Here are some essential tips to consider before working with high-risk b2b customers. Set up a reasonable business relationship and mitigate perceived credit risk.

Here's the most practised tips that guides in obtaining or requesting financial statements from your customers.Implement each tip to get access to updated statements

Learn and Understand how to notify customers that your company is changing payment terms with the customer to cash-in-advance because of slow payments and a lack of integrity.

Go through the following conversation to understand why a bank can refuse to honor a photocopy of a letter of credit.

Use this tip to know the best time to write off an account to bad debts

Explore this and find the most important time management and organization skills that requires for a collector for effective debt collection

A comprehensive guide to deal with delinquent customers during collection calls. Also, achieve negotiated payment settlements and resolve payment issues with your customers.

Here is a list of four essential essential things to keep in mind before collateralizing credit risk. Protect your firm against payment delays, defaults, and bankruptcies.

Here's the checklist that highlights the items required for purchase order and purchase order best practices. This list helps you to check the valid elements before accepting a PO

Negotiation skills plays a vital role in collectors roles.Here are the top 6 collection negotiation techniques and skills required for effective debt collection for every collector

Find the complete warning signals of potential distressed debtors and the signs of debt problems specifically for sales reps and account managers.

Get expert insights on portfolio analysis in tough economic times and learn the.fundamental steps to understand your customer's financial ability and business sustainability.

Find these top goal setting ideas that can make your credit staff motivated during this COVID pandemic situations. Implement them for building effective credit team

Learn to craft the right probing questions during a collection call. Protect your company from the risk of bad debt by using five communication techniques to reach a negotiated settlement.

Know more about automatic write-off process in accounts receivables. Learn the process of setting a minimum threshold for automatic write-off.

Here are the important steps that guide in supporting your staff in a period of change. Understand the major change in environment and manage effectively with these steps

Follow the best practices for FCRA compliance if you are selling to consumers and companies where the creditworthiness is tied to the owner.

Here's the list of factors highlighting the ecommerce or online frauds. Read this to understand the financial risk in web based orders.

Learn the secrets behind asking management for additional staff. Make a compelling and crisp presentation with all necessary pointers for staff requirement.

Recruit the Right Credit Staff by testing their Analytical and Written Communication Skills. Find these Sample Tests in order to hire the right Employees for your department.

Get valuable advice on handling unsigned checks. Also, understand the provisions of UCP or uniform customs and practices before undertaking the use of letters of credit.

Explore the benefits of a business credit policy and understand how a company reviews the creditworthiness of its customers.

Read this checklist on consignment considerations and create your consignment agreement effectively. Dive in to these points & follow every consignment rule.

Follow these 9 effective steps and learn how to handle irate customers during a collections call and get a positive outcome from them.

Manage your Deduction and Dispute Resolution processes with these simple deduction checklist & dispute resolution checklist

Here's a complete list of ideas to improve credit department's efficiency. Also, limit bad-debt losses by periodically updating every active customer's credit file.

Understand the importance of DSO or days sales outstanding and how it affects the credit department. Also, learn how to analyze the factors that influence DSO receivables

Follow this case study highlighting the importance of soft skills for striking the right balance between knowledge and communication skills in the credit and collections industry.

Here's the complete list of items that can be checked during the customer onsite visit. Find this sample customer visit checklist for reference

To know what items to be checked before contacting your attorney, find this exclusive pre-litigation checklist pointing the major checking items to cover your bases

Here is a list of seven important traits and characteristics that you will need to become a true trade credit professional

Learn more about the importance empathy in trade credit. Work with customers facing an economic down-turn to create long-term relationship and to generate business opportunities.

Know more about essential remote work-KPIs for trade credit teams. Also, analyse credit and collection performance trends for working capital management.

Hard times and high unemployment can lead to business credit frauds. Learn more about nine red flags to protect your business from a credit fraud.

Find out the two possible approaches to defining optimum credit policy using our credit policy template. This checklist guides you to develop a full optimum credit policy easily.

Go through these characteristics of a credit manager by a veteran professional to become the ideal credit manager. These attributes will define a complete credit manager role

Read this case study on Credit Group confidentiality afreement to know how to handle the situation when your confidentiality is breached by an Email to sales

Understand the importance of being customer oriented and how it can help in collections. Treating overdue accounts as customers instead of debtors helps collectors connect and become the first one to get paid.

Here's the payment terms letter template for customers who declares that they will be paying you in "their" terms, which are longer and not consistent with, your selling terms

Here's the sample format or template for inter company guarantee. This is used when you want to your corporate wants to guarantee another corporations debts

Practical collection strategies techniques to improve cash flow. Use this checklist for developing collection strategies for your credit and collection department.

Refer to this credit scoring model example, to know the basic format of a credit scoring sheet of a credit department.Follow this for creating your credit scoring sheet easily

Use this credit department evaluation checklist templet to identify the problems in credit department as well as take measures to resolve them

This is a sample letter used for credit management after visiting a risky potential new customer. Download to learn how to determine credit worthiness of a customer.

Learn more about the credit policy matrix and its benefits. Prioritize credit and collections tasks and design a credit policy based on customer's risk and sales potential.

DSO is not the only way to measure collections, CEI (Collection Effectiveness Index) is a great measure for how well you are collecting your receivables. CEI is a percentage that expresses the effectiveness of collection efforts over time.

Here's the most useful and important tips from a experienced credit manager. Dive in to this and know the techniques for effective credit processing.

Explore and find this best collection techniques that helps in reaching your collection goals easily. These techniques will work effectively in any collection environment

Explore and find these top principles that can be considered while framing a credit policy for your company. These also helps in updating your credit policy better.

This implies an understanding on the party who should basically intended to sign a credit application. This is based on the case happened between dade international and sobell technology

Find the most insightful inputs on rising the inventory and how it benefits the track of inventory to sales ratio. It helps in guiding credit analysts on tracking the most important indicators

Find these top rated questions that rates your team improvement and effectiveness. By going in to each question you can analyse your team effectiveness

Find the most important parameters that can help you in preparing a credit mission statement correctly.

Here are the top rated responses that helps to diffuse or manage an angry customer. Follow these and know how to handle an angry customer

Here are the most important tips to know how to get the financials from a reluctant small owner.This also helps to understand why the owner is reluctant to provide financial information

Here are the top four elements that matters for risk management.Find these and learn more about the risk management elements

Here's a complete case study highlighting on the bankruptcy or blackmail in respective to the credit process

Here is the explanation on the concept of apparent authority with a case study highlighting the credit manager role if customer comes back on the basis of apparent authority

Here's the complete checklist on critical issues regarding automated remittance processing. Find each component that has to be checked in remittance processing

Know complete insights on promissory note and its important elements. Find the relevant information about the promissory note and its benefits on past due customer.

Here are the top 8 clauses to include in a contract with your collection agency. These are the clauses that has to be followed before onboarding a collection agency

Here's a complete explanation on incorrect checks on cash flow process. This is explained with right case study talking about the account receivable department responsibility and incorrect checks process

Here are the most important reasons that plays a major role in rejecting a customer purchase order.Find the each important reason for rejection

Know the right procedure that can be followed in your collection call. Find this basics that gives you complete proper collection call pattern to follow.

Find this resource for effective utilization of a collection score card to assess the performance. It will helpful for every collector in analyzing the success or collection performance

Here's the most useful information on reporting to your top management and this will help you to know if your top management has read your submitted reports

Here are Top 10 tips for new credit managers to excel themselves in their performances.This resource will act as a road map for every credit managers responsibilities

Here's a complete checklist highlighting the major components to consider while drafting an effective collection letter. Follow these components to avoid issues related to collection letter

This is Part Two of last week's Tip. Part One focused on preparation for interviewing an applicant or for someone in your department seeking a different department position or promotion.

As Credit Managers, you are likely to have department turnover over time. Finding good candidates can be a challenge, especially today. Once you have vetted resumes it is time for an interview. Interviews can be face to face, by phone, or over Zoom or a similar platform.

Here's the checklist that highlights the best practices for implementing CECL in your industry

In the past, we have published Tips and articles explaining the role of Credit Management in the Cash-to-Cash Cycle. This is a reminder along with five tips that may help you and your company.

One of the most unpleasant responsibilities of any manager is to terminate an employee who is not performing. Your company is likely to have a formal performance improvement program. Despite a manager's best efforts, an employee may not be capable or unwilling to perform at the expected level.

Here are the most important reasons that plays a major role in rejecting a customer purchase order.Find the each important reason for rejection

Here are the most important reasons that plays a major role in rejecting a customer purchase order.Find the each important reason for rejection

Here are the most important reasons that plays a major role in rejecting a customer purchase order.Find the each important reason for rejection

Paycheck Protection Program money had helped a small truck services company continue operating in the pandemic and retain their 43 employees. But business through 2020 and 2021 remained very slow, and management was now facing some difficult options. Then they were advised to look into the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC), and that's where they found business salvation.

Advances in technology will continue to impact the credit management profession. Combined with the emphasis the C-Suite has placed on the digital transformation of finance functions, expectations are for an even more automated future, supported by much deeper customer and process insights.

Did your customers load up on debt during the days of super-low interest rates? And, if they did, are they going to have trouble paying you time as rates rise? We asked an expert for his opinion. The gist: Probably minimal effects this year, but there could be problems in the three years after that.

You may have been hearing the term ESG and wondered what it means. As a credit manager, you should be aware of how recent global and domestic legislative initiatives bring ESG into the forefront as compliance and social issue. Many in the workforce today want to work for a company that supports environmental concerns, and social diversity, and demands good governance. ESG is likely to affect how companies attract new employees and manage turnover.

Financial statement analysis plays a major role for credit operations. Analyzing financial statements like balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statements requires few techniques & insights and helpful in all credit decisions.

What actions are needed if your company acquired another, or consolidates and merges another business unit's accounts receivable into your existing AR portfolio? How will this new workload be handled? What differences in business practices will you, as the Credit Manager, have to understand and deal with? There will be a number of uncertainties surrounding the collection effort required and risks associated with your new accounts.

As a Credit Manager, you need to be prepared to take the actions necessary if your company has acquired another or consolidates and merges another business unit's accounts receivable into your existing AR portfolio. How will this new workload be handled? What differences in business practices will you as the Credit Manager, have to understand and deal with? This is Part Two of “Tips” to help you plan this out for an effective transition.

Certified check and cashier's check mainly differ in who signs the check and who is obligated to pay. Read this article to find out which check is better.

Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Article 9 deals with multiple transactions except finance lease. Few key provisions of the article have been revised, here's the list of major changes to UCC article 9, effective July 2013

The answer can take two forms depending on whether the bank is state chartered or federally chartered. Many years ago, when most banks were state chartered, their funds were held at the branch level.

For most of the 20th century, a successful firm was defined by its ability to own, manage and directly control all of its assets and processes. In the 1950s and 1960s, to protect profits, companies began to look for ways to broaden their base and take advantage of economies of scale.

Creditors seeking to collect on a delinquent account often find themselves waiting six months or sometimes much more for entry of a judgment before they can collect. However, in most states, creditors can take advantage of the state's prejudgment remedies to elevate their status from an unsecured creditor to secured creditor in the interim while they seek their judgment.

Without these Ten Commandments, effective customer service would not survive, in fact there is a high risk the company would cease to exist.

Once you've determined that a prospective customer is creditworthy, how do you determine a reasonable initial credit limit based on the information you've gathered about the buyer? There are three credit limit calculations that can help you determine an amount that is both fair and appropriate.

When you negotiate a payment plan with an honest but troubled customer, a Promissory Note is your best friend. Read this article to understand best practices. As a bonus, download a free template at the end of the article.

Interviewing can be a challenge both for the interviewer and the candidate. The fact is that hiring managers may not be adept at how to interview effectively. They have not been formally trained and have been given little direction by their management. Not focusing on the right things, makes it difficult for applicants to demonstrate why they should be seriously considered for an opening. Even worse, the hiring manager may make a decision without a thorough understanding of how the applicant wil

We all agree that an essential element of employee success is adequate job skill training. Training is a broad subject with many facets. Unfortunately, in many cases, employees enter the credit and collections arena with no relevant background or formal training in the skills needed. They enter because there was an opening, or management transferred them into the area out of necessity. Often, it may be the case that employees are thrown into the pool and expected to swim or sink.

Even when secured party files a financing statement correctly, post-filing events can cause a financing statement to become ineffective and can result in loss of perfection. In particular, post-filing changes in the debtor's name can invalidate the financing statement with respect to certain collateral, read this article by NCS to learn more.

Know the concept of Sales Tax Nexus and how it will be applied in accordance with state laws and regulation in line with general sales tax.

In this article, Scott Wolfe examines legal remedies that you could use to recover unpaid debt on a state or county project. You'll also learn about the subtle differences between lien and bond claim remedies, in order to take advantage of your rights

Here's the list of Do's and Dont's for customer visits. Know the complete customer service responsibilities and opportunities in credit management.

This article discusses best ways to handle and deal with complainers in workplaces.These steps will help in dealing with difficult people and tough situations in the credit department.

In advertising and media services, a hotly contested issue that might arise is the use of sequential liability clauses in contracts. Learn about the roots of sequential liability and how to avoid it in this article.

When there are deductions against payment, customers are right more often than they are wrong. That said, erroneous deductions could have significant impact on profit margins especially for companies that operate on razor thin margins. This article examines how you can reduce the volume and impact of deductions.

Here are the top 10 do's and dont's in telephone collections. These will help you become more effective when you call for a customer who owes your company money

Know how cash flow statement is so critical for credit scoring and how cash flow analysis is added to your credit scoring model to reduce bad debts in different situations

Everyone's heard about someone else piercing the veil to create personal liability for business debts and getting paid. How true are these stories? Find out in this article by Dean Kaplan.

Although we are going to give you nine sure-fire ways to save money on legal expenses, it's critical that you first consider a couple of facts.

Leadership Starts with Effective Communication

As a Credit Manager, your primary responsibility is to evaluate the credit risk selling to new applicants and existing customers in your AR portfolio. The objective is to maximize profitable revenue opportunities with managed risk. To manage credit risk, you are likely to have risk mitigation measures in place, such as guarantees, UCC secured arrangements, and other forms of structured payments and liens.

Know the most essential elements of a credit application and its parameters through a free template. The article also takes you through each section in detail and the importance.

Know about your job and your ownership that raises your self esteem. Here's an article that guides you to know about ownership of your job

Here's the complete understanding on Purchase Money Security Interest (PMSI) and its protection in goods. Dive in to learn more about how creditors can stay PMSI compliant

Know all the reasons for counterfeit check scams and what to do if you are a victim of a cashier's check scam. Dive in to this article and read all the tips related to cashier's checks

This article talks about the authentication of emails at trail stage, how they are not easy as they look like. Here's the scenerio explained by Blakeley & Blakeley.

Here are the few proofs of claim that help in understanding bankruptcy cases. Dive in to this article and know the information regarding proofs of claim

Learn how to avoid discrimination suit under ECOA while denying credit to applicants who don't meet your credit standards. You'll also understand best practices on communicating this to applicants who are not getting what they want.

Know how a credit manager play a major role in a company's credit department. Find the importance, objectives and contributions of a credit manager in company's revenus and profit performance. Dive in to this article and know the information with examples

This week's Tip is a bit different than what we have tried before. How you use it is up to you.

Searching out prior payment behavior has long been the gist—and the weakness—of credit-risk assessment. Rarely, if ever, have the weaknesses been more apparent. Rampant inflation, chaotic supply chains, and harrowing international trade and military relations have disrupted normal business practices and expectations with little or no improvement in sight. Now's the time to search out your customers' trade and financial relations more closely than ever before. It could be a time to urge, recommen

This is the time when effective leadership is needed the most

Though used extensively in consumer credit and collections, as well as by the financial services community, credit scoring has been slow to catch on in the trade credit environment. However, driven by demands for both greater productivity and greater risk monitoring, credit scoring is now showing signs of gaining momentum.

Know everything about proof of claim in the bankruptcy process. Here's the article that takes you through proof of claims forms (form 10) and proof of claims requirements for chapter 7,11 and 13 bankruptcy.

Accounts Receivable is your company's working capital lifeblood. During economic downturns, credit management becomes an even more essential function. It is likely to be a top priority for senior management. This is the time for credit managers to broadcast your value and exercise your professional skills.

The Miller Act is the federal payment bond statute that requires general contractors to furnish payment bonds, on projects over a certain threshold, contracted by the United States. Know everything about Miller act, its importance and a brief history.

Here's how you could build your own credit limit matrix to save time, reduce costs, and contribute to more consistent credit decisions.

This article covers eight best practices for customer visits right from setting the date and time to negotiations.

Only a very few companies-those possessing some kind of tremendous leverage can get financial statements all the time. In this article, Cindy Moorhead shares 6 tips for obtaining financials from your customers.

The following is an overview of how the online credit application process works, the key benefits and considerations for those planning to automate the credit application process.

Here are the most important tips to negotiate with delinquent customers and run the collection process effectively. Dive in to this article and know the top tips to get your customers to pay faster.

Know everything about preference actions during bankruptcy and also learn about ways to protect yourself from preference exposure.

Learn why the countback method or the exhaust method is the best way to calculate DSO.

Know everything about credit and collection policy,its processes, its benefits and credit department roles and responsibilities in formulating and maintaining the credit policies.

Know the roles and responsibilities of a business owner in regards to the company debts. Here's an article on how a business owner is personally responsible for the company debts.

Know the real facts of gap in pay between men and women as per different parameters like education levels, demographics etc..

In this benchmarking survey, understand the value and ROI from of credit groups for the credit department.

Here's an article on how to write a good RFP for debt collection agencies and the differences between RFI vs RFP and its processes.

Here's a checklist of eight items that can help you reduce the most common customer excuse of "I haven't received the invoice".

Sometimes it's difficult to determine when it is no longer profitable to continue in-house collection efforts on past due accounts and when to turn them over to a third-party agency. This in-depth article will help you make the most informed decision.

The recent volatility in our economy has been rough on small and medium-sized companies. It has made it even more complicated to evaluate their creditworthiness and set reasonable credit lines. In addition to current issues, you should consider the foundational elements the business is built on. When reviewing the creditworthiness of an SME, particularly a startup business, consider the thoroughness and credibility of their business plan.

The global pandemic has had a catastrophic effect on businesses large and small. Small businesses (SMEs) are the most vulnerable to revenue disruptions. They are likely to have minimal access to the cash reserves and to borrowing necessary as revenue drops to sustain the working capital needed to operate. Credit terms offered by suppliers may be a primary source of liquidity until the business climate turns around.

Successful time management has to do more with what we are not doing rather than what we are doing. Sometimes it is our mistakes and what we leave out that causes us to fail at achieving the maximum use of our time.

Charles M. Boring, CCE, who is credit manager for Anchorage (Alaska) Cold Storage Co., is also a time management expert. He conducted time management seminars in the Anchorage area, and he diligently employs time management strategies in his department. What are the most important of these strategies? He cites three:

When you negotiate a payment plan with an honest but troubled customer, a Promissory Note is your best friend. Read this article to understand best practices. As a bonus, download a free template at the end of the article.

The traditional method of checking credit has always been to have a prospect fill out a credit application and submit its latest financial report. A credit analyst then typically orders a credit report, requests trade and bank references and analyzes the firm's financial statements before reaching a credit decision.

In this era of outsourcing credit & collections and downsizing credit departments or merging credit departments with Customer Service, how to create and build a credit and collections department?

The best way to avoid bad-debt by a defunct company is to escalate the collection process sooner and get to your customers before they go bankrupt, Read full article to understand how to work with defunct company

The reason why most companies and departments struggle with strategic planning is because they don't go through the planning process, don't come up with strong goals. Read full article to know more!!

Many employees work in organizations where demotivating factors are present. To find such factors and help yourself, here is an article that highlighted the motivation issues in the workplace

Retainage practices have been built to both promote its use (in government contracts) and prevent its abuse (in private projects). Explore this article to learn about the key features of retainage laws and how to use them.

There is a lot of information available about how a Credit Manager can best manage credit department staff. Another critical topic is how to manage up. The interaction and support you offer your manager when to ask for help, or helping set your manager's expectations of you and your department, can be as important as managing down. That is where the following “Six W's” of managing up, come in.

Credit Management is more than credit risk assessment and collections. In order to provide the maximum value to your company, it requires a view and involvement beyond the walls of the Credit Department. As a Credit Manager by understanding the efficiency of your company's cash conversion cycle, you can impact improvement actions. Proper management of the cash conversion cycle is a critical element of total working capital management. This is what drives your company's liquidity.

When a prospective customer has no business or personal assets, collateralizing your risks is obviously not an option. But you still may make the sale by retaining ownership after delivery. That's what this company does.

Any Credit Manager subjected to an Escheatment Audit knows the risk of ignoring aged unresolved credit balances. There is also an upside potential with opportunities to capitalize on balances carried by a State, waiting for a refund claim by the rightful owner. A periodic review could deliver untapped opportunities for your company to collect “free money.”

Time was when the only problems collecting from financially strong customers were nuisance claims, disputes, and the terms some of them would muscle into your transactions. Now, with outsourcing of payables, you're apt to find your customer has no idea of what's going on or is interested in dealing with discrepancies.

Right now, the economy is a mixed bag. As the following chart indicates, the service sector is still expanding, while manufacturing has begun contracting. Moving to the next section of the chart, most of the economic growth is being provided by the consumer services sector, while Financial Services, Technology, Healthcare, and Consumer Goods have turned anemic.

Anybody who has reached a supervisory level is familiar with goal setting. We are given goals by our managers and then set goals for our departments and our employees. This hierarchy of goals provides us with individual and departmental targets intended to achieve the corporate goals, which are promulgated from on high. When we achieve our goals, we sometimes even get bonuses, which are always very welcome.

Recent polls show that 58 percent of workers now have remote options and 87 percent prefer them. With figures like that, it's unlikely that the all-hands-on-deck attendance of so many years past will return anytime soon. And, while ever-improving electronics are supposed to be overcoming communications problems, the fact is that remote workers can be much harder to reach and work with. That's slowing down collections.

Every manager practices a management style. It can be learned on the job, based on formal training, or perhaps performed in a hap-hazard undisciplined, poorly thought-out manner.

In comes a big order from a regular customer that Sales has been chasing for months. But this customer took a terrible beating in 2020 and is still fighting its way back. And now they're looking for extended terms. What to do? We asked Chris Kuehl, Managing Director of Armada Corporate Intelligence and widely acknowledged as the dean of trade credit economics.

After two years of battling the Covid economy, inflation pressure and the prospect of a recession have put many small businesses up against the ropes. According to a June 2022 study by Digital.com, nearly two out of three small businesses say that continued inflation could force them to close shop. The study surveyed 1,000 owners or co-owners of businesses with fewer than 500 employees.

Credit and the Sales team work together well in many companies. Unfortunately, this may not always be the case. It may be that neither credit nor sales fully understand the objectives and priorities of the other. This results in misunderstandings, or even a contentious relationship.

If it wasn't for risk, companies would not need credit managers. This is truer than ever given that the types of risk, about which corporate executives and investors are concerned, are expanding.

One of our favorite writers on HR and hiring-related issues is Mel Kleiman, president of Humetrics. Not long ago, he penned the following piece on the biggest mistake made by interviewers. This is one of the most important tasks of a manager and we always appreciate his take. We can't do better than quote him here:

Say NO to Paper contracts and Handwritten signatures with Legally Enforceable Electronic Signatures. Read the full article to learn how to construct a legally enforceable electronic contract

Lack of training, direction and/or up-to-date systems can lead to credit staff working for long time without achieving full potential. Know what steps you must avoid for managing credit department stress.

As an O2C professional are you aware of what is the significance of Leading Indicators? And what is the right way to report accurate leading trendlines? Read this full article to explore the most effective steps to track this.

Are you part of a manufacturing or purchasing industry and unaware what exactly is a proforma invoice? Read full article to know the understand the term proforma invoice and how to creating one.

The next one might be your credit department. How do you establish protocols to abide by the state's escheatment legislation and minimize your liability? Do you abide to any set guidelines and procedures? Consider these 3 questions to streamline your escheatment process using this article as a guide.

This year, it's expected that bankruptcy filings and defaults would rise by 10%. You can find it difficult to manage the variety of your customers. Discover the many methods for dealing your irate customers by reading this article.

Do you know that over the years, proof of claim has undergone a number of revisions? For creditors to properly react to claim requests, they must be notified of any such developments. To become familiar with all the changes to bankruptcy claims, thoroughly read this material.

Employees who feel treated with respect by their managers are 63 % more fulfilled at work, according to HBR. How can you motivate your employees to give their best work? Browse through  this information carefully to discover how to create the best environment for your workers.

How do you determine your company's profitability as an A/R manager? Does cash flow serve as a metric for you? However, a healthy cash flow should be the primary concern. Utilize this article to develop a strategy for tracking your cash flow and considering ways to increase it by reducing the DSO.

As a credit analyst, are you adhering to good accounting practices and directing your money to the right initiatives? Unneeded expenses could eventually drive you out of business. To find out what Buffett considers to be real expenses and how to implement some of the greatest accounting principles, thoroughly read this content.

How do you evaluate your customers as a debt collector? Do you use any magic wands? Prior to collecting, it's critical to have a solid understanding of your clients. Use this article to your advantage to discover how to recognise your consumers in these three ways.

When morale is high and people are motivated, performance is typically enhanced. This survey takes a quick look at performance, morale, and bonuses within the context of credit organizations.

A detailed grasp of a company's cash flow data is necessary to assess its financial health. Examining the cash flow statements attentively can usually simplify the decision-making process. Read this article to learn how to analyse this cash flow statement.

Do you realise how much time and labour can be saved by accurately and promptly posting cash? With the help of this remittance critical issue checklist, you can identify the gaps in your remittance processing system and  boost the number of postings that are cleared on the first pass.

Employee productivity has the potential to boost revenues by 21%. There are unproductive, challenging coworkers in every office, but does it really effect how well you can accomplish your job? Learn from this article about the different strategies you can use to deal with unproductive coworkers.

After one negative customer service experience, 60% of customers discontinue doing business with a brand. It is crucial to think carefully about how you interact with your customers and what you say to them. With the information in this article, you will learn four things you shouldn't say to customers as well as how to meet their demands.

Does your credit team group tasks based on their urgency and importance? By allocating the right amount of time and reducing unnecessary stress, they may be able to improve overall productivity and focus on crucial functions. Read this article to discover how to properly prioritise your tasks.

Does your credit team use a statistical scoring model to determine the risk profile of each customer? Using this approach, Edward Don & Company was able to anticipate their customer's credit score with accuracy and reduce DSO by 6 days. Learn more about the statistical scoring approach and how it may help you improve your overall credit and collections performance by reading this article.

As a creditor, are you able to collate best of both credit groups and credit reporting data? Read this article to learn how to make credit risk assessment using Credit2B services.

Is your company yet to centralize and optimize your collections management process? Read this article to learn how to address challenges and issues involved in centralizing collections.

Are your customers disregarding your credit team's evaluation process and asking to extend the terms? Read this article to learn how to keep customers within terms in the face of a customer's TPS.

Creditors, are you aware of what steps to take when your customer files for bankruptcy? This great checklist will educate you about the steps you need to follow on customer bankruptcy fillings.

As a trade creditor are you ready for the upcoming Bankruptcies filed under Chapter 9? Read this full article to learn how to reevaluate the amount of your credit lines to municipalities & public agencies.

The vulnerability of customers, applicants, and suppliers to cyberattacks should be a major concern of credit executives. Analyst firm Gartner, in their report on Innovation Insight for Security Rating Services (July 2018) predicted, “By 2022, security ratings will become as important as credit ratings when assessing the risk of business relationships.” While this prediction has not been fully realized, things continue to move in that direction. Cyber-risks are a core vulnerability that your cou

At work, have you come across someone whose attitude and negativity simply “takes the air out of the room"? This article illustrates steps to turn all this negative energy into something constructive.

Right now - TODAY, in fact, as new events unfold rapidly in front of us - we're entering a period in which credit will surely be earning its keep! We say this because -- just like that, in the blink of an eye, we've suddenly got risk, and lots of it. When looking in the rear-view mirror, maybe just a week or two ago, we had seemingly been without it for quite some time (though of course that's not true; people -- even very smart people simply weren't seeing it.)

Are you aware that automating your credit and collections can boost your company's efficiency by up to 83 percent? Learn more about the various automation tools in this blog to improve your company's overall O2C processs.

With the help of this article, discover how to utilize the analytical technique to optimize the A/R decisions made by your credit department.

Do you know that a favorable current ratio can improve your cash flow and provide you with a decent margin of safety? What is a good current ratio, though? With the help of this article, you can learn how to benchmark a good current ratio and maintain a watchful eye on the financial health of your business.

DSO will significantly decrease by 39%, claims Billentis, if the billing and invoicing process is more automated. Leverage  this article to understand how to convert your paper-based manual invoicing process to an electronic one.

After receiving terrible customer service, 33% of consumers would consider switching companies right away" The customer base has decreased significantly as a result. Learn how to overcome the many barriers to customer service and optimize the overall growth of your business by going through this article.

Do you know that you can reduce the stress to lower the credit risk and make all sales profitable at the same time? Discover how to foster trust with your sales team with the help of these useful advice.

According to a recent CFO magazine survey, the auditors challenge the reserve balance two-thirds of the time. Are the techniques used by your credit team to estimate bad debt reserves appropriate? Discover the best GAAP benchmarking procedures for determining bad-debt reserves by reading this article.

Do you realise that occasionally, aggressive dialogue might lead to misunderstandings? Effective communication is a talent that should be practiced by everyone. Learn how to communicate tactfully and diplomatically in this article.

Everyone believes they have excellent communication skills. But did you realise that we engage in daily behaviour that undermines our communication with others? Learn about the three daily tasks that restrict communication by reading this article.

Creditors, did you know that many jurisdictions do not have a statute of limitations on Escheat claims? Read thsi article to find out what is Escheatment and how to prevent this type of exposure.

Are Chargebacks a major problem for your company too? Kelly Ceransky, Director of Accounts Receivable and Credit in this article has talked about 3 ways to overcome chargebacks.

Creditors, how successfully are you minimizing the credit risks for your company? This article highlights effective steps to use of Credit Reporting Services. Read More!

There is a lot of discussion in the press about burnout, especially as it relates to the workplace and remote work. Much of the cause of this seemingly national outbreak of burnout is attributed to the ongoing effects of the COVID pandemic.

Despite the pandemic and the economic turmoil it caused, bankruptcy filings have been declining over the last 4 quarters and marked a 15-year low in February 2021 not seen since before the Great Recession. Meanwhile, unemployment shot up to over 14% by May 2020 and has since declined to 6.2%.

At Berlin Packaging, cross-departmental collaboration is not just a "nice-to-have," but a crucial part of the strategy to winning our customers' trust and business. And Credit plays a key role in these meetings.

Managing risk single handedly in today's uncertain business climate is virtually impossible, notes Juan Colina of REL Consultancy Group. So what do you do? He suggests initiating the formation of a cross-functional "SWAT Team" that has a shared understanding of your company's strategic objectives and responsibility for achieving them. The SWAT team should be led by the CFO, Treasurer or Controller to indicate the importance of the team.

Even in today's automated environment, collection calls are an essential part of the Credit Department's role. This can be an unpleasant and daunting task for a collector, and for you as a Credit Manager when collection issues are escalated.

As a credit analyst, how are you dealing with credit application processing challenges? Read article to find out remedies to deal with incomplete applications and missing signatures.

As a O2C professional, do you know if your OCA(outside collection agency) is doing a good job? This article offers valuable tips on determining how well the OCA is meeting your needs.

In your B2B industry, how do you determine the success of any strategy? This article talks about how a planned outsourcing relationship can help in achieving the best result.

Did you know Credit scoring has historically been unavailable in Brazil? Read the full artcle to find out about some aspects of the Positive Credit Registry in Brazil.

In the construction industry, are you struggling to balance between Collecting Money and Keeping Your Customers Happy? This article Illustrates 11 ways to one be that person that everyone wants to talk to.

Credit Analysts, Have you haerd of DuPont Analysis? This article explains what is DuPont Analysis and how it determines the strengths and weaknesses of a company.

Since the onset of the pandemic, bankruptcy filings have been suppressed, in large part by the COVID Relief funds distributed by governments around the world. Now, according to a September 1, 2022, press release from Epiq Bankruptcy, US bankruptcy filings across all chapters registered month-over-month increased in August.

The vulnerability of customers, applicants, and suppliers to cyberattacks should be a major concern of credit executives. Analyst firm Gartner, in their report on Innovation Insight for Security Rating Services (July 2018) predicted, “By 2022, security ratings will become as important as credit ratings when assessing the risk of business relationships.” Cyber-risks are a core vulnerability that your counterparts in Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) and Supply Chain Management are already tracki

The biggest challenge in B2B payments for the receiving company is capturing the remittance details. This had been a growing problem with the increasing use of ACH and credit cards for commercial payments, especially in situations where multiple invoices are being paid or payment deductions are being taken.

In April 2021, we published a Tip covering Current Expected Credit Losses (CECL) requirements. Although implementation was delayed during the pandemic, CECL is now set to come into effect beginning January 2023. Financial Statements for periods after that date should reflect the CECL methodology for calculating AR losses. If your company has already adapted to the new requirements, the following may be validating. If you have not yet started, it will hopefully be informative and help you with an

CECL stands for Calculated Expected Credit Loss. It requires a new methodology to be used, dictated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), for estimating future credit losses. Though primarily focused on lenders, CECL applies to all entities that extend credit. CECL was to go into effect for all SEC filers beginning on January 1, 2020, but due to COVID, entities that had not yet implemented it were given a two-year grace period that ends this year.

Interestingly enough," one of our subscribers shared a while back, "reading the bankruptcy filing paperwork can change your mind about how you want to sell to the company. We had a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing a few years ago that I will never forget.

Bankruptcies serve a necessary function in the free enterprise system, providing a legal means to, as equitably as possible, either reorganize or redistribute the assets of failed enterprises.

With liquidity being the primary driver of your customers' ability to pay you in a timely manner, what should analysts be looking for? What are the keys to this? The answer lies in Working Capital and this article gives a practical tutorial on what to look for.

"As a multinational company with 2,000 clients and growing at about 80% a year, we've always regarded cash flow as our number-one concern," explains Frederick Roberts, CFO for Allen Systems Group, a Naples, Florida, systems software marketer. "We need every dollar possible in order to sustain our growth. By not being on top of our receivables, though, we were always running out of cash."

With inflation here and a possible recession just on the horizon, many of your current and potential business customers are now dealing with rising operational costs. As their corporate credit manager, you can evaluate whether they would be able to stay on top of credit payments and/or if they need a credit limit increase in a possible recession by conducting a CVP (Cost-Volume-Profit) analysis of financial stress tests.

The ability to quantify risk across your entire accounts receivable portfolio is critical to your ability to assume a pro-active rather than a reactive credit management strategy. The greater your understanding of the risk associated with your AR, the more strategically you can allocate resources and set priorities. As the risk parameters then shift, so can your tactics within the strategic framework you have established.

At some point every company should reflect on their customer portfolio and ask, are we selling to the right customers? What is the actual profit by the customer when deduction-related overhead costs, extended terms demands, and risks are considered in the net profit calculation?

Trade credit is major source of capital for businesses buying from other businesses in United States. During the recent recession banks have tightened borrowing requirements significantly. This has increased reliance by both the seller and the buyer on trade credit terms for the working capital needed to operate their businesses successfully. A company's ability to extend reasonable credit terms to its' customers and collect what is owed promptly has had an increasing impact on revenue and profi

Think of the ‘low trust to high trust' as a process for evaluation and management. Find the best possible approach based on the most appropriate style for every situation and individual at hand.

Due to the high inflation, we are experiencing coupled with the risk of a recession and rising defaults, we thought it was a good time to gauge the business credit community's expectations going into the 4th quarter of 2022. In total, 19 credit executives shared with us their companies' outlook for Q4, the direction of their DSO, and what they are doing, if anything, to bring their credit and collection policies in line with expectations.

Find the best possible approach as to how you can secure your A/R with Credit Management Best Practices in such a chaotic economy.

Find the best possible approach as to how you can set your leadership goals.

Find the best possible approach as to how you can use the credit department's abundance of financial knowledge and information.

Read this blog to find out whether Business Credit Managers should consider Secondary Risks.

Find out how you can overcome your fear while giving presentations and speeches.

Find out the best approach to maintain your company's financial stability.

Find out the best approach on how to plan your 2023 efficiently and effectively.

What is your strategy to present a win-win negotiation during a collection call? This article outlines 10 tips on how to listen effectively and improve your debt collection skills during a critical negotiation.

Know the six ways on how to manage yourself up.

Know how credit contributes to your overall long-term business plan

Know how to plan your improvement in order to get better performance.

Know how to plan your Credit Mission Statement..

As we approach the end of 2022, planning is well underway for 2023 at most organizations. To find out what credit departments are focused on and the challenges that will be dominating their agendas next year

Learn how to build the brand for your credit department for the upcoming year.

Expert panelists discuss defensive strategies on how you could turn recession into a successful sales opportunity.

This article is intended for Credit Managers who need to recover overdue funds and want to know which Collections Agency is the best for them to improve your DSO by up to 60% by recovering delinquent accounts on time.

It may be more likely that new applicants will want to know a position's salary even before applying. Going away are the days when a prospective employer will ask an applicant for the salary in their current or last position as a prerequisite for an offer.

Following is a checklist of the potential advantages you can expect from a customer onsite visit. Not all may apply to you specifically, but you are likely to find many of the following points useful.

Expert panelists discuss how you could align your policy changes with the increasing recession fear and manage credit risk exposure.

Industry veterans discuss how you could upskill yourself with job-criticals skills and recession-proof your career.

What are the things you should prepare for before jumping on a collections call and how to decide your collection goals, trade-offs, and alternative strategies while anticipating your customers' behavior? Read this full article to unlock secrets to prevent collection problems in 6 easy steps!

Read this Explainer Article to Get Insights about Walmart's Settlement Process.

Read this article to Understand how to Deal with the Nationwide and Industry Wide Issue: The Great resignation.

Read this article to get insights about vendor compliance and A/R Job Responsibilities.

Read this Article to Get Insights about Credit Review Process for Customers in Mexico.

Follow these Tried and Tested Tips on How to Build a More Productive Credit and Collection Team Structure.

Get insights from this system improvement plans survey on how to improve your processes and plan for improved performance next year.

Get insights about industry standard practices with regards to setting credit limits.

Get insights from this survey on work-life balance and credit professionals vacation habits.

According to a survey, 68% of all businesses will file claims as soon as they are between 51 and 142 days past due. Learn how diligent you should be with your credit and collection efforts through this survey to prevent any bad debt in the long term.

How do you, as an A/R professional, handle the challenges of allocating the proper people to the relevant department, improving the procedures, and other such things? Discover the importance of benchmarking, how it is performed, and how it affects the A/R industry by reading this article.

Read this 6 tips by our expert on how you can manage your team strategically during difficult times.

To be competitive, businesses have to manage all customer facing processes in a way that delivers an excellent customer experience. Read this blog by our expert David Schmidt on how you can meet your customer experience by Digital Transformation.

1 in 5 who’ve previously lied are currently applying for jobs using a deceitful resume. This survey conducted by resume builder has changed the perspective of interviews for many interviewer.

Read this blog to know how you can manage a business and staffs in a hybrid mode

know the 10 tips on how sales people can sell your decisions

Total bankruptcy filings have increased rapidly in the past one year.

Modern collection teams need to develop a strategy that helps them ensure the promise-to-pays are honored by analyzing customer payment behavior proactively to optimize working capital. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven Proactive Collections is a prerequisite for preemptive dunning, empowering your collections team with capabilities such as:

Modern collection teams need to develop a strategy that helps them ensure the promise-to-pays are honored by analyzing customer payment behavior proactively to optimize working capital. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven Proactive Collections is a prerequisite for preemptive dunning, empowering your collections team with capabilities such as:

Disruptive events from last years has highlighted the importance of moving towards a digital-first strategy. Read this blog to understand the importance of increased digitization in your finance functions.

Read this blog to explore how automation could help your finance teams meet their goals, deliver results, and recover working capital in this disruptive economic environment.

Read this blog to understand how to make sure that your automation initiatives drives sucess for your credit department.

Read this blog to understand how business credit proffesionals can benefit from fintech in today's era of digital transformation.

Read this blog to understand if automating your O2C processes can be beneficial for your business

Read this blog to understand why is it necessary now more than ever to move away from legacy and manual based processes and start your journey towards digital transformation.

Read this blog to understand why every manager hopes to work with individual contributors who are highly competent and motivated.

Read this blog to understand why every manager hopes to work with individual contributors who are highly competent and motivated.

We conducted this survey to cover a gap in our forthcoming Staff Benchmarking Survey. Most of all, we wanted to find out how many accounts were handled by the typical collector. From this survey, we can see there is significant variation depending on the sales volume of each company, with smaller firms handling many more accounts per person than larger firms, but there was also a lot of overall variance within each segment.

Finding the right people to staff your Credit Department is not an easy task. One thing every Credit Manager knows is each day is filled with challenges and pressure to meet objectives. A Credit Analyst, Collector, Deductions Analyst, or Cash Applier must have specific skills to accomplish what is assigned to them. With that said, there are common and essential characteristics any Credit Department staff member must have to be successful.

There are many things to consider when you evaluate the creditworthiness of a customer. It is important to take a realistic look and go beyond the financial statement, and bureau reports. You have to also evaluate the company's management factor. The “management factor” relates to how prepared the management team is to run the company. This is a major factor in a company's ongoing success when facing competitive forces, cost concerns, supply chain dynamics, and working capital issues.

Many credit managers err by trying to treat all customers and transactions the same. While running all transactions through the same administrative process may appear to be a simple, straightforward solution, it is in fact a serious blunder in terms of efficiency, risk mitigation, and cost.