Dealer credit control
See the dealer’s credit position before the next order is confirmed.
Keep agreed terms, outstanding amounts and account-level exceptions visible so sales, accounts and order teams are working from the same picture.
The order is not the problem.The account position is the context.
Example dealer account
Shreeji Hardware
Rajkot
- Credit terms
- 30 days
- Credit limit
- ₹10L
- Outstanding
- ₹7.4L
- Overdue
- ₹1.1L
- Open-order exposure
- ₹1.2L
New order₹1.8L
Account viewReview before confirming
Account exposure would move beyond the business’s configured credit position.
What counts toward credit exposure, and what limit triggers a hold or a review, depends on the company’s credit policy and on the connected accounting and order systems.
Credit control starts with the dealer account — not one order.
One order
₹1.8L
On its own, a number with nothing to compare it to.
The dealer account
- Outstanding
- Overdue
- Open orders
- Terms
- Credit arrangement
The new order only makes sense when it is viewed against the dealer’s current account position.
What should the team be able to see?
- Dealer
- Which account this is.
- Credit terms
- Where the business works to agreed terms.
- Credit limit
- Where a formal limit is used at all.
- Outstanding
- Invoiced and not yet paid.
- Overdue
- Past the agreed due date.
- Open-order exposure
- Where the business includes it.
- Available credit
- Where the business calculates headroom.
- Account status
- Normal, review, or on hold.
- Last account review
- Where that is part of the process.
Not every business uses a formal credit limit, and different businesses calculate exposure differently. Four of these fields are worth more than nine fields that nobody maintains.
Different dealers can need different attention.
Shreeji Hardware
Rajkot
- Credit terms
- 30 days
- Outstanding
- ₹7.4L
- Overdue
- ₹1.1L
Review
Some of the outstanding amount is past its due date, so somebody should look at the account before the next order is confirmed.
Apex Trading
Ahmedabad
- Credit terms
- 30 days
- Outstanding
- ₹2.2L
- Overdue
- None
Clear
Within the agreed terms today. That is a statement about this moment, not a verdict about the dealer.
Nova Distributors
Surat
- Credit terms
- Advance / on delivery
- Outstanding
- ₹0
- Credit limit
- None set
Terms-based review
No formal credit limit is used for this account, so the check is against the agreed terms rather than against a number. That is an ordinary arrangement, not a gap.
Three accounts, three different arrangements. None of this is a score, a rating or a ranking — a dealer on advance terms is not a worse dealer than one on thirty days.
Separate three different questions.
- Outstanding
- What has been invoiced but not yet paid?
- A balance. Most of it may be perfectly normal.
- Overdue
- What is past the agreed due date?
- A subset of the outstanding, and the part with a date problem.
- Credit position
- Does the current account exposure fit the business’s credit policy?
- A judgement, made against whatever policy the business actually has.
These are related, but they are not the same number.
What should happen when the account needs attention?
- Dealer account exception
- Finance or accounts review
- A decision, recorded
- Continue normally
- Ask for payment first
- Reduce or change the order
- Temporarily hold new orders
- Management exception where policy permits
None of these is the automatic answer, and this page does not prescribe one. The useful part is that the exception reaches somebody who can decide, rather than sitting with whoever happened to take the order.
Credit control and order approval are not the same thing.
Dealer credit control — this page
- Account-level position
- Agreed terms
- Outstanding
- Overdue
- The ongoing dealer relationship
Order approval workflow
- One order triggers a configured rule
- The exception reaches an approver
- The decision applies to that order
The account creates the context.The order workflow handles the specific exception.
Order Approval WorkflowSales should see enough to avoid making the wrong promise.
A salesperson may need
- Account clear, or review required
- Available ordering position where that is used
- An overdue warning where it matters
- Who to contact internally
A salesperson does not need
- Every accounting entry
- Internal finance notes
- Other sensitive account detail
Share the decision context, not the entire accounting system.
What should the dealer see?
- Outstanding balance
- Overdue amount
- Credit terms
- Account status or hold
- A payment request
Only where the business chooses to show it. This is a policy decision rather than a feature: plenty of businesses share an outstanding balance with a dealer and share nothing else, and that is a complete answer.
Dealer PortalCredit information is only as current as the systems connected.
- Accounting or finance system
- Where outstanding, overdue and payment information normally lives.
- Order management
- Where open orders and dispatches are, when the business includes them.
- The dealer account record
- Terms, limits and the arrangement agreed with this account.
An account position is a reading of those sources, not a live accounting ledger. If payments are posted weekly, the position is a weekly one — and a team that knows that is better off than a team shown a figure presented as live.
Where the account position is used
- Dealer PortalWhere a dealer sees whatever the business chooses to show them.
- Dealer OnboardingWhere credit terms are agreed in the first place.
- Dealer Pricing & SchemesThe price and programme side of the same account.
- Order Approval WorkflowWhat happens to the one order that breaks a rule.
- Order ManagementWhere the order itself is taken, checked and confirmed.
Can your sales and accounts teams see the same dealer credit position?
Show us how credit terms, outstanding amounts and dealer orders are checked today. We’ll help identify what should be visible before the next order is confirmed.