Collecting overdue accounts isn't easy at the best of times, and these clearly aren't the best of times.

There are many strategies for converting receivables into cash more quickly, but one that often goes overlooked is making payment as easy as possible for your customers. Convoluted account statements and obscure settlement instructions are unnecessary obstacles that can delay settlement.

Streamlining your account administration and customer payment process is a good first step, but don't limit yourself to obvious bottlenecks. For example, researchers at Seattle University, Rutgers University-Camden, and Microsoft found that rounding down overdue amounts can improve payment rates by almost 10%.

Why?

Rounded numbers are easier to recall and process, which are the first steps towards making payment. Amounts ending in 5 or 0 are ideal, because we have five fingers on each hand and ten in total. Thus, someone is more likely to remember and settle an outstanding amount of R995.00 than R996.27.

Naturally this doesn't guarantee payment, and it probably won't make any difference to willful delinquents. However, for everyone else, even a small adjustment of just a few cents can get your account off the back-burner and into your bank account.