Selling on credit: linking it to your stock records

Selling on credit is normal in a neighbourhood shop: "Jasur will take it today and pay when his salary comes in". It rests on trust and is a common way to keep a regular customer. But if goods sold on credit are recorded wrongly, two kinds of problem appear: either the stock still shows goods that are gone, or the till runs short and nobody remembers who owes what. The fix is simple: record the two facts of a credit sale separately.

Two separate facts

A credit sale brings two events. First, the goods have left the shop, so the stock figure falls just as in an ordinary sale. Second, the money has not arrived, so the customer now owes you. Many people write down only the debt and forget to take the goods off the table, or the other way round. Enter the goods in the sales table marked "credit" and write the debt separately in a credit book. Then the daily picture is clear too: sales 1,000,000 so'm, takings in the till 800,000, and the remaining 200,000 on credit.

The credit book: a simple structure

Give each debtor a separate sheet or table. Columns: date, what was taken, amount, payment (date and sum), remaining debt, due date. For example, on Monday Jasur takes groceries worth 180,000 so'm, due at month end. On Thursday he pays 100,000, leaving 80,000. On Saturday he takes another 60,000 worth, and the debt is now 140,000. After every entry work out the remaining debt straight away; do not try to keep the total in your head.

Let the owner or one responsible salesperson keep the book. If debtors can see their own balance, there are fewer arguments: a short Telegram message once a week is enough.

The "age" of a debt

Sort debtors into three groups by how long the money has been outstanding:

• 0 to 7 days: normal, nothing to do;
• 8 to 30 days: time for a polite reminder;
• over 30 days: a serious debt, no new credit.

Review the list once a week. The longer a debt sits, the less likely it is to be repaid, so this too is frozen money, only in the form of a debt rather than goods. Mark a debt over 90 days old, with contact lost, as "doubtful" and do not count on it in your plans. Do not quietly strike it from the book: it is a concrete sum, and seeing it as a loss helps you judge profit honestly.

Rules for credit sales

With written rules you do not have to negotiate afresh with every customer:

1. Set a limit and a term for each regular customer, for example up to 300,000 so'm and up to 30 days.
2. Only the owner or a designated employee may approve credit.
3. Get the customer's confirmation: a signature or a Telegram message such as "I took 180,000 so'm on credit".
4. With a new, unfamiliar customer, start with a small amount.
5. Remind people privately and politely, never in front of other customers.

Keep the reminder short and calm. For example: "Hello, Jasur. Our records show 140,000 so'm outstanding, due at month end. Thank you for settling it when convenient." There is no blame and no pressure in a message like that, yet the amount and the date are exact.

Profit and money are not the same

The profit on goods sold on credit shows in your records but not in your pocket. If you have to pay a supplier this very week, the profit "exists" but the cash does not. At month end add up the total owed in the book. For instance, if monthly takings are 5 million so'm and 1.2 million of that is on credit, the real cash is 3.8 million. Rent, wages and the supplier payment must come out of that 3.8 million. If the credit share grows month after month, it is a signal: limits are too soft or collecting has slackened.

Conclusion

Selling on credit is not bad if it is visible in the records. When goods movement and debt movement are two separate entries, the rules are written down and the terms are watched, trust-based trading stays safe. If the credit book has been kept untidily for years and stock and debts have got mixed up, the AniqHisob team can run a stock count, help restore your stock records and set up a routine for keeping them.