Cash flow and accounts receivable

RCS Influencer Trent Cotney says accounts receivable SOPs are indispensable. 

Editor's note: The following is a transcript of a conversation with Trent Cotney, partner of Adams and Reese. You can listen to the interview or read the transcript below.

Lauren White: Hello everyone, I'm Lauren White here for RoofersCoffeShop.com for our July influencer topic, and I'm here with the one and only Trent Cotney. Trent, it's good to see you.

Trent Cotney: Same here. How you doing?

Lauren White: Doing pretty well, thanks. So our topic for July is backlog versus cash flow reality. So what would you like to share with contractors?

Trent Cotney: Yeah, you know, I always joke around that nobody ever calls me with good news. And one of the things that I think has been consistent, at least for the last couple of years, is that backlog isn't where it was right after COVID. 2025 we saw a return to pre-COVID levels in my opinion. And I think part of what contractors need to understand is that the only thing that matters really is that bottom line. What drives that bottom line is cash flow, so cash is always king. If you have a couple of bad projects in a row, all of a sudden you're not able to make payroll, that's the end. As a business owner myself, I can tell you having that cash in the bank is always the most important. So even if you've got a relatively strong backlog and you've got projects that are in the pipeline, that doesn't necessarily convert to money in the bank. The other thing I would mention is is you've got to have a really strong SOP, a standard operating procedure, for AR collection. Accounts receivable creeps up on you quick. Everybody loves to sell. They don't wanna ask people for money, right? If contractors out there put half as much time into collecting as they did sales, they'd be probably five times as wealthy as they are now. So, the message is get on top of AR quickly. that's gonna be the most important thing to do.

Lauren White: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. well great, Trent. Thank you so much for your insights. And for those of you out there, make sure that you check out Trent Cotney's directory and Adams and Reese directory on rooferscoffeeshop.com. And we will see you for our August topic, Trent. Thank you.

Trent Cotney: Sounds good, thanks.