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Our Subscribers Say...
"Being a part of the Credit Today online community is like having the expertise of hundreds of credit managers at your fingertips. These credit execs are willing to help you solve topical business issues as they arise. In the current environment of ever increasing competing priorities which reduce our opportunities to meet peers out of the office face-to-face, this is the most valuable tool you can have on your desktop! It's important that we have a mechanism to reach out to our counterparts quickly to exchange knowledge as well as to stay on top of industry trends."
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The Credit Today ListServ has become the pre-imminent online forum, providing an opportunity for discussion and comments (and occasional humor) from an impressive list of credit professionals."
David Dungan, Director of Credit
Justin Brands, Inc. (A Berkshire Hathaway company)
Fort Worth, Texas
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Ron Woods
Corporate Credit Manager-World Wide
Thales Navigation, Inc.
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Corporate Credit Mgr
Fulton Paper Company
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Doug M. Thomas
Kimberly-Clark Customer Financial Services
"As a corporate credit manager with over two decades of experience, I consider Credit Today to be one of the best credit newsletters. Whether it is because of Credit Today's management, its distinguished panel of advisors, or the caliber of Credit Today's subscribers, it would be fair to say that some of the best and brightest minds in our profession are represented. The credit issues, technologies, news, credit department profiles, etc. are interesting and useful. Credit Today is a valuable reference and communications tool which I look forward to reading each month."
Paul Brunner
Corporate Credit Manager
Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. |
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Credit Management Issues Today
Here, you'll find the critical issues that impact credit management: reducing DSO, handling mergers and acquisitions, analyzing cash burn rates, the importance of working capital, how to use credit applications, sales vs credit, and more. Also, check out our exclusive Credit Department Profiles, where you can learn how some of the world's leading credit departments get things done. To name but a few - MGM, Georgia-Pacific, Welch's, Serta Matress, Hachette Filipacci Magazines, Shell Canada, VF Jeanswear, Phillips-Van Heusen, and Franklin Quest.
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Managing Your Time
Time is your scarcest resource. Don't schedule your time--budget it. Here are a few tips on successful time management: Use the "4-F" method for handling paperwork: File it. Find someone to delegate it to. Forget it (trash it). Finish it. Remember: Your goal must be to handle documents . . .
keep reading
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Getting Credit Analysts to Work on Their Own
How much responsibility do you give credit analysts? Do you encourage them to find new ways to handle the same old issues? Do you urge them to contact other departments without talking to you first? And, do you encourage managers to approach analysts directly without coming to you? If not, you're pr . . .
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The Risks of Accepting Credit Cards for Commercial Transactions
Credit professionals are always looking for ways to reduce credit risk. When the perceived credit risk of open account terms is particularly high, we look for alternatives, including payment in advance. Instead, buyers might ask to pay for their orders using a credit card, meaning that--in theory--t . . .
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Cash Discounts Are No Panacea
My company experienced a significant increase in days sales outstanding (DSO) during the first six months of last year. In addition, some of our more marginal credit risk customers were requesting larger credit limits, and it was becoming progressively more difficult to approve these larger credit . . .
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Evaluating Credit Department Supervisors
The fundamental assumptions about supervisors in the credit department are these: The best supervisors help motivate their subordinates through their strength of character, their maturity, their technical knowledge, and by the example that they set. Good supervisors are concerned about develo . . .
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Credit Management 101
What are the fundamentals of superior credit management? A veteran credit woman of our acquaintance lists these: Consistency. "Timely and accurate billing is the most obvious method," she says. "Consistent collection techniques can be documented. Make a schedule of monthly statements and phone c . . .
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Cyber Credit
Skillful delegation has always been a key management tactic. Today the best delegatee is as often a computer as a subordinate. Are you and your professional staff delegating as much as you should to (and taking maximum advantage of) your organization's computer capabilities? Cindy Vescio knew so . . .
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The Seven Deadly Sins of Credit Management
The road to success in credit is riddled with dead ends and wrong turns. Make sure you eliminate these common "sins." Regardless of how long you have been in the credit management field, it's easy to fall into bad habits and become inefficient and ineffective. Here are the seven deadly sins you . . .
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Credit Inside a Merger
The credit management challenges associated with mergers, acquisitions, and buyouts among customers get most of the attention today. But the issues Credit faces when its own company merges with another can be equally as challenging. These were faced by Credit Manager Kenneth Covington, CCE, of Pelik . . .
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Following Up Internally
"It's our philosophy that if a customer owes us money, it's the credit department's responsibility to clear it up," says Credit Manager Sam LaMargo of Praxair/Gastech (Hillside, Illinois). "If we're not following up with the customer, we better be following up with somebody internally." The departme . . .
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Credit Challenges of Mergers, Acquisitions, and Buyouts
Suddenly a small customer company becomes part of a large corporation, and the corporation uses its considerable clout to pressure you for extended terms and lower prices. Or maybe the corporation has become highly leveraged during its buying spree and requires more scrutiny and monitoring than the . . .
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Establishing Credit Department Authority Over Terms
During a recent three-month period, our company's Days Sales Outstanding increased by eleven days. The controller called me for an explanation for the almost 20% increase. I spent about one hour gathering information and found that most of it was directly attributable to our sales department. Spe . . .
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Credit & Collection Training
When it comes to credit and collection training, it's common for departments to provide informal (spend-some-time-with-this-veteran-employee) training and supplement this with some outside training (e.g., conferences, classes, seminars). While these are important elements of credit and collection tr . . .
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Cash App Staffing: How Do You Stack Up?
How many people does it take to get the cash applied at your firm? Are you efficient? How would you know if you're efficient? As we discussed in last week's letter, ("The Incredible Shrinking Credit Departments") it's more important than ever to keep staffing sizes in line - as lean as possible but still able to do the job properly. . . .
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Building Bridges with Sales
Imagine yourself in this situation. You've taken the post of credit manager with a company sorely in need of Credit/Sales cooperation. But your sales force is made up entirely of independent commissioned agents. What to do? "I started out by trying to help them understand the role that Credit pl . . .
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Too Many Credit Reference Inquiries? Ask for Them in Writing
Experienced credit professionals recognize the value of credit references. Most of us hope that when we call another company for a reference or rating they will respond immediately and over the phone to our inquiry. But a reputation for making over-the-phone responses can create its own problem. . . .
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The Credit Professional as Internal Consultant
When you need consulting services, you generally go outside the organization. The result? "In most cases, you end up paying dearly for a three-ring binder," observes Jerry F. Dean, CCE, manager of Corporate Credit Services for BP Amoco Corporation (Tulsa, OK). "It seems as though businesses feel the . . .
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Improving Cash Flow in a Depressed Market
"We don't have receivables risk with the customer because they haven't picked up the product yet." That might sound like an ideal situation to most of us, but in this credit professional's industry it can be a major problem. We look at some specialized solutions to some very special credit and colle . . .
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Focusing on the Basics
Dan Middleton, CCE, general credit manager for Mercer Transportation Co., Inc. (Louisville, Ky.), has been in the credit profession for 30 years, beginning his career in the late l960s as a credit analyst with Dun & Bradstreet. So it seems a bit odd to see prominent display on his office wall that m . . .
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This month's topic: Processing of Credit Applications
Click here to participate!
We're examining:
- What information is being captured on credit applications
- What additional information is being requested during the credit app process (such as personal guarantees, financial statements, resale certificates, etc.)
- What the primary challenges are relative to the processing of credit apps
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March 2010
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