Case Study: Barrett Steel achieves a 93% reduction in cash application effort with BlackLine Cash Application

Maximizing Efficiency & Reducing Cash Application Effort by 93% with Accounts Receivable Automation

Barrett Steel, the UK’s largest steel stockholder with multiple sites and its own distribution fleet, faced growing pains from rapid expansion (35 to 54 subsidiaries) that exposed an inefficient, uncentralized cash application process on its AS400 ERP. Fourteen credit controllers across locations were spending up to two hours manually posting transactions, which ate into collections work, harmed engagement and made retention and recruitment harder.

Barrett implemented BlackLine Cash Application (adopted 2018) to centralize and automate posting and intraday bank processing, reducing cash application effort by 93%. The change consolidated cash work to a single role, freed 14 controllers to focus on collections and higher‑value tasks, sped order processing for customers, improved accuracy, boosted hiring and retention, and provided business continuity during the pandemic.

Barrett Steel

Rachel McGowan

Senior Credit Controller