If payment by the foreign customer is linked to bills of exchange, these can either be discounted or negotiated by a company with its bank.

Discounting means that the trade bills （term bills） are sold to the bank at a discount to their face value. The company gets cash when the bills are discounted, thereby decreasing the outstanding level of trade receivables.

Negotiation means that the bank makes an advance of cash to the company, with the debt being settled when the bills of exchange （sight bills） are paid.
Advances against collection means that the bank handling the collection of payment on behalf of the selling company could be prepared to make a cash advance of up to 90% of the face value of the payment instrument, for example, bills of exchange.Again, this would reduce the level of investment in foreign accounts receivable.

The risk of non-payment by foreign accounts receivable can be reduced by raising an internationalletter of credit（documentary credit） linked to the contract for the sale of goods. This could be confirmed （guaranteed） by a bank in the foreign customer’s country.
The exporting company could also arrange for export credit insurance （export credit cover） against the risk of non-payment, which could occur for reasons outside the control of the foreign customer.
The risk of foreign accounts receivable becoming bad debts can be reduced by performing the same creditworthiness assessment processes on foreign credit customers as those used with domestic credit customers, such as seeking credit references and bank references.