eNews Archive

Imagine you’re a sports coach stepping into a new role at a different school. After just your first week, you quickly realize that some changes need to be made. But as you begin adjusting, the team isn’t responding the way you had hoped—and you find yourself asking, what am I doing wrong?

Navigating customers’ online portals can be challenging enough as is, but when it comes to managing customers internationally, confusion can increase exponentially. As larger companies increasingly rely on online portals to handle billing and invoicing, credit managers may find themselves devoting more time to learning exactly how they fit into these systems.

Companies are constantly in the market for the right supplier, whether they’re expanding services, cutting costs or keeping pace with industry innovation. But when every solution promises to be the most advanced in the room, the sheer volume of choices doesn’t simplify the decision.

The credit department’s everyday work touches on every part of a company, from the sales team to the IT department. Naturally, when those inter-departmental bonds are strong, the work in credit can be a lot easier. Cross-training is a valuable tool that helps the credit team develop an understanding of how each department runs.

Construction has not always been the structured, contract-driven industry it is today. In its early days, project owners, contractors and suppliers operated with little formal protection—leaving all parties vulnerable when a project went sideways.

It’s easy to get frustrated when a suddenly unreachable customer is not paying what they owe. But before you write off the account, skip tracing is another way credit managers can secure payment and hold debtors responsible.

If you think about it, a company’s balance sheet is like a student’s report card. Rather than disclosing a student’s academic performance, subject mastery and behavioral progress, it reveals a company’s financial position in terms of assets, liabilities and equity.

When it comes to construction credit, there is nothing more critical, or complex, than contracts. With so many unique terms and contract language shaping each project, it is important that credit professionals know what’s headed their way at the onset.