In the 12-month period ending in June, bankruptcy filings rose 12.2%, according to U.S. Courts. This surge signals economic volatility and increases credit risk.

In credit management, change is inevitable. Markets shift, technology evolves and customer expectations rise, and credit professionals either adapt or fall behind.

Artificial Intelligence: Your Greatest Ally or Hidden Risk? What AI really means for credit management

A contentious runoff election in Brazil comes as the nation faces rising prices and high household debt. After neither candidate secured a majority vote in an early October election, the country is headed into a runoff vote on Oct. 25. Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are vying to be leader of Latin America’s largest economy.

With high inflation, increasing energy costs and interest rate hikes, customers are pushing back on set payment deadlines to preserve their cash flow. As customers seek longer payment terms to preserve cash, credit managers must balance customer needs with the risk of delayed payments.

Businesses are only as good as the people working for them. Each person applies their own knowledge, ideas and skills to advance their organization. When employees succeed, their company succeeds. When workers struggle, so does the business. To support organizational growth and retain the people who made it possible, employers need to invest in their employees’ professional development.

Lien waivers have become increasingly vital in the construction credit world, as they mark payment throughout a project and track lien rights. With each agreement signed, creditors need to be careful that they are not leaving their company vulnerable to outsized risk by carefully reading the terms of each agreement.

Canada’s economy is projected to lose momentum in the fourth quarter as the U.S.-Canada trade war and the Middle East energy crisis continue to raise costs. Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to slow from 2.0% in the third quarter to 1.4% in the fourth, according to a Canadian Federation of Independent Business report. Nearly two in five (39%) businesses surveyed expect to raise prices by more than 3% over the next year. 

If credit management were a team sport, the policy would be the rulebook, and procedures would be the playbook. Any change to the game plan, whether in policy or procedures, may require amendments to the other. But when one changes and the other doesn’t, the result can be confusion, inconsistent decisions or unnecessary risk.