SLA (Service Level Agreement) is a  broad term given to the parameters on which the performance of the team in a BPO / Contact Center is measured and each paramater has its own formulae which is set by  the client. the various parameters could be AHT, FTR, CSAT, Abandoned rate,  Shrinkage, etc

AHT = ( Total Talk time + Total hold time + Total after call work ) / No. of Calls taken

FCR or FTR = No. of issues resolved / No. of calls taken.

Abandon Rate = (calls dropped / calls offered ) * 100

Shrinkage = ((Provisioning for Unscheduled Leave + Scheduled Leaves) / No.of  Agents Rostered) *100

HeadCount Ration = TeamLeader : Number of agents per TL eg (1:10 or 1:15 depending on complexity of the process)

How would you identify the causes for increased AHT and what would be your approach as a Team Leader to resolve it so that business does not suffer?

a)could be because of negligence eg agent putting the customer on hold very often.
b)could be because the agent is not able to identify the resolution, if thats the case then we may change his seating arrangement make sure that he sits with a tenured agent and the tenured agent can help him take better calls as his score is important for team ranking.
c)in-sufficient knowledge related to the subject, demanding extra attention, as in more training related to the process d)the agent might be facing some personal problem ***whatever the cause be, the team leader needs to understand the cause and accordingly come out with a resolution to control the issue.

What role does the TeamLeader / SME play in controlling attrition ? How can you control attrition?
identify people who can attrite and then take special care of such cases based on their individual problems.

How would you take care of the agents who have not been considered for the appraisal? They would develop negative feelings and result in attrition, what exactly would you do to take care of such a situation?

How do u handle Attrition ?

Attrition is a tricky situation and the TL has to take a call to understand whether the resource in question is important to the company or not. If the resource is important than he has to find out whether its a Will Issue or a Skill Issue.

• If its a Skill Issue then the resource has to be either a) sent for retraining b) made to sit with people who are performing well.
• If its a Will issue than the TL / Reporting Manager has to sit with the Resource and understand whats happening in the life of the Resource as in Family / New Job etc etc. and resolve issue accordingly.

Handle High Shrinkage —

You walk into office and see that out of 15 people who were supposed to be present only 11 has turned up.. what would u do to handle the calls aligned to ur team ?

Strategy Could be

a) ask agents to take shortcalls or get the After Call work done later

b) call people who have not come and ask / convince them to come back

c) May be ask people who are on scheduled leave to come back if they can

d) ask the sme to handle calls

e) Login himself to handle calls

e) if still there is a shortfall he can ask for help from other TL’s

3 Golden Rules of Passing Journal Entries

Dr the Receiver Cr the Giver
Dr what comes in Cr what goes out
Dr all Expenses and Losses and Cr all Incomes n Gains

Accounting Equations

The accounting equation   —- >  Assets = Liability + Owners’ Equity

Net income —->  Revenues – Expenses = Net income

Cost of goods sold —-> Cost of beginning inventory + Cost of purchases – Cost of ending inventory = Costs of goods sold

Cost-volume profit analysis

Net income = (Sales price – Variable cost per unit)(Volume) – Fixed costs
Total cost = (Variable cost per unit x Volume) + Fixed costs
Net income = (Sales price x Volume) – Total cost
Break-Even Volume = Fixed Costs / (Sales Price – Variable Cost Per Unit)

Cash Ratio = Cash / Current Liabilities

 

Various of ways of Matching Invoices

2 Way Match – Invoice and PO
3 Way Match – Invoice, PO and Goods Receipt Note
4 Way Match – Invoice, PO, GRN and Inspection Report

 

Types of Purchase Order

Standard purchase orders
A standard purchase order is typically used for irregular, infrequent or one-off procurement. As mentioned above, it contains a complete specification of the purchase, setting out the price, quantity and timeframes for payment and delivery.

Planned purchase orders
Like a standard purchase order, a planned purchase order is relatively comprehensive. A planned purchase order requires full details of the goods and services to be purchased and their costs. Dates for payment and delivery are also included in a planned purchase order, but these are treated as tentative dates. Issuing a release against the planned purchase order places individual orders.

Blanket purchase orders
A blanket purchase order involves a purchaser agreeing to purchase particular goods or services from a specific vendor, but not at any specific quantity. Pricing may or may not be confirmed in a blanket purchase order. This type of order is typically used for repetitive procurement of a specific set of items from a supplier such as basic materials and supplies.

Contract purchase orders
A contract purchase order sets out the vendor’s details and potentially also payment and delivery terms. The products to be purchased are not specified. A contract purchase order is used to create an agreement and terms of supply between a purchaser and vendor as the basis for an ongoing commercial relationship. To order a product, the purchaser may refer to the contract purchase order when raising a standard purchase order.

 

TDS Sections and Rates

192	Payment of salary
192A	Premature withdrawal from EPF	10%
193	Interest on Securities	10%
194	Payment of Dividend	10%
194A	Income in the form of interest (other than interest on securities).	10%
194B	Income by way of lottery winnings, card games, crossword puzzles, and other games of any type	30%
194BB	Income by way of horse race winnings	30%
194C	Payment to contractor/sub-contractor.	1%
194D	Insurance commission	10%
194DA	Payment of any sum in respect of a life insurance policy.	5%
194EE	Payment of amount standing to the credit of a person under National Savings Scheme (NSS)	10%
194F	Payment due to repurchase of a unit by Unit Trust of India (UTI) or a Mutual Fund	20%
194G	Payments such as commission, etc., on the sale of lottery tickets	5%
194H	Commission or brokerage	5%
194-I	Rent on Plant and Machinery	2%
194-I	Rent on Land Building furniture etc	10%
194-IA	Payment in consideration of transfer of certain immovable property other than agricultural land.	1%
194-IC	Payment under Joint Development Agreements (JDA) to Individual/HUF	10%
194J	Professional Services / technical Services / Etc	10%
194K	Payment of any income for units of a mutual fund	10%
194LA	Payment in respect of compensation on acquisition of certain immovable property.	10%
194LBA(1)	Certain income distributed by a business trust to its unitholder	10%
194LBB	Certain income paid in respect of units of an investment fund to a unitholder.	10%
194LBC	Income from investment in securitisation fund	10%
194M	Certain payments by Individual/HUF (Limit- Rs 50 Lakhs)	5%
194N	Cash withdrawal exceeding a certain amount (limit- Rs 1 crore)	2%
194O	For the sale of goods or provision of services by the e-commerce operator through its digital or electronic facility or platform.	1%
194P	Tax deduction by specified banks while making payments (pension or interest) to specified senior citizens or age 75 years or more.
194Q	Payments to residents for the purchase of goods if the aggregate value of goods exceeds Rs 50 lakhs.	0.10%

 

Bank Reconciliation Statement

A bank reconciliation statement is a financial statement prepared to reconcile the differences in the balance of the bank column of cashbook and passbook by showing all the causes of difference between the two.

BRS is prepared on a periodical basis for checking that bank related transactions are recorded properly in the cash book’s bank column and also by the bank in their books. BRS helps to detect errors in recording transactions and determining the exact bank balance as on a specified date.

Reasons of Differences in Pass Book n Cash Book Bank Column

1. A cheque of INR 3 lakhs was not collected by the bank but was deposited
2. Rs. 2500 was charged by the bank and recorded in the passbook but not in the company’s cash book
3. The interest of Rs. 2000 was credited by the bank but not recorded in the cash book

 

Bank reconciliation Statement Rules
Rules help in avoiding any mistake in the statement. These rules act as a basic framework for the statement. Here are some of the bank reconciliation statement rules:

1. Any debit balance in the cash book is referred to as the deposits of the business entity
2. Debit in cash book is equal to credit in passbook
3. Credit balance in cash book means unfavorable balance
4. Debit balance in cash book means favorable balance
5. Cheques that are issued but in any case not presented are adjusted in the cash book

Accounting Equations and Ratios

The accounting equation
Assets = Liability + Owners’ Equity

Net income
Revenues – Expenses = Net income

Cost of goods sold
Cost of beginning inventory + Cost of purchases – Cost of ending inventory = Costs of goods sold

Cost-volume profit analysis
Net income = (Sales price – Variable cost per unit)(Volume) – Fixed costs
Total cost = (Variable cost per unit x Volume) + Fixed costs
Net income = (Sales price x Volume) – Total cost
Break-Even Volume = Fixed Costs / (Sales Price – Variable Cost Per Unit)
Cash Ratio = Cash / Current Liabilities

Some Important Clauses of Income Tax –

Section 43B
Section 43b of the income tax act provides a list of expenses allowed as deduction under the head ‘Income from business and profession’. It states some expenses that can be claimed as deduction from the business income only in the year of actual payment and not in the year when the liability to pay such expenses is incurred.

For example, Mr. A, an employer, has paid the provident fund (PF) that is due to be paid by him to his employees in the month of August 2018. This amount of PF pertains to the month of March 2018. In this case, he can claim this deduction for the year ending March 2018 itself by showing a proof of this while filing his return in September 2018. If Mr. A pays this amount in October 2018, this deduction will be available for the year ending March 2019.

Section 269SS & 269T
Income Tax Authorities uncover hidden and unaccounted cash during raids. Previously, the culprit would escape by saying that he received the cash as loan or deposit from friends or relatives. Also, the persons with an aim of tax evasion would do false transactions showing payment and repayment of loans and deposits in cash.
To curb the increasing cash transactions which are leading to the accumulation of black money, 269SS and 269T were introduced which restricts these cash payments.

What is Section 269SS
A person cannot accept loan or deposit or any other specified sum (specified sum here refers to an advance or otherwise, in relation to the transfer of any immovable property) from another person otherwise than by an account payee cheque or account payee bank draft or use of electronic clearing system through a bank account, if –

Amount of loan or deposit or specified sum is Rs. 20,000 or more

Section 269T
Section 269T prohibits any person to repay the loan or deposit or specified sum otherwise than by an account payee cheque or account payee bank draft or by use of electronic clearing system through a bank account, if –

Amount of loan or deposit, including interest amount, is Rs. 20,000 or more,

TDS
TDS stands for tax deducted at source. As per the Income Tax Act, any company or person making a payment is required to deduct tax at the source if the payment exceeds certain threshold limits.

A deductor has to deposit the deducted TDS to the government and the details of the same have to be filed in the form of a TDS return.

A TDS return has to be filed quarterly. Different types of TDS deductions have to be filed using different TDS return forms.

 

SOP  – Standard Operating Procedure (Process to be followed in any Circumstance)

MSME – Micro Small and Medium Enterprises.

Possible Questions in an AP Interview

what is P2P or Procure to Pay Cycle.

 

 

Various of ways of Matching Invoices

2 Way Match – Invoice and PO
3 Way Match – Invoice, PO and Goods Receipt Note
4 Way Match – Invoice, PO, GRN and Inspection Report

 

Variances during matching of Invoices – when we do matching of invoices what are the possible variances that we get to see.. eg between Invoice and PO or Invoice and GRN (good receipt note) and how do we address the siruation in case of Variances.

 

What is O2C cycle

 

Q. when money is received and remitter is not known the money goes to suspense account.. How do we clear the money from suspense account and apply it to the debtors accounts..
A: when remitter is not known we would match the account number with the Debtor account number in master data and then take confirmation from the debtor and apply the cash to his account

 

Q. What is Dunning Letter.

A. A dunning letter is a collection notice sent to a customer explaining that a payment they owe is overdue. Dunning letters are a key tool for collections teams because they help with staying on top of and preventing delinquent accounts.

Dunning letters typically follow a progression from polite reminders to more strident demands for payment, if the customer continues to be non-responsive in paying.

Q. What is the difference between a Statement and a Dunning Letter.

A: A dunning letter is not the same as a month-end statement. A statement is sent to all customers having unpaid invoices at the end of the month. The statement includes all invoices that have not yet been paid, even if they are not yet due for payment. The statement is not considered to be harassment, but rather a simple statement of account as of a point in time.

The Process of Supply Chain Consists of various Processes .. two of the Processes are often confused and sometimes used synonymously ..

Sourcing n Procurement.

Sourcing Ideally refers to the process of identifying the Vendors from whom the materials / Services would be acquired and Procurement Refers to the process of buying Materials / Services from these Identified Vendors.