Accounts Receivable Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Accounts Receivable Managers, Credit Controllers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-A-076

Before you join: Participants should understand basic double-entry accounting, sales invoicing, customer account balances and the purpose of financial statements.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Accounts receivable performance affects working capital, cash availability, borrowing requirements and customer relationships. Credit may be approved too loosely, invoices may contain avoidable errors, disputes may remain unresolved, and collection activity may start too late. Finance teams need a disciplined process that protects profitable sales while setting clear credit terms, identifying deterioration early and converting valid invoices into cash predictably.

This course develops the practical methods used to manage the full receivables cycle: customer onboarding, credit assessment, payment terms, billing controls, cash application, collections, dispute handling, ageing analysis, impairment and reporting. Participants learn to interpret an aged debtors report, set collection priorities, calculate core measures such as Days Sales Outstanding and Collection Effectiveness Index, and distinguish collection issues from root causes in sales, billing or service delivery. The course also addresses customer communication, escalation, write-off governance and the accounting treatment of expected credit losses.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with realistic case work drawn from corporate, public-sector, banking and project-based trading environments. Participants analyse account portfolios, prepare collection actions, resolve disputed invoices and use receivables data to support management decisions. They leave with a practical accounts receivable management pack containing working templates, control checklists, reporting models and a personal implementation plan for their own role.

The course suits finance professionals who own, supervise or support receivables processes, as well as commercial staff whose decisions affect customer credit and payment performance.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess customer creditworthiness using financial, behavioural and external credit evidence
  • Design credit policies covering limits, terms, approvals, reviews and exceptions
  • Produce accurate aged receivables analysis and collection priority lists
  • Apply structured collection techniques across reminder, escalation and recovery stages
  • Resolve invoice disputes using root-cause analysis and documented ownership controls
  • Calculate Days Sales Outstanding, Collection Effectiveness Index and ageing metrics
  • Estimate expected credit losses using an IFRS 9 ageing-based provision matrix
  • Create an accounts receivable improvement plan with measurable control actions

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make better credit and collection decisions from customer account evidence
  • Handle difficult payment conversations with clearer structure and escalation discipline
  • Identify the operational causes behind overdue debt and recurring disputes
  • Produce management reports that explain collection performance and cash risk
  • Contribute confidently to impairment estimates, write-off reviews and audit evidence

For your organisation

  • Faster conversion of invoiced sales into collected cash
  • Earlier identification of deteriorating customer payment behaviour
  • Fewer overdue invoices caused by billing, documentation and dispute failures
  • More consistent credit approvals, limits and exception controls
  • Better evidence for bad-debt provisions, write-offs and financial reporting

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain how receivables processes affect cash flow, profit and customer relationships.

  • Order-to-cash cycle from customer setup through payment application
  • Working capital drivers linking receivables, cash conversion and borrowing needs
  • Accounts receivable roles, handoffs and segregation of duties
  • Customer payment behaviour and its effect on collection effort
  • Revenue recognition timing compared with invoice and cash dates
  • Receivables risks: credit loss, billing error, dispute and fraud
  • Control objectives for complete, accurate and timely receivables records

Participants can build credit policy controls that support informed and consistent customer onboarding.

  • Credit policy components: terms, limits, approvals, reviews and exceptions
  • Customer master-data controls for legal entity, contacts and tax details
  • Payment terms aligned with contract terms and commercial commitments
  • Approval matrices matched to credit exposure and delegated authority
  • Documenting guarantees, deposits, letters of credit and parent support
  • Periodic credit reviews triggered by exposure, behaviour and financial changes
  • Exception registers recording rationale, approver, expiry date and conditions

Participants can assess customer risk and recommend appropriate credit limits and security.

  • Five Cs of Credit: character, capacity, capital, collateral, conditions
  • Financial statement review using liquidity, gearing and profitability ratios
  • Trade references and credit bureau reports evaluated for reliability
  • Payment history analysis using average days to pay
  • Credit limits linked to expected exposure and approved payment terms
  • Security options selected for customer risk and transaction value
  • Risk ratings documented with evidence, judgement and review dates

Participants can strengthen invoice quality and cash application controls to prevent avoidable overdue debt.

  • Invoice validation against contract, purchase order and delivery evidence
  • Billing timeliness measured from service completion to invoice dispatch
  • Mandatory invoice fields including tax, payment instructions and references
  • Electronic invoicing controls for transmission, receipt and rejection tracking
  • Cash application using remittance advice, reference matching and suspense accounts
  • Unapplied cash investigation through payer identification and account reconciliation
  • Customer statements reconciled against ledger balances and disputed items

Participants can interpret aged debt and set collection priorities based on value, risk and collectability.

  • Ageing buckets constructed from invoice due dates and payment terms
  • Days Sales Outstanding calculated using credit sales and closing receivables
  • Collection Effectiveness Index measured against collectible opening debt
  • Promise-to-pay tracking with dates, amounts, ownership and follow-up
  • Priority matrices combining balance size, ageing, risk and dispute status
  • Broken promise analysis identifying recurring delays and escalation needs
  • Collection dashboards separating current, overdue, disputed and high-risk balances

Participants can plan and conduct collection activity using proportionate contact and escalation methods.

  • Collection segmentation based on balance, risk, ageing and customer importance
  • Dunning schedules defining reminder timing, channel and escalation stages
  • Telephone collection structure: preparation, questioning, agreement and confirmation
  • Written reminders stating invoice details, due dates and payment instructions
  • Payment plans assessed against affordability, exposure and documented commitments
  • Escalation routes involving sales, management, legal counsel and account teams
  • Contact notes maintained as evidence for follow-up and recovery

Participants can resolve disputed invoices while identifying process failures that create repeat disputes.

  • Dispute categories: pricing, quantity, quality, tax, delivery and documentation
  • Root-cause analysis using the five whys and process evidence
  • Dispute registers capturing owner, status, value, ageing and resolution date
  • Service-level agreements for query acknowledgement, investigation and closure
  • Credit notes authorised through documented reason codes and approval limits
  • Cross-functional resolution meetings with sales, operations and billing owners
  • Repeat dispute reporting used to correct upstream process failures

Participants can support accurate receivables accounting, loss provisioning and controlled debt write-offs.

  • Trade receivables recognition, measurement and presentation under IFRS requirements
  • IFRS 9 simplified approach for lifetime expected credit losses
  • Provision matrices using ageing bands, historical losses and forward information
  • Specific provisions supported by customer financial distress and recovery evidence
  • Bad debt write-offs distinguished from credit notes and provisions
  • Write-off approval packs containing collection history and supporting documentation
  • Post-write-off recovery accounting and control over recovered balances

Participants can identify system controls and fraud risks within accounts receivable operations.

  • Role-based access controls for customer records, credits and write-offs
  • Segregation of duties across billing, cash receipt and adjustment activities
  • Audit trails for payment terms, credit limits and account amendments
  • Duplicate customer detection using tax identifiers, addresses and bank details
  • Fraud indicators including unusual credits, refunds and account changes
  • Reconciliation controls between subledger, general ledger and bank receipts
  • Exception reports reviewed for overdue approvals and manual journal entries

Participants can report receivables performance and prepare targeted actions for sustained improvement.

  • Receivables scorecards combining DSO, CEI, ageing and dispute measures
  • Trend analysis separating seasonal movements from deteriorating collection performance
  • Customer concentration analysis identifying material exposure and dependency risks
  • Root-cause reporting linking overdue balances to operational failure points
  • Action plans assigning owners, deadlines, measures and review arrangements
  • Monthly receivables review agendas for finance and commercial leadership
  • Personal application plans focused on priority process and control changes

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Credit policy and approval matrix template
  2. Customer credit assessment worksheet
  3. Aged receivables prioritisation model
  4. Collection contact and escalation plan
  5. Dispute register and root-cause tracker
  6. IFRS 9 provision matrix template

Who should attend

  • Accounts Receivable Managers — responsible for collection results, controls and team performance
  • Credit Controllers — need structured methods for prioritising accounts and securing payment
  • Finance Managers — oversee working capital, debt risk and period-end reporting
  • Accounts Receivable Officers — process invoices, payments, queries and customer account reconciliations
  • Credit Managers — set credit decisions, limits and ongoing customer review procedures
  • Commercial Managers — need to understand how sales terms affect cash collection and debt risk

Skills and tools covered

Credit risk assessmentCollection prioritisationDispute resolutionReceivables analyticsCash application controlsBad debt provisioning

Tools and standards

IFRS 9, Five Cs of Credit, Days Sales Outstanding, Collection Effectiveness Index

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish concepts, followed by guided case work based on customer account portfolios, ageing reports, invoices and collection scenarios. Participants work in groups to assess credit risk, prioritise overdue balances, plan customer contact and investigate disputes. Simulations develop collection conversations and escalation judgement. Spreadsheet-based analysis is used for receivables measures and provision calculations. Each participant completes application planning for a current receivables issue from their own work setting.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand basic double-entry accounting, sales invoicing, customer account balances and the purpose of financial statements. Experience working with invoices, customer payments, collections, credit control or finance reporting is helpful. Participants should be comfortable using spreadsheets for simple calculations and reviewing tabular reports. Prior responsibility for a receivables team or credit approval process is not required. No prior study of IFRS 9, formal credit-management qualification, advanced financial modelling or specialist collections-system experience is assumed.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need basic familiarity with invoices, customer balances and accounting records. The course explains credit assessment, receivables metrics and IFRS 9 impairment methods without assuming specialist credit-management training.

Bring a laptop if possible, as participants may work with spreadsheet-based receivables examples. You may also bring anonymised examples of ageing reports, collection issues or credit procedures from your workplace.

It is designed for accounts receivable staff, credit controllers, finance managers, credit managers and commercial managers. It is particularly useful for people responsible for overdue debt, customer payment risk or billing-related disputes.

The course concentrates on the operational management of trade receivables from customer setup through collection, dispute resolution and impairment. It gives more attention to aged debt, cash application, collection strategy and receivables controls than a general accounting course.

Participants can use the templates to review credit controls, segment overdue accounts, improve collection follow-up and track disputes. The application plan helps them identify specific changes for their own receivables process.

The five days contain approximately 32.5 contact hours, delivered from 08:30 to 16:30 each day. Time is divided among instructor input, account analysis, group work, simulations, reporting tasks and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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