Business customers pay in every way imaginable: cash to the salesman, UPI to a QR code, a cheque dated next week, a bank transfer that covers four invoices and part of a fifth, or online at the time of ordering. Each method is easy on its own. The difficulty is making sure every payment reaches the right customer, against the right bills, the same day.
Where B2B payments get lost
- Collected but not recorded — cash held in the field for days.
- Recorded against the customer but not the invoice, so ageing is wrong.
- UPI received with no reference to which customer or bill it was for.
- Cheques counted as money before they clear.
- One payment, many invoices — split by guesswork.
Record once, at the source
The single most effective habit: record each payment where it happens, with everything needed to reconcile it.
| Field | Why |
|---|---|
| Customer | Whose account it reduces |
| Amount | Obviously |
| Mode | Cash, UPI, cheque, bank transfer, online |
| Reference | UPI transaction ID, cheque number, bank reference |
| Bills settled | Which invoices it pays, in what amounts |
| Received by, and when | For accountability and reconciliation |
Worked example: DSO
A distributor sells ₹2 lakh a day on credit and has ₹60 lakh outstanding.
DSO = ₹60,00,000 ÷ ₹2,00,000 = 30 days
Cutting DSO to 22 days releases about ₹16 lakh of cash (8 days × ₹2 lakh). Most of that improvement comes not from asking customers to pay faster, but from recording and following up faster — collections recorded the day they happen, ageing reviewed weekly, and old bills chased before they become older.
The daily payment routine
- Field collections recorded at the counter, with mode and reference.
- Evening reconciliation: cash handed in and UPI received match what was recorded.
- Bank statement match for transfers and UPI the next morning.
- Unmatched items owned by someone until resolved.
- Weekly ageing review — see retailer credit.
How Zaqnet records payments
- Field collections in GroundLink — cash, UPI or cheque — against the customer and the bills they settle, online or offline.
- Online payment through the customer portal, into your own Razorpay account, recorded against the order.
- Payments in ControlRoom alongside orders, invoices and outstanding.
- Day-end closure and AutoSync to TallyPrime or BUSY — see day-end closure.
A payment recorded at the counter is a fact. A payment remembered in the evening is an estimate.