Business Credit articles from January 2007

Business Credit archives from January 2007

2007 calendar of events.(Calendar)
January 1, 2007... 1 JANUARY Jan 8 Deadline to Apply for an NACM Scholarship NACM Meetings Dept. Jan 8-Apr 21 Accounting [e-mail] NACM Meetings Dept. Jan 8-Mar 31 Business Law [e-mail] NACM Meetings Dept. Jan 8-Mar...

The HP Way: fostering an ethical culture in the wake of scandal.(Hewlett-Packard Co.'s George Keyworth accused for disclosing confidential information)
January 1, 2007... On September 12, 2006, George Keyworth, who until that day was the longest serving member of the Hewlett-Packard Board of Directors, was forced to resign after being identified as the source of a leak of company information. The leak was...

Impacting your DSO.(Days Sales Outstanding)(Column)
January 1, 2007... Whether you work in the manufacturing industry or in the professional services field, you want to know how efficient your operations are. One of the best metrics for measuring back office efficiency is DSO. Another popular measure is a firm's...

Stan Murphy.(Member Profile)(dialogue)(Interview)
January 1, 2007... How did you enter the credit field? I was working my way through college doing collections in the MasterCard department for a local bank in Richmond, VA. I had no thoughts of staying. In fact, I would go home at night with knots in my...

Eliminate office Chaos.(EXTRA * CREDIT)
January 1, 2007... What does office disorganization cost your company? The Wall Street Journal published a study indicating that the average employee wastes nearly six weeks a year looking for information and things in their office. Multiply six weeks by their...

Voicemail etiquette 101: tips for managing your incoming and outgoing messages.(EXTRA * CREDIT)
January 1, 2007... How many times has one of the following happened to you? * You call someone and get his voicemail telling you that he will be out of the office until July 6th. The only problem is it's September 8th when you place the call. * You call...

Best practices employed in quest for best results.
January 1, 2007... Whether in their business or personal lives, most people try to put their preverbal best foot forward. Credit departments, like other functional areas within companies, strive to produce the best impacts in the most efficient manner possible....

Terrorist links to commercial fraud in the United States.(CREDIT COLUMN)
January 1, 2007... With the ongoing investigation of the terrorist attacks worldwide, it is gradually becoming known how these barbaric operations are being financed. What seems to be clear is that terrorists and their sympathizers have long used commercial fraud...

Seven habits sustain a highly effective compliance program.(SELECTED * TOPIC)
January 1, 2007... As organizations react to the compliance burden and seek ways to leverage compliance to gain control and insight into the organization and enhance operational risk management, they are asking several important questions. What does a compliance...

SBA Surety Bond Program discussed at teleconference.(Headline: NACM and SBA)(Small Business Administration)
January 1, 2007... Recently, the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce held a teleconference on the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Surety Bond Program, which helps new and emerging contractors get surety bonding. Tesha Williams, an SBA Underwriting Policy...

Joint check arrangement does not protect against preference exposure.(CREDIT COLUMN)
January 1, 2007... Subcontractors and materials/services suppliers for real estate construction projects frequently use a joint check agreement to increase the likelihood of payment by a financially troubled customer. Under a joint check agreement, the project...

NACM teams up with CLLA to present legal symposium.(CREDIT COLUMN)(Commercial Law League of America)(National Association of Credit Management)
January 1, 2007... NACM members got the opportunity to attend a Legal Symposium, Nov. 10-11, held in conjunction with the 86th New York Meeting of the Commercial Law League of America's (CLLA) Eastern Region Members' Association. This collaborative educational...

NACM's 111th Las Vegas Credit Congress & Exposition: June 10-13, 2007 Bally's Las Vegas.
January 1, 2007... JUNE 10-13, 2007 BALLY'S LAS VEGAS THE PREMIER EVENT FOR BUSINESS CREDIT PROFESSIONALS The 111th annual Credit Congress & Exposition, hosted by the National Association of Credit Management, is the premier event for business credit and...

Base realignment: the impact for credit managers.(Defense Secretary's Commission on Base Realignment and Closure)
January 1, 2007... You have probably heard about the Defense Department Base Realignment and Closure efforts commonly called "BRAC." The realignment will affect many communities as DOD activities shift. What you may not realize is that BRAC can have a significant...

Rash of corporate identity theft hits trade creditors.(SELECTED * TOPIC)
January 1, 2007... Though organizational identity theft is certainly not a new phenomenon, there has been an extraordinary increase in activity within the last few months. Furthermore, Verifraud is seeing evidence that much of the recent activity is being...

NACM--a closer-to-home alternative for collections.(Headline: NACM)(National Association of Credit Management)
January 1, 2007... Collecting on overdue customer accounts is a function many businesses find to be more cost-effective if outsourced to a third party. However, instead of looking to foreign lands, U.S.-based businesses have an outsourcing alternative right in...

Blended scores are better scores: small-business study finds role for both personal, business information.(Small Business Corner)
January 1, 2007... Obtaining timely, accurate information on the credit risk profile of any small business can be elusive. In the past, risk models suffered from a dearth of historical data and rules that were based more on best guesses than statistical analysis....

APG offers members new skip tracing services.(Headline: NACM)
January 1, 2007... "Skip Tracing" is a phrase that has been part of the credit collector's lexicon for as long as debtors have been skipping town and, simultaneously, skipping payment. It's a practice that, while often bringing some of us as close as we will ever...

17 annual FCIB Global Conference: a rousing success.(CREDIT COLUMN)
January 1, 2007... Building on past successes, the 17th annual FCIB Global Conference held at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Cables, Florida in November was another great event. The approximately 200 attendees got to hear from and speak to experts on an array of...

International expansion--risk sharing considerations.(SELECTED * TOPIC)
January 1, 2007... Have you noticed a buzz in the air regarding international markets? Companies continue to expand their businesses through new markets, and despite our best exporting efforts, the trade deficit for the U.S. has grown to a staggering $810...

Global economy to slow in 2007: Asia emerges as driving force.(international)
January 1, 2007... Many corporations are impacted in some way by the ebb and flow of the global economy. That is why most companies, especially those engaged in global trade, try to anticipate the condition of the global economy when planning financial strategies...

Hot spots: Nigeria.(governors elections)(Column)
January 1, 2007... Nigeria will hold elections next April in which voters are to choose new state governors, legislators and a new president in the third such exercise since the country made its transition to civilian rule in 1999, after 16 years of military...

Turn yourself into a star performer: tips on cultivating confidence.(EXTRA * CREDIT)
January 1, 2007... Confidence is a rare quality, even among those who have learned to appear confident. Confidence is characterized by a basic belief in one's own value as a person and competence at certain skills, whether it's professional, technical or...

Foti application to collection activities is spreading.(SELECTED * TOPIC)
January 1, 2007... The decision in Foti v. NCO Fin. Sys., Inc. has created a significant dilemma for the debt collection industry. The New York District Court in Foti ruled that a pre-recorded message left on the consumer's answering system by the debt collector...

Disclaimers with a twist.(CREDIT COLUMN)
January 1, 2007... Credit professionals deal with disclaimers on an almost daily basis. Without them, credit departments could be held legally responsible for faulty information on a credit reference, even when the department had no way to know the information...

Credit policy basics.(Small Business Corner)
January 1, 2007... Whether you're just starting to extend credit or you've got a bit of experience and are looking to make a change, it's important every now and then to get back to the basics of business credit. A credit policy is a set of guidelines used...

Mechanics' liens in Pennsylvania.(CONSTRUCTION * CORNER)
January 1, 2007... For 40 years, mechanics' lien issues in Pennsylvania have been adjudicated by reference to the Pennsylvania Mechanics' Lien Law of 1963 (49 P.S. [subsection] 1101 et seq.) ("Lien Law") and related statutes discussed below. The Lien Law serves...

Defense of payment for sureties on public projects in Pennsylvania.(Headline)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Contractors do not have mechanic's lien rights on public projects. The federal Miller Act and various state "Little" Miller Acts were created to protect subcontractors and suppliers on public projects by requiring that the general contractor...

NACM Credit Manager's Index: report for November 2006.(CMI)(national association of credit management)
January 1, 2007... The seasonally adjusted Credit Manager's Index (CMI) fell for the fourth consecutive month in November. "While the decline was small at 0.1 percent, the CMI continues to indicate an economy slowly weakening under the weight of monetary...

CFDD-Jasper meeting.(member news)(Credit and Financial Development Division )(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The newly formed Credit and Financial Development Division (CFDD) of the National Association of Credit Management--Jasper (Indiana) Chapter held an October 30, 2006 luncheon meeting to install its inaugural officers. Jeffrey O'Banion, CCE,...

CRF presentation stresses importance of measurements.(Credit Research Foundation)
January 1, 2007... Attendees of a presentation sponsored by the Credit Research Foundation (CRF) received a great deal of information about the value of performance measures including how they work, which ones work best and what a company stands to gain from...

Memoriam.(member news)(death of Richard Henry "Dick" Goffe )(Obituary)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... It is with deep regret to let you know that Richard Henry "Dick" Goffe passed away on Wednesday, October 18, 2006. Dick was NACM Oregon's Chairman of the Board in 1973-74 and its President from 1979-1988.