Do Business Well

The best way to learn to write a report is to consider the circumstances under which it will be read. Whom are you writing to? Busy people have reams of written correspondence to wade through daily. They want access to the essence of the report at a glance and then quickly refer to specific points and relevant information in the report. So follow the next six stages.

1. Jot down your ideas

What are you writing about? Gather all fife necessary information and documentation, such as minutes of meetings, statistics and correspondence.

Ask colleagues to submit their own reports and data timeously so that you are not delayed when you want to start writing. Continue Reading »

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Write efficient memos

Want to get information up, down or across your organisation? Send a memo.

Memos are the ideal way to transmit your ideas and suggestions for approval, pin down decisions that were made orally, keep all the members of your team informed of developments or offer or seek instructions or advice. A memo is an efficient way to request help or co-operation from colleagues in another department. Management uses memos to introduce new procedures or policies throughout the organisation.

Most organisations have preprinted forms for memos. If you have none at hand, use a word processor to create a basic format and keep it on the word processor for duplication. Here are practical guidelines for efficient memo writing: Continue Reading »

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Accounts receivable aging. If you allow your customers to purchase from you on account you will find that not all of them pay you according to terms. In fact, you will likely end up having some customers who take quite a while to pay . . . if not forever.

To track the quality of your customers‘ payments and as an aid to your collection effort you will want to produce an aging report of your A/R. Generally, it will look like this:

By spreading your receivables in this way, you get a picture of your situation with outstanding accounts. ACME, Century, and Falcon are probably okay. B-One needs some attention, but Dave’s is serious. E-Plus is a bit past due, but it is a small amount. The situation with Dave’s has even caused your entire aging to be skewed. It is very serious indeed to have 37 percent of your outstanding balances in the ninety-day column. Continue Reading »

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