Accounts Receivable

Accounts receivable is one of a series of accounting transactions dealing with the billing of customers who owe money to a person, company or organization for goods and services that have been provided to the customer. In most business entities this is typically done by generating an invoice and mailing or electronically delivering it to the customer which is to be paid within an established timeframe called credit or payment terms.

Application

An application is a computer program which executes for its users useful functions, e.g. word processing or accounting for factoring.

ASCII

ASCII stands for the computer text standard „American Standard Code for Information Interchange“. ASCII enables a readable data-exchange.

Asset Backed Securities

Asset Backed Securities (ABS) are a type of bond or note that is based on pools of assets, or collateralized by the cash flows from a specified pool of underlying assets. Assets are pooled to make otherwise minor and uneconomical investments worthwhile, while also reducing risk by diversifying the underlying assets. The securitization makes these assets available for investment to a broader set of investors.

These asset pools can be made of any type of receivable.

Asset Based Lending

In the simplest meaning, Asset Based Lending is any kind of lending secured by an asset. This means, if the loan is not re-payed, the asset is taken. More commonly however, the phrase is used to describe lending to business and large corporations using assets not normally used in other loans. These can include lending against the value of a trademark or whole assets of intellectual property.

Authority Concept

An authority concept is a system which allows or denies the usage of resources. Each user will be assigned to a specific authority concept in order to get access to the resources.

Bulk Factoring

Also known as in-house factoring, with bulk factoring the factor client uses the factor's financing and risk-cover facilities without any of the other services. The factoring customer keeps the sales ledgers on behalf of the factor.

Business Partner

Business partners within FACT.pilot can be of different nature, i.e. a business partner can be for instance a factoring customer, a debtor or an employee.

The business partner module has the advantage of avoiding redundancy and data integrity as well as to focus on customer care and to win new customers.

Cockpit

The FACT.pilot Management Cockpits provide our customers with aggregated data about various areas, e.g. about factoring customers or about debtors, in order to make the right decisions quickly possible.

Collection

Collection is the clearing of receivables (mostly the clearing of bad debts).

Credit Insurance

Credit insurance also helps to protect a company against credit losses. Unlike factors, however, insurance companies do not assume a 100% risk.

Data Warehouse

A data warehouse is the main repository of the organization's historical data, its corporate memory. Data of different sources can be combined and analyzed by a data warehouse.

The fidis data warehouse was designed in order to provide factors and factoring customers extensive data via the internet.

Debt Management

This includes sales ledger accounting, regular credit rating, dunning and collection. For companies, debt management is often a time-consuming and labour-intensive business and is thus one of the services offered by the factor.

Del Credere

Del credere (also called contingency reserves or guarantee) is an up to 100% risk cover by a factor. It is the liability of the factor for partial or total credit loss through a customer's inability to pay. A customer is deemed to be unable to pay, without any additional proof being required, if it has not paid within a defined period and no objection to its obligation to pay has been raised.

Dispute

A dispute occurs if quality and/or quantity of delivered goods are regarded as insufficient by the debtor.

Documents

Documents within FACT.pilot can be an invoices, credit notes, payments and disputes. Each document includes data like invoice number, invoice date and external data (e.g. your clients´ customer number). Each document can be drill-down on single item basis.

Dunning

Dunning is part of debt management carried out in most factoring alternatives by the factor.

Duplicate

A duplicate in the information technology is a multiple existing data set, i.e. addresses.

ERP Software

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems integrate all data and processes of an organization into a unified system. A typical ERP system will use multiple components of computer software and hardware to achieve the integration. A key ingredient of most ERP systems is the use of a unified database to store data for the various system modules.

The fidis applications are based on the world-wide leading ERP software SAP R/3.

Event

FACT.pilot provides you with an event management for the correlation and analyses of events.

Fact.pilot

FACT.pilot is the flexible standard software for factoring and invoice discounting by fidis.

Factoring

Factoring is often used synonymously with accounts receivable financing. Factoring is a form of commercial finance whereby a business sells its accounts receivable (in the form of invoices) at a discount.

Factoring is the purchase of receivables for goods and services. It is used to provide short-term sales financing and 100% protection against credit losses; factoring requires an efficient debt management.

Factoring Company

A factoring company (also called factor or seller) acquires the receivables of its customers.

In FACT.pilot, each factor is represented by a so-called tenant. Multi-tenancy refers to the process of hosting multiple customers on a single server, i.e. it enables our customers to maintain and to duplicate business modules of factors and factoring customers.

Factoring Costs

Factoring costs are composed of interest for financing claims and the factoring fee. Interest is charged at the normal bank rate for current accounts and the term calculated from the date on which the outstanding payments are received.

Factoring Fee

A factoring fee is being charged by the factor to its clients for the risk-take over as well as for the management of the accounts receivable.

Factoring Software

Software specially designed for the administration of factoring, i.e. for the purchase and funding of receivables.

The factoring software by fidis is called FACT.pilot.

Factors Chain International (FCI)

The FCI (Factors Chain International) is a global factoring association, located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 

Favourite Menu

A favourite menu can easily be created by each FACT.pilot user according to its authority. It contains all transactions which are mostly used in order to fulfil the daily work load. This helps to work faster and more efficient. 

Full Service Factoring

Full Service Factoring covers direct invoice factoring as well as up to 100% risk cover and debt management.

Import/Export Factoring

Factors offer factoring services for domestic and international business transactions. Export factoring means that domestic companies (exporters) use the services of a domestic factor for international business. Import factoring is the use by foreign companies of a factor's services in the import country.

Inhouse Factoring

Also known as bulk factoring, with bulk factoring the factor client uses the factor's financing and risk-cover facilities without any of the other services. The factoring customer keeps the sales ledgers on behalf of the factor.

Interfaces

Interfaces are used for data exchanges between the fidis applications and external systems. 

International Factors Group (IFG)

The IFG (International Factors Group) is the oldest global factoring association, located in Brussels, Belgium.

Internationality

Internationality within the fidis applications means: Multi country version, multi language versions, multi currencies, individual calendar maintenance under consideration of (several) international bank holidays.

Limit

A limit is the maximum amount of funded receivables per debtor.

Limit Administration

The limit administration tool of FACT.pilot is designed for the risk management in order to reduce o default and market risks of factoring customers by permanent control of all limit defaults.

Management Cockpits

The FACT.pilot Management Cockpits comprise aggregated data about various areas and provide a quick overview in order for decision makers.

Master Data

Master data (or reference data) is information that is key to the operation of business. This key business information may include data about customers, products, employees, materials, suppliers, etc. which often turns out to be non-transactional in nature. In this regard, master data can support transactional processes and operations.

Maturity Factoring

With this alternative the factor client takes advantage of the full risk-cover and debt-management services without immediate cash payment of invoices.

Module

FACT.pilot is within various modules available in order to administrate different factoring products.

Movement Data

Movement data are transaction-oriented data (e.g. invoices and credit notes) that arise permanently due to operating processes. Movement data (also called transaction data) cause a change of inventory data. 

Multi Currency Ability

FACT.pilot is multi currency-able, i.e. receivables are not just be purchased in various currencies but also financed and advanced in different currencies.

Multi Tenant Ability

FACT.pilot is multi-tenant, i.e. each factoring company is represented by at least one tenant on the system. Numerous factors can be administrated parallel on one system.

Notified/Non-Notified Factoring

With notified factoring the debtor is informed that the debt has been purchased and requested to pay the factor directly. With non-notified factoring the debtor is not informed that the debt has been assigned.

notified factoring is mostly used in Germany.

Operating System

An operating system (also called system software) is the software which allows the usage of a computer.

The fidis applications are compatible with all current operating systems and data bases, e.g. like Windows NT, Linux, Unix.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is delegation of non-core operations from internal production to an external entity specializing in the management of that operation.

Fidis offers its customer back-office functionalities of factoring companies.

Parameter Setting

A parameter is a characteristic attribute or a data cluster. Various business purposes can be administrated by the individual setting of the parameters.

Programming Language

A programming language is an artificial language that can be used to control the behavior of a machine, particularly a computer.

The fidis applications are based on SAP R/3 and are therefore programmed in the SAP-programming language ABAP 4 (short version for „Advanced Business Application Programming“).

Recourse/Non-Recourse Factoring

In non-recourse factoring the factor assumes the non-payment risk (credit protection). Factoring without credit protection is known as recourse or partial factoring. In Germany practically all factoring for many years now has been in the form of non-recourse factoring.

Release Strategy

fidis strictly follows the SAP release strategy, i.e. due to the permanent software maintenance an investment protection and a long-term future of the fidis applications can be guaranteed.

Retained Security

The retained security enables the factor to cover discounts or guarantee claims by debtors; normally 10 to 20% of the purchased receivables, offset or paid on the due date for payment.

Reverse Factoring

Within reverse factoring (also called trade payable) the accounts payable of the factoring customers are purchased and funded.

SAP R/3

SAP R/3 is an ERP-system (enterprise resource planning) by the German software company SAP AG. The R stands for realtime, the 3 for the three tiers which form the R/3-system (database tier, application tier and presentation tier).

With the advent of distributed client-server computing SAP AG brought out a client-server version of SAP R/3 that was manageable on multiple platforms and operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows or Unix.

Solvency

Solvency (also quality) is the creditworthiness of a business partner. Solvency is the ability of an entity to pay its debts with available cash. Solvency does not refer to any equation. It is a statement of fact. An entity is solvent until it isn't.

Since a factor’s risk depends on the debtor’s solvency, the factoring fee is often dependent from a debtor’s solvency.

Solvency

Solvency is the ability to pay liabilities on time.

Source Code

In computer science, source code (commonly just source or code) is any sequence of statements and/or declarations written in some human-readable computer programming language. A computer program's source code is the collection of files needed to convert from human-readable form to some kind of computer-executable form. The source code may be converted into an executable file by a compiler, or executed on the fly from the human readable form with the aid of an interpreter.

The fidis applications are based on the open source code of SAP, i.e. the code is available and readable for everybody. This enables the fidis customers to be as flexible and independent as possible.

Standard Functionalities

Standard functionalities within FACT.pilot comprise all non-factoring relevant features which have nothing in common with factoring, but which are necessary for the entire process flows.

Standard functionalities might be treasury, telephone integration, cost accounting, CRM, document management etc.

Transaction

Transaction is the processing of movement data in a software solution.

Workflow

Workflow at its simplest is the movement of projects and/or tasks through a work process. More specifically, workflow is the operational aspect of a work procedure: How tasks are structured, who performs them, what their relative order is, how they are synchronized, how information flows to support the tasks and how tasks are being tracked.

Within FACT.pilot workflows are triggered by pre-define events.

Workplace

The fidis Workplace is the internal communication platform. Of course, it is also compatible to external email systems like Outlook or LotusNotes.