On 18th November Sterling Outsourcing Sp zoo came to an agreement with Octempo Receivables Management Ltd to acquire certain assets including Octempo’s debt collection client base. The majority of this client base relates to international debt recovery, an area in which Sterling, trading as Sterling Debt Recovery, have enormous experience and continues to grow. Sterling Debt Recovery is a debt collection agency based in Krakow, Poland. Under UK management, the business has international expertise and staff, helping to overcome language and cultural barriers to payment. Sterling Debt Recovery p ..read more

In 2016 Sterling were engaged by a $500m turnover global tech company to provide billing and accounts receivable services for Europe and the Middle East. This function had previously been run from the company’s US team, but restructuring meant that ownership had moved to their London office. Sterling were able to take on the function quickly and cost effectively, allowing the business to focus on growth in Europe. Sterling’s expertise in collecting in EMEA improved collections performance dramatically, whilst enhancing customer relations for the business and reducing cost. A year later the bus ..read more

This client, a top London accountancy firm,  has used Sterling since 2009. Sterling began by having discussions with them regarding their credit control function. At the time it was being managed by a finance controller and assistant, both of whom had other responsibilities which they were giving priority to. The firm was very nervous about outsourcing, in particular about potentially upsetting their strong relationships with sensitive clients. Sterling proposed a trial of our credit control service to a small group of partners over 6 months. During the trial outstanding debt fo ..read more

In an ideal world your credit control service should never be stuck completing admin duties. Any time away from the phone, chasing outstanding payments is time lost. Our goal is to reduce admin time as much as possible to ensure that our client gets the most out of our service and we can continue to collect in an ever more efficient way. We often find that a new client is limited in some way by the system that they are using. The ability to automate back office processes such as issuing invoices or statements can have a hugely positive impact on not only the collections processes but other are ..read more

We started working with Sterling Outsourcing in March 2016, due to the need to have a credit control function, but not having enough to justify employing someone to do the job. I cannot give anything but praise to the team, as, within 18 months, they have taken us to a position where about 90% of our debt was more than 30 days old, to less than 20%. This huge turnaround is mainly thanks to the hard work and professionalism within the Sterling team, and their insight and guidance has proved invaluable with some of our trickier amounts. We were that impressed with the team that we doubled the am ..read more

“The outsourced solution provided by Sterling is not just cost-effective but also one that ensures effective and comprehensive management of all aspects of the accounts receivable function.” Our partnership with Sterling started in October 2012, at which time an expensive and inefficient in-house credit control function resulted in more than £500K of working capital being tied up in an overdue debtor book. From the outset, Sterling has delivered a highly professional, reliable & effective service, reducing the overdue debtor book to less than £30K each month and collecting over 65% of the ..read more

We can assist you collecting late payments from your clients, the penalties which the debtors may incur should deter them from doing so again. Don’t leave late payment too late before reacting. Cash flow problems as a result of not acting quickly can seriously damage your business. Keeping a tight rein on invoice collections from the beginning is crucial to business success. excerpt follows from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/business-payment-practices-and-performance-reporting-requirements Mandatory reports will start to be required from October 2017 (depending on y ..read more

The UK is already one of the best places in the world to start and grow a business. It is home to a record 5.5 million businesses – that’s 1 million more than in 2010. Through our Industrial Strategy we are committed to fostering an environment in which small firms can thrive, and that means tackling barriers to growth. Late and unfair payment terms are a significant threat to small business survival, tightening cash flow and impairing their ability to self-invest and grow. According to BACs, the UK’s small-and-medium sized firms are currently owed £26 billion in overdue payments. Our Ind ..read more

The Small Business Commissioner, expected to be based in Birmingham, is just one part of a package of measures designed to tackle this and drive a real change in the UK’s payment culture. Regulations coming into force in April 2017 will require big businesses to publically report on the time taken to pay their suppliers, and guidance to help large businesses comply with these changes was published last month. This will shine a light on poor payment practices and allow suppliers, including small businesses, to make informed decisions about who they do business with. The final appointment decisi ..read more

At least one fifth of UK corporate insolvencies in the past year were caused by late payment or the insolvency of another company, according to new research by insolvency and restructuring trade body R3. A survey of the insolvency profession reveals that late payment for goods or services was a primary or major cause of 23% of insolvencies in the last twelve months, while the failure of a supplier or customer was the primary or major factor in 20% of cases. Andrew Tate, R3 president, says: “A business can have a great product and great staff, but if it doesn’t get paid for what it sells, or ..read more