Mountain States Commercial Credit Management Blog
Stay informed with the latest news from Mountain States Commercial Credit Management
Is a Seasonal Business a Good Credit Risk?
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Seasonal businesses are characterized by their short-term or seasonal peaks in operation. They tend to do significantly better during certain times of the year and experience lulls in between those times. For example, toy and jewelry retailers see sales jump at the beginning of the holiday season (Q4), whereas lumberyards and landscape outlets have their… |
Does Bankruptcy Mean Automatic Denial for Extending Credit?
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When businesses extend credit to commercial buyers, they are assuming a certain amount of risk, which is mitigated through sound credit risk management policies. Regardless of how diligent your credit approval processes are, you will inevitably have businesses that fall on challenging times and into bankruptcy. Refusing to extend credit to a business going through… |
Optimize Your Cash Flow: Get Proactive with Your Accounts Receivable
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Cash flow is critical to the success of your business. When cash is coming in, you can pay your operating expenses and reinvest in growing your business. When your cash flow is tied up in accounts receivable (AR), that cash is not available to spend. More businesses fail because of a lack of cash flow… |
Why You Should Submit Your Customers’ Payment History Information to Credit Bureaus
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Most businesses today rely on extending credit to its business account customers. Unfortunately, there is always risk involved in lending, and it’s up to the lending company to perform due diligence before extending credit. One good source for information that will help you analyze the risk for a potential credit customer is a credit reporting… |
Why You Should Be Worried About B2B Credit Fraud
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When you think of credit fraud, you typically think of the toll that ID theft and phishing scams have on personal financial accounts, but fraud takes a significant toll on businesses — by other businesses. Here’s what credit and financial professionals need to know about B2B credit fraud. Is B2B credit fraud really a problem?… |
Want to Improve Your Company’s Credit Risk Management? Get Automated
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Is excessive overtime a financial burden for your credit department? Does your sales department complain about the length of time the credit approval process takes? Is your Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) higher than it should be because you don’t have enough staff to stay on top of accounts receivable? As credit departments are being asked… |
Sales and Credit Departments: Working Together for a Common Goal
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In a B2B environment, the sales and credit departments represent two different perspectives on growing the business. Sales wants to sell products or services to any interested customer. The credit department wants to make sure the sale represents revenue rather than uncollected debt. Although both departments are critical to the financial health of the organization,… |
Does Your Average DSO Indicate Problems With Your Accounts Receivable Practices?
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A company’s cash flow is a critical factor for its success. Collecting outstanding accounts receivable will help keep the cash flowing. One method for evaluating how efficient your accounts receivable processes are is by measuring Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). Here is a review of DSO, its significance to your company, and how you can lower… |
The Right Collection Agency Can Mean the Difference Between Debt Recovery or Write-Off
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You’ve weighed your options and realize that without the help of a credit agency, you likely won’t retrieve the money owed to your business. So, where do you start? What should you be looking for in a collection agency? When is it time to call in a collection agency? Businesses are often hesitant to call… |
Collecting What’s Due: Best Practices for Optimum Debt Recovery
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In a perfect world, businesses would extend credit and the borrowing company would pay their invoices on time until fully repaid. Unfortunately, the business-to-business (B2B) credit world is not perfect, and businesses sometimes need to instigate collections procedures to recover bad debts. However, collecting on bad debt is a tricky path if you want to… |