants offices, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Consistent, personalised and effective account receivables process

For most businesses like Kendons, debtor management becomes an overbearing and unsustainable part of an employee’s wider role. There are always good intentions of following an internal process step by step, but when work gets busy, overdue invoice reminders can be the first thing put to the side. Luckily, managing receivables is what CreditorWatch Collect does best and loves best – all day, every day.

“CreditorWatch Collect keeps payments top-of-mind for our clients,” says Liz, “It’s their entire focus and they have a process that is followed through with consistency and diligence. We have Kandi, one of the Receivables Specialists from CreditorWatch Collect managing call reminders and she’s just great. She’s repeatedly calling – whereas we might have sent a reminder and not followed up for several weeks.”

Direct communication between Liz and her dedicated Receivables Specialist throughout the week meant CreditorWatch Collect took the time to know Kendons’ clients and keep up-to-date with their latest payment details. Everyone was kept on the same page to avoid any messy miscommunication and unhappy customers.

Nothing to lose, everything (and every dollar) to gain

Liz expressed the company directors’ delight and reassured confidence in CreditorWatch Collect, particularly when some of Kendons’ oldest and most difficult debts were resolved.

“What astonished us was just how many clients didn’t even realise they had amounts outstanding,” she added, “often all it took was a friendly call by our Receivables Specialist, followed by a reissued invoice to receive the payment almost immediately.”

As well as an increase in cashflow, CreditorWatch Collect took a huge chunk of work away from the Kendons’ team, freeing them up to focus on more fulfilling day-to-day tasks to progress the company’s workflow.

Seamless and user-friendly integration with accounting systems

From a quick glance, Kendons could see how their receivables were tracking without needing to trawl through spreadsheets or look across multiple systems. Liz thought CreditorWatch Collect integrated well with Xero with records in both systems being kept in sync daily.

From scepticism to optimism

Liz expressed initial doubts: “I wondered how they were possibly going to halve our 90+ day overdue invoices in the small time frame of three months… What would they do differently from our in-house efforts?”

120 days later CreditorWatch Collect delivered its promise – just under half of the 90+ day overdue invoices paid back.

While CreditorWatch Collect set to work on the 90+ day overdue invoices, the Kendons team were able to continue with those sitting in the 30 – 60 day mark. It was a comfortable and flexible process for Kendons, as they were able to get a taste of CreditorWatch Collect’s services with the option to sign them on to do the whole job.

Now with full confidence in their services, the reigns are being handed over to CreditorWatch Collect to manage all receivables with follow up emails and calls personalised to Kendons’ business and client needs.

“To continue using CreditorWatch Collect in a greater capacity was a no brainer,” says Liz, “The decision to give them a go has been a greater return on investment than we could have ever expected.”