About Invoice Discounting, Purpose of Invoice Discounting
Invoice discounting is the practice of selling a bill in advance to an intermediary before it is due. The acting financial institution buys your bills, deposits payment against them, and collects them on the due date from the debtor. Discounting allows firms to get immediate payments rather than waiting weeks or months for an invoice to be paid.
Invoice discounting allows firms to get cash quickly from overdue bills. It simply instructs the lender to provide your company with a percentage of the invoice’s total amount. It offers firms a financial boost. In this case, invoices are effectively used as collateral to get loans.
Invoice Discounting Process
From start to finish, invoice discounting is a completely digital operation that requires no paperwork to be exchanged. It accelerates the payment procedure while having no impact on the financial statements of any stakeholders.
In factoring, on the other hand, suppliers provide the invoice to the buyer, who confirms it before accepting the offer, and then financiers bid against these validated invoices. The payment will be processed in T+1 days after acceptance. Suppliers are fortunate in that TReDS allows them to diversify depending on a variety of characteristics.
This technique speeds up business cycles by ensuring better transactions and removing the need to wait for cash, which slows down projects and operations.
Types of Invoice Discounting
Mainly, there are 4 types of invoice discounting as having been described below:
1. Disclosed invoice discounting
Under this arrangement, every person involved is made aware of the procedures that have been put in place, and the client goes to the business’s financiers to settle invoices. The biggest advantage here is that you may use the clients’ credit ratings to reduce the financing charge.
2. Confidential invoice discounting
This discounting, often known as concealed invoice finance, occurs without the client being informed. The expenses for this type of funding are greater, but the relationship between the two parties is much stronger.
3. Spot invoice discounting
Individual firms sell invoices according to their requirements, which is known as spot invoice discounting. Because of the flexibility it provides, this is an excellent finance alternative for startups and MSMEs.
4. Whole turnover invoice discounting
An all-in or all-out method of whole turnover invoice discounting is when a whole sales ledger is sold to a financial company. Long-term contracts are best suited for this structure.
How To Use Invoice Discounting
The process Goes as
- Step
A client receives goods or services from a business.
- Step
The vendor then sends the corresponding bills to the businesses, requiring payment within 120 days.
- Step
This company then sends its invoice to a company that specializes in debt finance.
- Step
The finance firm buys the receivable accounts and offers the company money in exchange for the invoice. The caveat is that the monies are only distributed at a fraction of the invoice’s face value.
- Step
The remaining cash is transferred to the business with an extra service fee charge once the consumer has made the payment.
Benefits of Invoice Discounting
- Releases locked cash
Cash is frequently trapped in past-due invoices for an extended period of time. Invoice discounting aids in the liquidation of this cash and comes in beneficial in times of need.
- No asset as collateral
Invoice discounting is a method of obtaining cash without the need for any collateral or assets. The receivable is the sole form of collateral necessary.
- Quick cash
It is a far faster approach to receiving funds than the time-consuming process of acquiring a loan since it offers cash to the consumer virtually immediately after the invoice is issued. As a result, cash flows are accelerated, as are any initiatives or investments that require funds practically immediately.
- Reduced collection period
The time it takes to realize cash through liquidation might be lengthy at times. Discounting invoices reduces the time it takes to collect money.
- No impact on business relations
Due to the little communication between buyers and sellers throughout the discounting process, both sides’ relationships are unaffected.
- Confidentiality
Invoice discounting or Bill discounting works great when there are agreements between lenders and customers.
- Improves cash flow
Their discounting helps enhance company cycles by making cash flows frictionless by unlocking and liquidating the delayed op amounts in outstanding invoices.
- Control
Throughout the discounting process, the seller has a lot of influence over the monies. He can handle cashing checks, negotiations, and credit terms.
Difference Between Invoice Discounting and Invoice Factoring
What separates the two is who is in charge of your accounts receivables and debt collection from debtors. Let’s take a closer look at the details:
| INVOICE DISCOUNTING | INVOICE FACTORING |
| The customer isn’t aware of when their invoices are realized. | The customer has the exact knowledge of when their invoices are being realized. |
| The businesses themselves are responsible for collecting what separates the two is who is in charge of your accounts receivables and debt collection from debtors. Let’s take a closer look at the details: e-invoices. | The financing companies are the ones to collect the invoices here. |
| Invoice discounting is a highly private process in which the consumer is unaware of any financial service providers’ participation. | Customers are aware that a third party is involved in the process, thus it is no secret. |
| Customers pay the firm in a regular manner here. | Customers make direct payments to financial service providers. |
| There are no extra services provided, such as collections or a complete sales ledger. | Here, you will find more services. |
Let us get a better grip through examples.
Invoice Discounting example
Consider the case of firm A, which has $5000 in receivables with a 45-day due date and is in desperate need of cash to pay its employees’ salaries. Company A approaches to bank B and asks for urgent cash, displaying its receivables invoices and agreeing to pay a 3% charge. Bank B lends $4,000, which is 80% of the total receivables.
So firm A receives the $4,000 it requires without having to wait 45 days. The consumers of A then repay A $5,000 in unpaid dues. The rest of the money is kept by A, who transfers $4,150 to B. So, in all, B receives its own money plus 3% of $5,000 in fees, which is $150.
Invoice Factoring example
Consider the case of firm A, which has $5000 in receivables that are due in 90 days. So it goes to bank/financial institution B and requests invoice financing on its receivables, rather than waiting for 90 days to get payment from its clients. B will investigate the creditworthiness of A’s consumers, and after conducting due diligence, B chooses to lend A 85 percent, or $4250.
B will pay back the remaining 15% after subtracting its expenses after collecting the total of $5000 from A’s clients. As a result, B will repay $550 to A and get $200 in fees. Overall, A needed to fund its working capital requirements rapidly without having to wait for its clients to repay it, and the fee charged was $200.
Rate of Interest In Invoice Discounting
In general, invoice discounting is offered at a rate determined beforehand and is a percentage of the value of the invoice (~75-90%) and is offered near about 1.5-3%.
Invoice Discounting By vendors in the marketplace (About TReDs Platform and Benefits)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given independent service providers permission to set up and run India’s first trade receivables exchange. The procedure of obtaining working capital for MSMEs through invoice discounting through several financiers has been digitally revolutionized as a result of this. TReDS is a solution to the MSMEs’ perpetual cash flow problems in India, as well as an efficient way to propel the MSME sector into the next phase of the Indian economy.
The Department of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) issued a notification on November 2, 2018, stating that all companies registered under the Companies Act with a turnover of more than INR 500 crores, as well as all Central Public Sector Enterprises, must use the TReDS platform, making TReDS registration mandatory. The competent authority to oversee compliance with this notification has been designated as the Registrar of Companies (RoC) in each state. Under this:
- MSMEs have easier access to capital at lower rates without having to put up any additional collateral. Furthermore, the MSMEs have no recourse to the loan.
- Companies save money on procurement by negotiating better financing arrangements with their providers.
- On Trade Receivable Exchange systems, financiers may develop PSL asset portfolios.
