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Credit Mgmt Today
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.

Credit Administration: Should You Centralize, Decentralize or Do Something in Between?
By David Schmidt, Contributing Editor
Credit administration can be simplistically defined as evaluating risks and then cleaning up the problems that will inevitably ensue. Whether or not you do a good job of evaluating risk, there will a . . .  keep reading
Is Your Credit Staff All on the Same Team?
By David Schmidt, Contributing Editor
Teamwork is a powerful asset. Without it, a talented group of individuals can end up losing to a less talented team. By the same token, why is it successful sports teams continue to win even when thei . . .  keep reading
Co-op Adds Security To the Credit Function
Co-op Adds Security To the Credit Function It turns out that credit can run a little more smoothly if your customers are also your owners. Margret Goodson is in a unique position as credit department and A/R manager for Affiliated Foods Inc. of Amarillo, Texas. The company is a wholesale grocery cooperative and distributor that works with about 700 stores and restaurants primarily in the southwestern United States. It also has bakery and dairy operations. The cooperative, however, represents the largest customer group. Goodson's credit staff handles about 2,000 accounts and $1.2 billion in sales. The team is broken up by business line. Four persons are responsible for the food service area, which serves schools, restaurants and independent grocers. They set up new accounts, review credit and collect on those accounts. . . .  keep reading
Statutes of Limitations: Carved in Stone?
By Ann Morales Olazábal, MBA, JD
Credit and the Law: The SituationJK Enterprises, an importer of men's apparel, sold $1.26 million worth of men's suits to Men's Trends, which operates a regional chain of specialty men's cl . . .  keep reading
Leadership Profile: Connie Steed, CCE, Corporate Credit Manager, Rasmussen Equipment Company
Leadership Profile: Connie Steed, CCE, Corporate Credit Manager, Rasmussen Equipment Company Credit Philosophy: "At Rasmussen Equipment, we have been very successful in building an outstanding relationship between sales and credit. Keeping the lines of communication open has allowed us to increase sales and margins and keep our DSO and bad debt at manageable numbers. Up-and-down changes in the construction industry requires that we be constantly focused. Our accounts receivable exposure can become very high, very quickly. I believe that the more we know about our customers and the more we help them become better business people, the better chance we have of being paid. We also make great use of NACM Business Credit Services in Salt Lake City. Whether it be collections, credit reports, group meetings, educational seminars or other services, we can always count on the NACM organization to support us professionally, enabling us to be the best credit department we can be." . . .  keep reading
Being Accessible
You're not going to sit at your desk all day and waiting for customer calls, but, according to Controller Donald Ferguson of Indianapolis Fruit Company, Inc., there are worse ideas. Ferguson, who mana . . .  keep reading
Make Your Case, in Person
The best information in your watch-list file comes mainly from your own records of customers' payments and buying patterns. You should compile this information and study it thoroughly before contactin . . .  keep reading
Who's Your Credit Reporting Agency?
USAopoly may well be looking at a significant write off in the Linens 'n Things debacle, but Credit and Collections Manager Robert Capra can cite one positive from the whole sorry mess: He's found a c . . .  keep reading

Who's on Your Watch List?
"If trade creditors cut terms to cash, they'll starve you out, and that foretells bad things," observed one bankruptcy lawyer after 11 major creditors of tottering Linens 'n Things, Inc. formed an ad . . .  keep reading
Is COD Dying?
Shipping COD can be a messy proposition, and with the availability of viable alternatives such as credit cards and checks by fax, is there any reason to continue using COD services? When a custome . . .  keep reading
Leveraging the Good-Pay Customer Asset
Sometime next month, some 700 customers of D&H Distributors will receive letters notifying them that their credit lines have been doubled. (See the sample letter below.) They didn't ask for these incr . . .  keep reading
Leadership Profile: Deborah J. Martell, CCE, Corporate Credit Manager, Kenwal Steel Corp.
Leadership Profile: Deborah J. Martell, CCE,
Corporate Credit Manager, Kenwal Steel Corp. Credit Philosophy: It is the responsibility of the credit department to establish credit limits and control balances, based on the customer's ability to pay, willingness to pay and overall credit worthiness. Each credit decision requires prompt action by the credit department to properly serve the customer and the sales organization while protecting the company's interests. Approval of credit limits requires scrutiny of the customer's credit application information, credit reference history and credit report information. A "no" decision, without developing the facts, is not the right decision. All credit decisions require that sufficient facts be developed. Close working relationships, along with effective communication and investigation, ensure that we keep our bad-debt losses at a minimum while still offering good customer service. . . .  keep reading
Payment Imaging Pays Off in Deduction-Process Efficiency
Payment Imaging Pays Off in Deduction-Process Efficiency The three deduction service representatives (DSRs) who handle an average of 1,800 deductions each month for WD-40 Company (San Diego) will soon have a superb new information tool at their fingertips. It's a digital dashboard that will display of all relevant and up-to-the-minute data about their customers. . . .  keep reading
Book Review: What is Your Credit and Collection Game Plan?
GET P.A.I.D. A GUIDE TO GETTING PAID FASTER (AND WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON'T) By Robert S. Bernstein, Esq. 2007, Business Credit Publications, LLC., Pittsburg, PA 212 pages $34.95 ha . . .  keep reading
Where Have You Been?
Credit issues triggering intensive reviews of orders usually involve problems like overdue balances or worrisome agency reports. At Rainbow Seafoods, Inc., it may only mean that the customer hasn't ma . . .  keep reading
From Utopia to . . .
"We've gone from utopia to 'I-don't-know-how-much-worse-it-can-get," the credit manager for one construction equipment supplier told us back in the 2001 recession. "Bankruptcies and hot checks are up. . . .  keep reading
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