An environmental consulting firm that is a customer of mine came to me a few years ago with a problem. They had bought our software, so I called them up as I often do and said, "Why'd you buy our software?" and the CEO - Becky - said "I'm hoping you can help me with this huge problem I have."

"What's the problem?"

"Well we're growing really fast, from 40 to 300 people in just a few months - I mean - business is just incredible!"

"Okay. That doesn't sound like a problem to me. That sounds like a really good thing. I wish my business was doing that. What's the problem?"

"Well I can't find the time to get the bills sent out to the cusotmers. I'm looking at a giant stack of paper timesheets on the floor in the corner of my office over there that represents like $500,000 or something. Help!"

So we helped.

By putting an automated timesheet and travel expense mangement system in place, Becky was able to drastically increase the speed of billing, lowering her float and providing cash for the business. Accuracy also skyrocketed, leading to fewer situations where customers were rejecting inaccurate invoices, pushing A/R days-to-collect down further. Additionally since it was all automated it became possible to invoice in smaller increments more frequently, and since small bills tend to get paid more quickly, this improved the cash situation even futher.

All that cash - from the humble and often maligned timesheet. Go figure.

Getting bills out faster is worth a lot of money. If you can reduce your float permanently, it's worth loads.

Curt runs Journyx in Austin, TX.