Are client credit issues plaguing your fuel contracts?

When two sides enter into a contract, they generally agree to follow through on their respective obligations defined within the document. If you’re a fuel distributor, that means you will deliver product on schedule and in the correct amount. On the other side, your client will agree to compensate you for services rendered. But even with a signed pledge to pay, payment is never 100 percent guaranteed, especially when client credit issues wreak havoc on your agreed-upon contracts.

While there’s nothing fuel distributors can do to get their customers’ financial situations in shape, they can take every precaution to ensure total visibility into contracts on their own end. Without capable accounting software solutions, fuel distributors may be left at the mercy of client credit and lose control over how and when they get paid.

Transparency into contracts needed

The need fuel distributors have for insight into their financials is among the most pressing challenges they face. Cash flow is always a concern, and when operating on such tight margins (as fuel distributors do) there’s little room for error.

Yet fuel supplier operations can become a tangle of orders, deliveries, dispatches and clients without the right tracking tools: making it more likely for something to get lost in the shuffle. If they depend on manual processes for tabulating accounts receivable or days past due, fuel distributors hamper their ability to get paid by relying on slow and often mistake-prone workflows. Such ways of conducting operations become even riskier when the wrench of client credit issues is thrown into the mix.

Get ahead of the game with accounting software

There’s little a fuel distributor can do when it’s time for a contract to be fulfilled and a client’s credit situation prevents them from making good. However, there’s a lot fuel suppliers can do to prepare for such a scenario by leveraging their accounting software to track flagged accounts well before they actually become a problem.

This is a primary benefit of financial solutions: Having an overview of all the moving pieces that figure into you securing payment. There’s little operability in an Excel spreadsheet, but with a 360 view into financials, users can effectively scrutinize each contract to sniff out the problem accounts and take action before a real mess is made.

Sometimes, there’s nothing that can be done – like if a partner becomes insolvent or declares bankruptcy. However, if fuel distributors have tools that grant them insight into contracts, they can plan for the hit, rather than getting blindsided by the loss of revenue that was once guaranteed.

Fuel distributors have a particular need for operational transparency. When it comes to ensuring contracts are met, there’s no alternative to accounting software. Client credit issues can be at once immovable, and at other times, wholly possible to prepare for. Make sure your fuel supplier operation has the capability to tackle these challenges efficiently with financial solutions.

Did You Know: Your Source for PDI News provided by PDI, the leader in enterprise management software for the convenience retail and petroleum wholesale markets.