Business Credit articles from February 2005

Business Credit archives from February 2005

NACM calendar.(National Association of Credit Management)(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... FEBRUARY February 7, 2005 Teleconference: Top 10 Techniques Used by Credit Professionals in North America Presenters: Joe Ketzner; Joe Chaudoin For more information, please contact the NACM Meetings Dept. at 410.740.5560. February 9,...

Commentary.(National Association of Credit Management - board elections)
February 1, 2005... On December 16, 1773, a group of men calling themselves the "Sons of Liberty", struck a blow for freedom by dumping 342 crates of tea into the Boston Harbor. April 19, 1775, 70 armed Massachusetts Militiamen stood face-to-face against an...

Check 21 and fraud: say goodbye to bust-outs?(credit column)(Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act of 2003)
February 1, 2005... A frustrating aspect of a credit professional's job is being ensnared in a planned insolvency or bust-out. Even a sophisticated credit professional who may sense credit risk with a particular account, and sells only on COD, may find a debtor's...

Unconditional or conditional lien releases choose carefully or lose your lien rights, a case analysis.(required reading)
February 1, 2005... Introduction Credit Managers are routinely faced with the decision of how, when and whether to issue a release of their mechanics' lien, stop notice and bond rights to effectuate payment. In order to receive payment, the owner, general...

European Commission kicks off new 36 million program for financing small businesses.(headline)
February 1, 2005... The European Commission adopted a program to assist local banks and other credit institutions, particularly in the 10 new EU Member States. This program strives to alleviate the difficulties of financing business, especially for small and...

SEC establishes advisory committee to examine impact of Sarbanes-Oxley Act on smaller public companies.(headline)(Securities and Exchange Commission)
February 1, 2005... Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William H. Donaldson announced the establishment of an advisory committee to assist the Commission in examining the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other aspects of the federal securities laws on...

Mechanics' lien and bond waivers.(required reading)
February 1, 2005... Mechanics' lien and bond claim waivers can appear in contracts and in waiver forms for progress and final payments. These waivers may permanently eliminate lien or bond rights, even for future deliveries or even if a bankruptcy court forces you...

Fraud/receivables management--a transformation.
February 1, 2005... Why do we need a transformation? There exists only one reason: proper customer management. When one thinks about the organizations of fraud and receivables management, they are considered as two distinct and separate entities. Their objectives,...

NACM credit manager's index.(National Association of Credit Management)(Illustration)
February 1, 2005... Report for December 2004 Issued January 3, 2005 National Association of Credit Management 8840 Columbia 100 Parkway Columbia, MD 21045-2158 December '04 CMI-Total: 55.0 CMI-Manufacturing: 55.1 November '04 CMI-Total: 56.2...

Is your Check 21 implementation a fraud hazard?(selected topic)
February 1, 2005... The implementation of the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act ("Check 21") in the U.S. means that check-handling and collection will experience a drastic increase in speed, but it also portends other seismic issues in the financial services...

New approaches to fraud deterrence.
February 1, 2005... Call me a skeptic. Maybe it's because I've investigated a couple of thousand fraud cases over a career now entering its fourth decade. Perhaps it's because questioning is one of a CPA's most valuable talents. While I believe that, as a...

Corporate intellectual inbreeding hurts profit: in the box thinking driven by habit & fear.(selected topic)(A/R Management Group)(Column)
February 1, 2005... A sales vice president of an international company had referred me to his region's CFO. He encouraged me to contact this woman and explain the scope of my consulting services. After leaving three messages over a two week period, I got a call...

Control risk with the right to cure.(headlines)
February 1, 2005... One of the best business lessons for subcontractors to learn is to control unquantifiable risks. One example is the "additional insured" requirement in subcontract agreements, which makes the subcontractor liable for any insurable loss...

Give them an 'F' in retaining U.S. jobs; state and Federal economic policies push jobs offshore.(headlines)
February 1, 2005... Most U.S. state governments are losing ground to global competition due to their poor efforts at keeping jobs and attracting businesses, a new study reports. "While many of the overseas job losses are inevitable, a surprising number of...

The dirty little secret of critical vendor orders: the hidden preference risk that lurks!(credit column)
February 1, 2005... Introduction The ruling of the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the Kmart case, which the United States Supreme Court recently let stand, upheld the rejection of Kmart's preferred treatment of some 2,300 suppliers, so...

Embezzlement/employee theft.(required reading)
February 1, 2005... Definition The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines embezzlement as the "misappropriation or misapplication of money or property entrusted to one's care, custody, or control. "What distinguishes embezzlement from other types of...

Despite higher interest rates, more fast growth CEOs report new bank loans and increased credit lines: many more considering non-traditional financing in next 12 months.(headlines)
February 1, 2005... PricewaterhouseCoopers' Trendsetter Barometer interviewed CEOs of 355 privately held product and service companies identified in the media as the fastest growing U.S. businesses over the last five years. The surveyed companies range in size...

Creditors say they suffer while trustees and attorneys reap the benefit of bankruptcy preferences.(headlines)
February 1, 2005... An arcane section of the bankruptcy code related to so-called "preference" payments is causing U.S. business creditors large and small to lose money just for doing their jobs. And they're not happy about it. How much they lose is difficult...

Phishing and the threat to corporate networks.(selected topic)
February 1, 2005... What is Phishing? Phishing, an increasingly common form of online theft, is the act of tricking computer users into handing over control of their online accounts using, typically, a combination of forged e-mail and web sites. "Phishing" is...

Hot spots: United Arab Emirates.(international section)
February 1, 2005... The UAE is a very young country, which was formed as recently as December of 1971, after British forces withdrew from the Gulf. It consists of the seven former Trucial States (Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah, Umm al-Qaiwain, and Ras...

Dubai: city of gold.(international section)
February 1, 2005... Dubai, one of the lesser-known countries in the Middle East, offers much in terms of its robust economy. Dubai is a small city-state on the Arabian Gulf, with which most Americans are unfamiliar; yet many Europeans and Asians know it as an...

Our companies and the educated professional: "the challenge to succeed and excel in our profession is ours. I encourage each of us to constantly seek new ways to improve, and to make sure that our companies are aware of--and interested in--those improvements.".(member viewpoint)
February 1, 2005... As we enter the New Year, it is always a good time for reflection. We can reflect on our continuing growth as a credit professional, but we can also reflect on the way businesses are reacting to that growth. In today's ever-changing business...

UK business failures fall to record lows.(headlines)
February 1, 2005... 2004 is expected to record the lowest number of business failures for six years, according to experts at BDO Stoy Hayward. The latest BDO Stoy Hayward Industry Watch reveals an 8 per cent drop in the number of companies going bust from last...

No change predicted in top 3 struggling industries for 2005.(headlines)
February 1, 2005... In most polls, the top vote-getter is projected to be the winner. However, the industries that came out on top in the 3rd annual Trend Watch poll of corporate renewal professionals are predicted to be losers in the fight to regain solid...

Money laundering.(required reading)
February 1, 2005... Definition Money laundering is the illegal practice of filtering "dirty" money, or ill-gotten gains, through a series of transactions until the funds are "clean," or appear to be proceeds from legal activities. The United States Criminal...

Legal traps for unwary managers during corporate criminal investigations.(selected topic)
February 1, 2005... In today's legal climate, managers are learning that it's essential to be on your guard (and your best behavior), even during internal criminal investigations. Two dramatic developments underscore the personal risk to unwary managers. The...

Identity, identifiers and identity fraud.(selected topic)
February 1, 2005... Recently the press and the public policy makers have begun to speak of "identity heft" as though it was a novel concept requiring severe new legislation. These laws are likely to put significant new burdens on business. While most identity...

New York, Nigeria named riskiest areas for eCommerce.(headline)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... In a survey undertaken by CyberSource Corporation, eCommerce merchants named New York the riskiest North American metro area for eCommerce. Nigeria was chosen as riskiest country. By "riskiest", merchants mean that orders from these areas are...

Fraud detection and prevention: transactional analysis for effective fraud detection.
February 1, 2005... Focusing On Technology-Based Fraud Solutions Fraud is a dominant form of white collar crime that continues to extract a tremendous toll not only on the organizations that fall prey to it, but also on investors, financial institutions, and...

U.S. firms failing to capitalize on global business opportunities.(headline)
February 1, 2005... U.S. exports are poised for growth, but many American companies lack the international business know-how to capitalize on this source of increased sales and profits. According to Ena Garay, a partner with Miami-based International Business...