 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Our Subscribers Say...
I think Credit Today is fantastic. You cover many practical topics in the credit field that I use regularly. Just one recent example—a conversation on the ListServ about preferential payments—gave me tips that I used in an actual case. The specific information I picked up from this one discussion saved me $10,000, enough to cover my membership for many years!
- Steve Savino
Manager of Credit & Collections, ASSA Abloy Americas Division, New Haven, CT
Credit Today's Resource Directory and their online e-mail forum (ListServ) provide information on almost any credit-related topic you can think of. It is a great way to exchange information with other credit professionals. As the saying goes, "You don't know what you don't know."
- Scott Goen,
Credit Manager, Big Lots Stores, Inc., Wholesale Division
"We've recently started using the ListServ tool within Credit Today. This is phenomenal and powerful forum for gaining immediate feedback, ideas, and suggestions, relative to any credit topic under the sun, all in a real-time e-mail format."
-Javier Vela, Senior Credit Manager, Global Credit Services, JDA Software Group Inc.
"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."
- Victoria Artis, Director of Customer Financial Services, Pfizer, Inc.
"Over the last 10 years I've seen Credit Today evolve from a monthly credit publication into a quality source of information and guidance for the B2B credit community. The website, with its user friendly form downloads, will take you from examples of new account credit applications to bankruptcy forms and everything in between.
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
"There are numerous credit periodicals available to the credit professional today. How good is Credit Today? Is it relevant? I always have to read it late, or online because my credit analysts want to read it the minute it comes in. When my staff wants to read a publication before I have a chance to read it then something is working in that publication. We have cancelled our other subscriptions. When you have the best you do not need the rest."
Ron Woods
Corporate Credit Manager-World Wide
Thales Navigation, Inc.
"The newsletter, coupled with the website and the ListServ, are to us, more valuable than any other credit publication, bar none. I try to use at least one article out of each newsletter for departmental training/discussion sessions."
D. Mark Constantine
Corporate Credit Mgr
Fulton Paper Company
"I love Credit Today and read every issue cover to cover. For me, the greatest perk of a subscription is ListServ. I believe Credit Today's ListServ members may be the most knowledgeable Credit brain trust in existence today. I have saved and categorized hundreds of contributions on a wide variety of topics which I refer to often. It's an easy and cost effective way to network and learn."
Doug M. Thomas
Kimberly-Clark Customer Financial Services |
|
|
 |
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.
|
Benchmarking: Are the Challenges Credit Departments Face Showing a Return to Business as Usual?
By David Schmidt
Our latest benchmarking survey covers... - The top 10 challenges facing credit execs in 2012
- Secondary challenges facing credit execs currently
- The primary differences in the challenges facing larger firms credit organizations vs. credit departments at smaller firms
- What new problems and concerns are emerging on credit department radar screens this year - and the implications of these changes
- What issues are now less a cause of concern for credit departments than last year
. . .
keep reading
|
What's Your 30-Second Elevator Pitch?
Not long ago, a question was posed on Credit Today's listserv, inquiring what others' "30 second elevator pitch" was. A 30 second elevator pitch is just that - a quick summary of what you do for someone who probably isn't familiar with your job. Some of the keys to an elevator pitch are: . . .
keep reading
|
Beware of the Square!
By Robert Day
Are you a home delivery or service company? Or a company that needs to take credit cards remotely for one of a hundred different reasons and thinking about using a cell phone device to accomplish this? If so, making the wrong choice can be very costly! The first problem is that no matter which company/provider/processor you turn to they want to sell you on why theirs is better than the other guys. The second problem is that it's all in a different language; no, not Spanish or French, but much harder . . .
keep reading
|
Selling to Non Creditworthy Accounts
At one California high-tech company, where (as we noted in an earlier issue) customer visits are regarded as investments rather than expenses, there is keen interest in seizing the sales and profit potentials available from properly crafted relationships with "non creditworthy accounts." "Controlled sales to selected non creditworthy accounts under the right conditions can be a source of incremental profitability." is how this company's written credit policy put it. . . .
keep reading
|
Goal-Setting Ideas for Credit Staff
Do you struggle to find the right kinds of goals for your staff? The best goals are not easily achieved, but also are not so tough that they are unreachable. Here are some ideas for goalsetting: Annual targets alone are too distant to be much good as a motivator or as a measureme . . .
keep reading
|
Dispatches From the Credit Front, January 2012
- Are Any of Your Customers Selling Out? - Why more business-owners are likely to sell out this year, and the consequences for trade creditors.
- Spin-Offs and Carve-Outs - Increased numbers of spin-offs and carve-outs are also likely, and potentially a big problem for trade creditors caught unaware. What to expect and some strategies to help.
- Retail Sales, Not Earnings, Now the Most Reliable Metric - Why sales and not earnings are probably better indicators after retailers' cautious behavior during the holiday season.
. . .
keep reading
|
The Best Credit Security Is Your Own Hard Work
You get what you pay for. And you pay for what you get. Take credit insurance. There's no disputing its value against nonpayment and default. However, multiple claims or fairly large claims could result in an increase in your premium and deductible--which is why astute credit managers, like this one, always hedge their coverage with searching and continuous risk analysis. . . .
keep reading
|
Basic Outline for Developing a Credit Policy
By Loral A. Narayanan
Credit policy: a document providing "clear, written guidelines that set (1) the terms and conditions for supplying goods or services on credit, (2) customer qualification criteria, (3) procedures for making collections and (4) steps to be taken in case of customer delinquency." (BusinessDictionary.com) A credit policy, however, should be more than a list of credit department guidelines. Properly developed, it can be a critical tool for maintaining alignment on credit issues throughout your company. . . .
keep reading
|
Analyzing Credit Risks Early in an Economic Recovery
Businesses have memories, and often the most important ones are in the credit department. It's not just whether customers paid within terms. It's how they acted when the going got tough. If they made promises, did they keep them? Did they take your calls and answer your questions fully and forthrightly? Those memories, whatever they are, can be your best guides to analyzing risks in this challenging economy. . . .
keep reading
|
Energizing a Credit Staff's Potential
A credit staff can work for a long time without ever achieving its full potential. Lack of training, direction and/or up-to-date systems and procedures can lock it into consistently sub par performance. Then again, with the training and systems readily available today, the same staff can quickly blossom into super performance. That's what happened here under a new manager committed to excellence. . . .
keep reading
|
Credit Department Stress Test
These guys write checks - BIG checks, with many zeroes. And they do it using accounts receivable as security for those checks. So they don't mess around when they evaluate receivables. In fact, if you survive their evaluation, you can feel secure you're a world-class receivable operation. So we thought it would we be both instructive and interesting to sit down with our old friend Mike Rodgers, a member of Credit Today's Editorial Advisory Board and head of underwriting at FINACITY, to dig in and learn what they look at and why, when evaluating credit departments and receivable quality. Mike, a former credit exec who knows intimately what's required to perform at the highest level, was kind enough to share many details of their evaluation process. Join us for a most informative Q&A. . . .
keep reading
|
Negotiation Speak: Five Words To Avoid and What to Use in Their Place
By Jessica Butler
If you read my first article on negotiation, you understand that much of the time you spend with other people is actually spent negotiating. Whether you are working with your colleagues to prioritize the work that needs to get done, trying to convince a customer that a deduction has been taken in error, or deciding where to have dinner with your spouse, you are negotiating. . . .
keep reading
|
Six Sigma: A Primer on How It Can Apply to Credit
The fact of the matter is that you will probably not implement Six Sigma unless your company rolls it out company-wide. But it provides some great lessons for how you should manage your credit department. Here's a primer on Six Sigma. More and more world class companies are implementing Six . . .
keep reading
|
Technology Notebook: What's on Your Boss's Radar?
By David Schmidt
The Association of Financial Professionals (AFP) held its annual conference on November 6-9, 2011, in Boston. With over 6000 attendees and 200 exhibitors, this is the largest finance-related gathering of its type. Despite a clear bias towards treasury-related activities, there still was something here for anybody with exposure to any aspect of the finance function. Receivables management was accordingly well represented with 34 vendors promoting their solutions and a variety of educational sessions related to order-to-cash issues. While this is not a conference that many credit managers attend, it is a venue that caters to the senior managers and executives involved with corporate financial management. As such, it is useful for credit professionals to know something about the marketplace of issues and ideas that are of interest to their colleagues and bosses. Here then, are some relevant topics that we observed at the 2011 AFP Conference. Topics covered: - Integrated and Consolidated Billing and Payments
- Receivables and Supply Chain Finance
- Unclaimed Property
- Remote Deposit Capture
. . .
keep reading
|
Dispatches From the Credit Front - Dec 2011
December, 2011
News, views, tips, and tricks. This month's "dispatches" column covers... - New IRS Bad-Debt Reporting Rule - What trade creditors need to know about new IRS legislation on reporting 1099s for bad debts
- 'Trust Me, Stupid' - Signs a financial exec is lying; add these to your financial analytics!
- Export Credit Risks? Bring Them On! - Some horror stories and tips for managing international credit.
. . .
keep reading
|
Credit Card Processing Billing Scams--Are They Ripping You Off?
Your costs for accepting purchasing card payments probably aren't big enough to warrant much attention. But they are a bite out of profits. And you might find that your processor has inflated them by two or three times what they should be. That's worth a hard look and maybe switching to another processor. This article reveals a company that was overcharged by thousands of dollars a month, including how the problem occurred and what they did about it. We also talk with a former processing insider who now helps credit execs with his advice. He offers up five questions you should ask your processor. . . .
keep reading
|
Dispatches From the Credit Front
November 2011
Tips, tricks, trends, news from the credit front. This month... - Reporting Human Capital on Balance Sheets? - new accounting trend and its implications for credit execs.
- Warnings From a Collection Agency's Decertification by CCAA - a rare company is kicked out of CCAA and the lessons-learned for credit execs, as well as the address to file your claims.
- Multiple Tasks, Multiple Distractions - multi-tasking is big everywhere these days, especially in credit. Why psychologists believe this is a bad strategy and their steps to help you cope.
. . .
keep reading
|
Shared Services, Shared Metrics
Under the banner of Shared Services, this company consolidated credit and collections, accounts receivable and cash applications from 14 separate operating units into a single, central department. But they didn't stop there. By introducing shared metrics, they then achieved unprecedented teamwork between Credit, Sales and Operations. Learn the "secret sauce" that enabled this billion dollar operation to dramatically cut staff and improve all of their cashflow metrics. . . .
keep reading
|
|
|
|
 |
Outlook 2012
This month's survey explores...
- What the top problems are facing credit execs currently, and
- What the top improvement initiatives are.
Click here to participate!
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
February 2012
|
|
| S |
M |
T |
W |
T |
F |
S |
| |
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Webinars