ABSTRACT
It has often been said that cash does not collect itself. Equally, old hands will talk of that golden age, when Sir Nigel Gresley’s ‘Flying Scotsman’ dominated the East Coast Main Line, all trains ran on time and everybody paid their bills when due. Rose-tinted spectacles may have convinced some of the reliability of the London & North Eastern Railway, but the truth about bills being paid when due is a little more murky. What is true, however, is that the perception was always one of the vast majority of customers toeing the credit terms line, and running a Sales Ledger meant little more than keeping everything tidy, sending a few discreet letters from time to time and making sure that at the end of the month the cash was all posted and the figures balanced.
